Two recent posts have highlighted the moral and intellectual rot that threatens Western Civilization. In the first, materialist Seversky expressed a moral nihilism that is breathtaking in its scope. I asked him if the ancient practice of killing unwanted girl babies was an affirmatively good thing. His answer: “It was an affirmatively good thing for them.” He hastened to add that he personally does not approve of the practice. But he added that there is no standard against which to measure whether his preference in the matter is superior to those who would kill the little babies.
I asked Sev if the same reasoning applied to slavery, human sacrifice and genocide. His answer: “Yes, it does.”
So, infanticide, slavery, human sacrifice, and genocide are not Sev’s cup of tea. But they are others’ cup of tea. And damned if Sev can say their preference in tea is inferior to his own.
In the second post our William J. Murray discussed materialist Brother Brian’s definition of oppression: “Oppression is when an identifiable group is forced to do something because another identifiable group says they must.”
WJM pointed out to Brian that his definition would apply to any law. For example, a law requiring employers not to discriminate against black people is oppressive under Brian’s formula. Under Brian’s principle, the state would be engaging in “oppression” if one identifiable group (racial bigots) is forced to do something (hire black people) because another identifiable group (everyone else acting through the legislature) says they must.
Of course, what Brian actually meant but did not say was that “oppression” happens whenever anyone does something he personally does not like. And the principle can therefore be turned on and off at will. Brian does not like it? Oppression. Brian likes it? Go right ahead.
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Progressive “principles” are never really principles at all. When you scratch a progressive you will find underneath a fascist. And fascists are interested in one and only one thing. Power. When it furthers their striving for power, fascist progressives can sound all lofty and principled (like Brian’s response to WMJ). But when the principles they just announced ten minutes ago interfere with their quest for power, you can be sure they will be jettisoned in microseconds.
Progressives like Brian always play according to the formula Frank Herbert ascribed to Maud ’dib in Children of Dune:
“When I am weaker than you, I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles.”