Not too long ago, in 2019...No wait, that was forever ago. But where was I?
Oh yes, in 2019 Slate Star Codex did an entry on how New Atheism had been taken over and consumed by the Social Justice movement.
This probably comes as a surprise, seeing as how everyone else talks about how atheists are heavily affiliated with the modern anti-social justice movement. I think that’s the wrong takeaway. Sure, a lot of people who identify as atheists now are pretty critical of social justice. That’s because the only people remaining in the atheist movement are the people who didn’t participate in the mass transformation into social justice. It is no contradiction to say both “Most of the pagans you see around these days are really opposed to Christianity” and “What ever happened to all the pagans there used to be? They all became Christian.”
What Alexander made of this is worth reading in full. But it's not incompatible with my own belief that any group can fall victim to groupthink, and that those who identify themselves as bein in the intellectual vanguard are more rather than less likely to fall prey. If you're sure that all the schmucks are on the other side how can you not become complacent.
Doug Lain catches onto a similar dynamic in the Twitter files, and specifically the general leftist indifference to them, or in many cases the kill-the-messenger response. He sees a left that's betrayed itself and become blasé about civil liberties in general.
It should be noted that among other things, Lain is a notable science fiction writer. One of his works of fiction is Billy Moon, a magic realist novel about Christopher Robin Milne getting caught up in the May 68 uprising in Paris. The history of these movements means something to him in a way it doesn't really to me. But I can attest that he knows whereof he speaks here.
2 comments:
I must say although I followed Alexander's argument for a while, a fairly long while, I ended up with glazed over eyes and a pretty much indifferent attitude to the whole subject.. the prize, as the old saying goes, being not worth the candle. Just seeing Christopher Hitchens quoted was where he lost me. Don't mistake me, it is a good article but the subject of atheism is one I've never entertained seriously. As someone eventually remarked, maybe there is less debate about atheism vs religion because fewer people were willing to take the theist side. As C.S. Lewis said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
People do fall victim to groupthink and it's often the case that those who've been most indoctrinated by elite education are frequently the most ignorant.
Doug Lain's cogent description of what free speech actually means compared to how intellectual laziness and self serving of the left allows it to be interpreted cuts to the heart of the matter. At this point there is no doubt we are living in a postmodernist managerial system and world, where the representatives of the rulers create their own reality. Any dissent from that fake reality is not permissible. The only thing that matters in such a world is who says something not what.
I get what you mean, but I feel like understanding the world as it is today requires looking at the ideas people have subscribed to in the process of shaping it. Atheism has definitely been influential in the past century, so while it's not my thing I want to at least try to grasp it. Yesterday I blogged about it as well. Hitchens to me is tragic because he turned out not to understand himself very well. He thought reason was what was guiding him, but really it was some very primal emotions. There definitely seem to be fewer taking faith's side, and those who do are often dismissed. I wonder how Lewis would be received if he came along now.
Elite education has become little more than a system by which elites signal to each other. I wonder if the university system as it exists now might be beyond saving.
What's that they say about power corrupting? Power allows you to create your own reality, since it insulates you from the forces that govern reality for lesser beings. But this self-created reality is an illusion, and it can't last forever. Eventually these things fall apart, to much lamentation. It's never a good idea to get too invested in the obsessions of the elite.
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