Dear Friends,
It seems to me, modern philosophy is done to hide reality, not to illustrate it. Maxims that box the mind in, are not freeing, no matter what the manipulators that use them claim. Jargon like, equity, social justice and climate change, discourage thinking, because they create a structure to prevent it. Thought is discouraged with manipulations like, “The science is settled.” Correct philosophies create a framework to expand thought just as language does. Incorrect philosophies lock thought in a prison. All of post modernist philosophy is a well crafted gilded cage for those foolish enough to enter. Channeling all thought in the direction the swindlers want. When that NPC brain jail is backed by the power of the State, corporations and courts, it is a vector for cultural leprosy of the psyche.
Much of philosophy is merely putting into words, something the wise knew all along, but didn’t or couldn’t say. Grammar itself is a form of philosophy. It orders language so that ideas can be better transmitted across space and time. Adages like the Golden Rule provide a consistent, rational and objective measure for moral action. Even as things that are not so obvious, like Carneades conflicting arguments for and against law in the Forum, enlighten. Philosophy then is a way to manifest ideas that otherwise would remain hidden. Then there is jargon. Quips that trick the mind into thinking they have measure. Jingles like, “White Supremacists are the biggest threat,” are demagoguery that limits thought and “Socialized medicine is fair…” while proven false, use our inner compassion to do us harm.
Philosophy can open our minds to new possibilities, or empty jargon can close them, which it does depends on what is the intent. Orwell tried to illustrate the effects of group think enforcing jargon in his book 1984. The inventor of modern propaganda, Edward Bernays, explained how simple phrases that capture the mind can be used to get people to do just about anything. He famously made cigarette smoking fashionable for women. Goebbels used propaganda to move the German people to become bat poop crazy. Today our modern Goebbels are using propaganda, fashioned into catch phrases, to build a brave new world. That is why Social justice means, the elite must have arbitrary rule, misinformation means, wrongthink and wrongspeak, while insurrectionist now means, patriot.
Post modernist philosophy is an example of a philosophy that limits rather than expands. During the 2020 summer of love, when BLM rioters were ripping down statues of Abraham Lincoln in the name of racial justice, and the elite en masse, cajoled anyone who disagreed with the moniker, racist… the elite in the medical bureaucracy assured us, going to church would be deadly, but drunken rioting was not a vector. Obviously absurd, yet churches were shut down, liquor stores stayed open and riots were encouraged. All one need do to understand the power of group think enforcing phrases, is to look at the outrage so many people had, at the dumping of a few illegal aliens on Nantucket. Who were removed from that sanctuary city immediately. To the cheers of crime victims of illegals across the nation.
Philosophy is supposed to enlighten not darken. It’s alarming that the entire elite have fallen under the spell of a darkening philosophy. While a cage limits one’s ability to think outside it, the space within becomes well trod. Leaving the prisoners thinking they know it all. Outside thoughts turn into alien dangers to be avoided. Ideas like the Golden rule. How can we treat others as we would be treated, if we have to kill them to control population, impoverish them for global warming, and open boarders destroy their lives? Darkening jargon is comfortable for the caged. Though it leads to superstition, poverty and oligarchy. Even as enlightening philosophies have resulted in science, freedom and prosperity. The trick is, thinking outside the box, and distinguishing between the light and dark.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
