Dear Friends,
It seems to me… we are in a civil information war, one side is against open dissemination of information, while the other demands we have access to knowledge. The outcome of which is existential to our civilization, since it is a repudiation of the Enlightenment, and as such, is a return to the rights of kings. Today we hear the term “fake news” bandied about, by those who have been caught many times fabricating “news” to influence public opinion, and thus public discourse. When a liar tells you someone else is lying, a wise man doesn’t believe them, but a fool will become a zealot. Useful idiots is the term that best describes progressives who are not in the power structure. They embrace their ignorance and detest objective truth as a tool of the patriarchal hegemony.
There is a strong case to be made for a return to the rights of kings. The Enlightenment has made the common man far too uppity for the powerful. Thrasymachus made a similar argument in Plato’s Republic, that the people are sheep to be controlled by our superiors… psychopathic kings. Moreover, since discourse is tied inextricably to the free flow of truth, and post modernists do not believe in truth… only power, the free flow of information must be stopped, so the rights of kings can be reestablished. Obviously, they don’t use that outdated terminology, they use politically expedient propaganda like, we are against… racism, sexism, inequality and hegemonic patriarchy. Clearly then, post modernists, who disavow truth, discourse, political equality, etc… fight against knowledge.
Modern conservatives, who seek to conserve the advances of the Enlightenment, do believe there is such a thing as objective truth, we reject appeals to authority and value the individual. We believe the advances of the Enlightenment were a watershed moment in human history, leading to a rapid advance of science, economic efficiency and the human condition. We reject appeals to authority like anthropogenic climate change. When someone says, “the debate is over because it is settled science.” They are appealing to authority. Especially since nothing in science is ever really settled. Every theory, concept and idea is subject to a paradigm shift, once new information becomes available. Appeals to authority by definition, are not dependent on objective truth, but power over subjects.
Post modernists, who fight so strongly against the free flow of information, do so because they only believe in power. They eschew truth, science and debate, as tools of the patriarchal hegemony. As such, clearly, information is an anathema to them. Information undermines their power and since they are all about power, over you and I, knowledge is their enemy. People who only seek power, at all costs, even to the civilization itself, are Thrasymachus‘ heirs. They are the great men Thrasymachus defended. Great men like Pericles, Alexander, Alcibiades, Coriolanus and Dionysius, who were all psychopaths, and thus “Great Men.” Modern versions of them are the heroes of post modernists, Mao, Stalin, Lenin, etc… If you want to know what someone will do when in power… look at their heroes.
Post modernists have declared war on the Enlightenment, so the free flow of information must be stopped, well, from them to us, not from us to them. Information is power, and post modernists only recognize power, yet knowledge is only power when there is asymmetric information. So we have a media, that calls itself unbiased, dedicated to promoting asymmetric information, declaring Pizza gate a conspiracy theory without any need to investigate it, they say with a straight face that people beat themselves to death, Benghazi was caused by a video, while keeping Obama’s public information secret. Even as post modernists have set themselves up as the “fact checkers!” Information is the battle field of the twenty first century… and our liberty, or slavery, depends on the outcome.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
