Letters from Ithavoll

One of the chief undertakings of Cultural Marxism is linguistic distortion, so that logic/reason become impossible. Cf. Common Core. In government it's the patois of inversion.

We have more to fear from the monstrosities that the banality of postmodern life calls forth to cure its ennui than we do from direct application of its vapid ideologies.

Poststructuralism is nullified by its own fractalization of identity formation. It has no standing for its critique of outgroup identity politics, because by its own logic there can be no unitary Critic. For there to be a critic there must be a self that is inaccessible to the interrogative amalgamations that might assert a contrary and prior meaning to any possible discourse. All critique of outgroup identity formations is in actuality a radiation of violence from the totalitarian impulse of postliberalism. A rape.

The nature of sudden collapse is that it is always preceded by gradual decay that few notice because they have nothing against which to compare the present conditions of life. This is why the young are particularly susceptible to status quo bias. As someone from an older generation, who's witnessed the sweep of events during a pivotal period, I believe decline can be limned. But circumspection is required. Collapse doesn't happen, and doesn't happen, and doesn't happen... until it does. This is how it often goes. Vesuvius was quiescent long enough for Pompeii to have have been built in its shadow, the illusion of its benignity. The forces behind our malaise are certainly vested in their own survival and enrichment. Some see decay as the advance of the new. For those who worship novelty, this looks like "progress." The fragility of the extant anti-culture is often overestimated by sanguine counter-revolutionaries. Scale and inertia matter. Yet one thing is ...

Why, Shakespeare could have come from any nationality, you see. It's only appropriate we depict him with a golden tan. If you think about it, he merely  happened to be an Englishman. We can't treat accidents as essentials. What matters is Shakespeare's "universal spirit." In fact, since Shakespeare belongs to the world, it's actually racist to try to nationally appropriate him. He's as much the property of China or Zimbabwe as he is of Britain. More so, given the historic wrongs of the white race, which can only be compensated for by a re-appropriation of the stolen literary and artistic gifts of the developing world, which were unfairly distributed in the first place. To deny them their Shakespeare is the sort of cultural colonization we're fighting, and that every supporter of equality should loudly condemn. Q: What about Gabriel Garcia Marquez? A: An immortal representative of the Columbian genius, of course.

Robotics and AI are eliminating lower wage jobs , and will continue to do so. No economist of any standing disputes this claim any longer. Instead, the rear guard of the status quo has changed its tactic from denial outright to that of the lullaby. Sure, the precipitous drop in the cost of automation is affecting employment, but it’s all going to be ok. Trust us. We’re the experts. Thus goes the tune. Bedside, liberal academics offer charming fairy tales such as “re-skilling” and “up-skilling” -all based on a presumption of IQ equality, or at least its mutability. But the former doesn’t exist and the latter is highly limited. By contrast, professional pols on the left are afflicted by a malady one might call Panglossism. More specifically, that there is nothing whatever wrong with the U.S. economy apart from the bugaboos of income inequality and intractable privilege, which we might expect to be remedied in the next pogrom against microaggressors. Thus academia is beginning to admit wh...

The progressive complaint against reaction is its impertinence. In presenting yesterday's "outmoded" thinking  as consisting in permanent values, it fails the fashion test, having the temerity not to know it is vanquished, like spats, or collar bars. Ultimately, progressivism is a disordered aesthetic that assigns merit based on three criteria: 1) currency 2) purity of its hatred for unapproved forms, and 3) transgression of traditional canons. In practical terms, it amounts to a celebration -no, an imposition- of ugliness across the spectrum of human activity. If beauty is what succors the human within us, then ugliness is whatever creates a hospitable environment for that which is post-human, or infra-human.