What an extraordinary time in American history this is. We are bifurcated, not into opposing political camps as in normal times, but into opposing realities.
The developing story of Biden-family corruption is, in one of these dimensions of reality, evidence of disgraceful, comprehensive political and moral malfeasance that should utterly, and obviously, disqualify the Democratic candidate for any public office. In that same dimension of reality, the broadening revelations of the Obama administration’s abuse of power, with the media’s eager complicity, disclose the darkest political scandal in living memory. On top of all that, the Left’s religious anti-American zeal — their hatred of the American nation as founded, of the people who created and sustained it for centuries, of the traditional American culture and mythos, and even of the very notion of a common culture itself — constitutes an existential threat to the United States, and to the ordered liberty under the rule of law that it was created to cherish and defend.
In the other dimension of reality, the evidence of the Biden family’s corruption, and that of the previous administration, are non-stories: despite everything that has been revealed, they are nothing more than hostile propaganda. The real evil is Donald Trump, his deplorable supporters in their scores of millions, and the toxic forms, ideals, beliefs, and traditions they hold dear. It is the Trump administration that stands in clear violation of the political and moral order.
Inhabitants of both dimensions will say that they are patriots who love America. The difference is that one side loves America for what it is and was, while the other side will tell you that what they love is the possibility for America to renounce and reject what it is and was — because what it is and was is irredeemably evil — and to become something utterly new.
All of this would be bad enough if the two dimensions existed in truly separate realities. But the dimensions are only partially distinct, and what makes this an existential crisis, rather than a curiosity of political or cultural metaphysics, is that the inhabitants of these dimensions actually share some tangible realities: the physical territory of the United States, and its existing political system. So widely have the two dimensions diverged that each side can hardly imagine how the other can believe its own dimension actually constitutes any sort of reality at all; each believes that it is urgently necessary that the dimension they inhabit be recognized as the real world, lest we fall into a collective abyss — not only of political and cultural insanity, but also moral degeneracy. Each believes that it is locked in mortal combat with an army of devils. And a great battle looms, just a fortnight away.
As bad as 2020 has been so far, soon it may very well seem to have been the “good old days”. Plan accordingly.
4 Comments
Sure.
The folks making that claim worship criminal degenerates and tyranny through biosecurity.
Pretty clear to me who the irredeemably evil ones are.
I suspect that the best we can hope for is some kind of peaceful separation. The “peaceful” part seems pretty remote but it could, perhaps, be done with minimal violence. Certainly with less violence than an attempt by either side to force the other to submit to its dictates. The separation may be more de facto than de jure with various localities and enclaves simply refusing to abide by the laws and regulations of the central authority. We see this already with immigration law and with open defiance by states and localities in the face of attempts by the central government to enforce law and order in the recent and ongoing riots. Some states have legalized drugs still prohibited under federal law and, to my knowledge, no serious attempt has been by the central authority made to force compliance.
Of course, as is the case over and over and over again among humans, conflict will arise between and among these entities regardless of the degree of autonomy claimed or achieved. A balkinized America will war with itself for all the reasons that nations, tribes and clans have used throughout history.
I recently had an exchange with a commenter at the Orthosphere who took exception to a post I’d written in defense of patriarchy. His monomania was female ordination and he took the position that, when St. Paul said women should not talk in church, he really meant they should talk in church. I know that you don’t have a dog in this particular fight, but I think it is a good example of incommensurable realities. I literally cannot talk to a man who reads the printed word so differently than I do. There seems always to be moral censure implied when we say that something has rendered us “speechless,” but I think we should take this as a plain statement of fact. When our worlds get too far apart, speech becomes impossible. And without speech, there is no reasoning. And without reasoning, there is only force.
It is a grievous thing to watch, but American speech is growing more oriental. It always had plenty of buncombe, flimflam and hype, but everyday American speech was remarkably plain, direct and candid. It was free of the obsequiousness, evasion and false piety of what I call oriental speech. Those traits combine under the heading that used to be called oily, and I say our speech is becoming more and more oily.
We should not be distracted by the very abrasive slogans of left-wing rioters and demagogues, since these simply drive everyone else into a protective oiliness. The purpose of oily speech is to appear to say something without saying anything in particular. It is to slip through a conversation rather than give or receive benefit in it.
I’m afraid I’ve begun to ramble, but I’ll make one last point. The recent monument controversy is a good example of the impossibility of common symbols in a deeply divided society. There can be no monuments because there are no common memories. And a society without monuments and common memories is no society at all.
JMSmith,
I think a simple way to look at that would be that our speech is becoming more oily because friction is increasing.