37 Comments
Apr 14, 2023Liked by Colin Wright, Matthew Meade

The gender cult is most definitely an emergent American faith movement.

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Very well done. The passing of hate crime laws was the Pandora's Box. It was the first massive anti-Americanism mistake, because it opened up the door for the mindset of words being violence, and we keep paying the price.

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Apr 14, 2023Liked by Matthew Meade

Excellent article.

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Apr 14, 2023Liked by Matthew Meade

"Gender affirming care" is the Piltdown Man of the 21st century.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn15012-eleven-of-the-greatest-scientific-hoaxes/

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>>Consequently, geographic location became strongly linked to belief systems, with Puritans congregating in New England, Anglicans dominating Virginia, and Pilgrims choosing Plymouth.

The Pilgrims were Puritans, and Plymouth is New England.

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A large part of the problem is the enormous bloating of the federal government. The Founding Fathers *never* intended to federal government to grow to anywhere near the size that it has. With its being such an enormous, all-encompassing entity expected to provide for people and manage every little detail of their lives, it is inevitable that people will struggle for control of it and abuse its power to cram down their dogma onto society.

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Dawkin's idea of the meme is brilliant, especially considering it was invented decades ago, and he is rightly held in esteem for his science, but I have to agree with Haidt. I tried to read a book on atheism by Dawkins a decade ago expecting to really like it and couldn't make it through the first chapter. Dawkins had turned his belief in atheism into a religion, and an ugly one. Dawkin's disdain for non believers in his doctrine was really off putting. He had taken the worst of organized religion for himself, not the best.

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I believe "drinking the Kool-Aid" came from Tom Wolfe's book "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test", in which there was an account of a Grateful Dead event in the 60's. Kool-Aid was spiked with LSD in one barrel, and was not in another. The barrels were clearly labeled so people wouldn't drink from the wrong barrel. "Drinking the Kool-Aid" then came to mean you were willing to ingest the drug by drinking the Kool-Aid from the LSD-labeled barrel.

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Matt, thank you for a well written article that I hope challenges people from varied backgrounds and ideals to come together. Bickering between individuals/groups over things more trivial than what is truly facing our civilization is nothing more than wasted breath.

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Excellent. In-depth analysis. Bravo. Good read. I’m plowing through The War on the West right now and it covers some similar ground.

For an in-depth discussion on Orwell: https://michaelmohr.substack.com/p/george-orwell-a-life

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Nice. I definitely appreciate the lineage of nominalism from where you entered it at the invention of the 'movable' printing press, and your documentation of selected offshoots. America was founded on nominalism, and the extreme ontological individualism that naturally accompanies it. The original idea of democracy (ancient Athens) was a means to appease those who opposed rule. The use of rhetoric combined with the 'appearance' of ways to bridge the chasm between dualistic stances was the intention of America's founding fathers. Nominalism was prominent at the time of the establishment of our government, but the fragmentation that followed was inevitable. So, here we are. It's not rocket science. It has happened because we have worshipped words and suppressed the teaching of true history. .... Here's a revealing article that just barely touches on what we are going to have to deal with over the next few decades. Logos will 'do Its thing' with analog, and it will be harsh. ..... https://www.wired.com/story/unbelievable-zombie-comeback-analog-computing/?fbclid=IwAR0Gt8BKt8RcOUFJDYeQEMtfMO9oTZ077I-04teN7bfqIQRzt-JVH1HFzZk

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I know somebody will roll their eyes at what Im about to say but....

You just completely skipped over the founding fathers need for power and their use of religion to that end. You stated that there were women who became idols but you did not acknowledge that the FF were also idolized. And you completely skipped over slavery which called to question each and every leaders since of moral standing and decency. Was it logical? (Use other humans to do the work you don't want to do even though you understand they just as human as you are because...money) Maybe. Was it right? (Using religion to justify it and teach them that they were born for it and treat them like animals so they believe it) Nope.

"What happens when an idea comes into vogue that isn’t just tinkering with the Great Experiment–but actively dislikes the entire enterprise, including its scientific ideals?"

I think I understand what you've getting at with this question. That activism have become a complete dislike of fundamental principles of America. But think about the fact that slavery was a core foundational enterprise that made America into a powerful nation and the richest nation. There had to be people who not only disliked the enterprise but hated it enough to tear it down! And I'm glad they did.

"Lincoln realized that social enforcement mechanisms can be just as effective at suppressing ideas as laws. He knew that changing laws and hearts was necessary to combat injustice."

Social enforcement mechanisms don't change the desire for power and greed though. Changing hearts? People don't change other people's hearts. Consequences and laws change behaviors.

I agree with much of what you shared about identity and the internet, but you dont seem to recognize the distinction between reasonable and logical activism toward social change and illogical weaponization of activism for individual glorification.

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In my opinion, America is in a steep decline. I’d love to be more optimistic, however, until postmodernism runs it’s course (and we’ve somehow survived) and we have one or two generations of studies done on the effects of transgenderism and the narcissistic views of identity politics on our culture and society as a whole, the push to destroy faith and family, and eliminate our illustrious history continues.

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“while Republicans endorsed philosophies like “greed is good”, promoting selfishness as a moral obligation.”

What????????

“Greed is good” was a line in the movie Wallstreet not from any Republican belief.

If selfishness is a belief of Republicans, then why do Republicans give more to charities than Democrats?

Republicans belief is that a “hand up is better than a hand out” which originates from the Bible which says something like “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime “.

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"The eventual switch to an Anglican Britain came too late for many. Under duress, a hodgepodge of British migrants fled to the American colonies"

Anglicanism was founded in 1534. The pilgrims first came to America in 1620.

What do you mean "The eventual switch to an Anglican Britain came too late for many"? Seems like the pilgrims were fleeing Anglican Britain.

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There is no point on the Haidt side of the first table that Dawkins would not agree with. Saying they have opposing viewpoints is an indefensible invention.

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