“It Depends Who You Talk To” – Relativism, Nihilism & Mass Insanity

Let’s get some things out of the way, right from the start. Our society is insane. Fromm was right, and there is no doubt about it. Illusions, delusion, lies and half-truths, distortions of the truth, avoidance of reality, denial, psychological numbness, narcissism and disociation are all epidemic. That is in addition to the many serious mental and physical health problems that are created by, and pervasive in, our truly insane, delusional, wildly out of balance society.

How is our society insane or delusional? By thinking that infinite growth is possible on a finite planet, for example. By perpetuating fossil fuel addiction while knowing it is planet-destroying and suicidal, for example. By, for example, fervently believing that the production and consumption of ever greater quantities of material goods and entertainment can solve all of life’s problems, and is itself the source of human happiness – when in fact, this ideology, world-view, psychology, paradigm, or philosophy, is rapidly destroying all life on Earth, as well as being both the cause and the symptom of a pervasive epidemic of spiritual, intellectual, emotional, psychological, political and social decay. That’s just three out of countless examples.

Treating differently-abled people with callousness or disrespect is not a good thing, of course. It should be overcome. It can be overcome, just as other forms of cultural ignorance, bigotry, prejudice, oppression or discrimination can be overcome, by raising awareness. But oppression, injustice, unkindness, prejudice and discrimination cannot be overcome through censorship, or the closing down of freedom of speech.

In fact, the closing down of free speech is about the worst and most dangerous thing that anyone can do. It gives vast powers to those who are power-hungry, and who care nothing about injustice or oppression, but are quite eager to chain and exploit all people for the sake of their own power-lust, egomania and greed. It is imperative that the social justice movements clearly understand that.

Moreover, we must be able to speak about our reality, or the insanity of our society will not be overcome, but will only get worse. And in this case, what we need to directly identify, name, and speak about, is precisely the insanity of the society in which we live: its chronic lies and self-deceptions, its rationalizations, its self-delusions.

The lies, illusions and delusions which grip the majority must be recognized, spoken, and identified for what they are, or we are quite simply doomed, and will wake up in a very Orwellian world where everbody “knows” that 2+2=5, war is peace, and slavery is freedom.

Relativism and nihilism must also be identified and named. There is reality, whether we understand it or not. Therefore there is truth – truth is that which is in accord with reality: truth is reality; reality is truth. Truth is therefore not a social construct, as the addle-minded post-modernists, or neo-Sophists, contend.

Post-modernism is neo-Sophism. It falls apart upon the slightest rigorous examination. It is founded on the dogmatically asserted, anti-doctrinaire doctrine, the fervently, rabidly dogmatic ideology, which claims to be anti-dogmatic and anti-ideological, that all truth is a social construct. That means that people who believe the world is round, and people who think the world is flat, are both right. Clearly, post-modernism is an incoherent and thoroughly self-contradictory plathering of polysyllabic psychobabble, not worth the paper it is written on.

The world is round, not flat. If every media outlet and every “journalist”, pundit and “expert”, and every government “authority”, stated unanimously that the world is flat, and disagreeing with that official narrative is a thought crime, it would still not make the world flat.

It is not a matter of opinion whether the holocaust happened – it did, and was a horrific crime against humanity. It does not “depend on who you talk to” whether or not gravity works – gravity works, period, regardless of what you believe. You can believe anything you like, but if you throw yourself off a cliff, you’re going to fall, and probably die.

We may be clear, partially clear, or unclear, as to the facts. We may be extremely well informed and clear on a subject, or we may be extremely misinformed, deceived or deluded – or we may be anywhere on the spectrum between these two poles, of basic clarity versus basic delusion. But the facts remain the facts. It is not a matter of opinion.

Gravity works, the world is not flat, and facts are facts, regardless of what the frequently deceived and deluded, manipulated masses may be persuaded to believe.

Are we clear on that? I should hope so. A great deal depends on it, including the future of our world, and whether we will be slaves, or free.

JTR,

April 2, 2020