I've been a flawed man all my life; and now I can add old and worn-out to my excuses for imperfection. Be there anyone who ought to thank God for the happiness He has graced me with, it is I. Consequently I fret that I fail to show adequate thanks and faith when I don't speak out, as at least one of my acquaintances demurs, because of those dear held hostage by the more powerful. Anyone who justifies their silence about wrongs they see as being "for the children" is drowning his conscience for short-term gains -- even where not delusional -- at the cost of tossing away liberty and justice to secure the long-term.
If what follows is less than a thorough examination of the resentful and those driven by resentment, it is far better that I try to convince you poorly that this is a matter of grave importance than for me to throw up my hands in frustration and stay silent.
Resentful people at all levels of society, but particularly at its highest levels, have gotten away with murder for far too long. What they murder is peace. Peacefulness allows for the pursuit of happiness by the widest number of people. Happiness, as I'm inferring, is the thing that the unhappy resent the most.
Most all translations of the Ten Commandments have errors in them. Most common among them is the way the 6th is often presented. The correct translation is don't murder, not don't kill. After seeing so much damage brought on by covetousness, I'm almost certain the 10th commandment's listing of only material items not to covet is in error. On the other hand most translations end with "thou shalt not covet anything that is thy neighbors." Thus intangible things your neighbor may own, such as momentary happiness, appear to be included. (I only wish it was among the tangible things that were listed so that it was clearer.)
It seems to me that perhaps the single most important thing never to covet is happiness. Perhaps the biggest reason for this is that there are as many causes for happiness as there are individuals. Unless one is completely deranged, one who aims to destroy of the happiness of another gains nothing. And the problem I'm highlighting is that there seems to be a lot of derangement being nurtured by the even more despicable.
And this brings me to why I am writing this screed. Social Justice is a lie designed to reverse what are justly held possessions and steal portions under cover of smarmy words, claiming the intent to give them to those who have less. These perpetrators claim to be contemporary Robin Hoods, but they are doing to today's legal owners what scoundrel medieval English nobility had done so that Robin Hood had to steal it back to give it to the rightful owners.
Today, as things become ever more unpleasant by interjecting politics into every aspect of life, the rogues and their ever increasing numbers of henchmen plus the usual large number of useful idiots begin to have an ever worse impact on everyone's happiness. They have made it their goal to not let anyone enjoy anything as long as someone somewhere may not be content. Lots of people see it as madness. That's become the common and cavalier way of refusing to acknowledge the evil content of most any threat. Rather than fight evil, they willingly judge the perpetrator(s) as simply mad much as our courts do when deciding not to indict for trial someone deemed insane. It's hard to discern when it is cowardice or laziness that accounts for this. It is certainly not a responsible response.
Echoing what Jordan Peterson said in the video central to my post of last week, those who claim to be seeking social justice for all the best of reasons are effectively lying thieves. It only makes matters worse when they have permitted themselves to believe the lie. So many useful idiots, so few gallows.
For an awful example of a believer in "social justice": those who expressed satisfaction that the targets of the Las Vegas mass killer two days ago were country-music concert goers -- and thus likely "Repugnics" -- are the type who only wish for unhappiness on others to equal their own. Equality seeking at its most low.
Add to that that so few on the
The most reprehensible, of course, are the one who get the ball rolling with the propaganda networks. They stoke dissatisfaction, always for their own sinister purposes. A formerly happy person can be made unhappy when they have reason to fear destruction of their happiness. And that makes the Sinister happy.
Iago did that to Othello. Out of resentment for being passed over he sought revenge by fabrications intended to make Othello jealous that his wife was having an affair with the lieutenant whose promotion initiated Iago's scheming for revenge.
The well-healed in our society are quite well aware of the kind of resentment and the bad consequences portrayed in that particular play. Iago even turns to the audience to explicitly guide the less than bright on how to implement such a scheme. Thus they know how to do it, and full well see the kind of tragedy that can befall a society that is constantly encouraged to covetousness and the envy and jealousies that follow. In my opinion the risk is too great that they must intend for it to be.
I have struggled to write this well enough that more will be convinced that the danger is too high that I am right. I hope it helps the rising generation punish as never before those who either seek to gain temporary happiness at the expense of others, or when unsuccessful, attempt to ruin the happiness of everyone else out of spiteful jealousy. But the most important thing for this generation -- or any other for that matter -- is to always be skeptical enough to be wary of people who peddle dissatisfaction. Thus gladly enjoy your happiness to spite their worst attempts to ruin it.
Oh they may promise you Utopia if you but heed their siren calls. But remember this about Sir Thomas More when he wrote his novel. He knew it was a lie, and hence the translation of Utopia is "no place." My favorite proof that Utopia is allegedly the place where everyone is happy. But if that were so, where would the misanthropes and practical jokers be? Their little secret is that the practical jokers convince large numbers to go there, and only after there do they discover that the misanthropes are running the place.
On the bright side, there seems to be a meme on resentment making the rounds. Since I published Vengeance of the Power Elites Pleases Satan, I stumbled across emissions at two other blogs, Declination and Liberty's Torch, who wrote about the resentful and resentments of the kind needing to be battled much more severely. I spotted a third too, but lost it.
The first of these was inspired by a comment Dystopic received, so that makes 3 people in a short time span. What caused me to notice the first blog piece was that the commenter could have been quoting what Jordan Peterson said in the video published only a couple of weeks ago (Sept 12, 2017), but didn't credit him. All innocent enough because it could simply be that Professor Peterson himself had not started the ball rolling. He simply rang a bell that resonated well with a lot of thoughtful people, and many more heard it because of his renown had risen in great part due to him having been a publicized target of the SJ
So I consider it good that the dangerous emotion known as resentment is getting more attention today. But the attention given it so far doesn't appear to do to much more than provide one more reason to distrust those in power and those seeking it. And that's an old distrust, at least to the political Right of this contemporary world.
What I'm advocating -- and this is different from the others who've dealt with the resentment meme -- is an offensive move in behalf of righteousness for the sake for happiness itself, and not solely to protecting material gains and property (true justice in law) as the SJC would have the world believe.
Those who are unhappy for any reason should not be permitted to destroy, without comeuppance, whatever happiness us poor souls can enjoy. It's long past time for such an offensive to be mounted against them and the rulers and would-be rulers who gain by their demands. The value you place on life hangs in the balance.
Due to lack of time, and not being able to digest it as thoroughly as I will later, I had to scan this and found many brilliant insights in it.
ReplyDeleteI must therefore assume you stole them :)
I will be back to read it more thoroughly later.
This is one of your better articles Pascal and one that goes to the heart of an age old problem as to why humanity is still confined to this day, within a controlled system deliberately imposed by a select few to restrict our spiritual, moral and individual liberty, thus denying us our rightful place within God's universe as free thinking individuals.
ReplyDeleteYour Founding Fathers knew of this imposition which is why 'the pursuit of happiness' was deliberately included into the Constitution and in order to force the individual to ponder what true happiness is.
For what is true happiness but the freedom to wander through life learning about life in this world and to only be beholden to what our Creator has instructed us to observe. Our inalienable right is Freedom, yet we have become limited to the imposed restrictions that are put in place to deliberately restrict one's learning and wandering, and that is now a hallmark of Western culture designed to herd a population to a planned outcome, not to empower it.
It can be shown and proven beyond any doubt in the honest thinker's mind, that a moral and individual people are a truly enlightened people. The American Constitution was written for such a people, and is a document that exposes the ugly dark side of humanity - to those who take to understanding its meaning - and is the prima facie reason for why the American Constitution has been under constant attack ever since it was written.
A great article, well done!