Francis Berger
  • Blog
  • My Work

Governments Love Sex Addicts

1/23/2019

0 Comments

 
A theme I addressed lightly several times within my novel The City of Earthly Desire was the direct and indirect utilization of pornography as a tool of social and political control. The first mention occurs about halfway through the narrative when Los Angeles porn producer Nick "The Dick" Salvatore provides a brief outline regarding the evolution of pornography in America while he is making his sales pitch to Béla:

"Attitudes are evolving. Folks are more relaxed now. Morals are going out the window. People are waking up to idea that there is no heaven up there. Heaven is down here and sex is the ticket. And governments love the shit we make. It keeps the citizenry docile and distracted, especially the men. And the women? Well, they like to read their porn, but we aren't writers, are we Billy?"

Keeping citizens docile and distracted has been a trademark of governments around the world since ancient times, which is why including the observation in my novel does not constitute an original insight on my part, but rather an acknowledgement that most governments in the West have passively encouraged the pornography deluge of the past fifty or sixty years and have utilized it as a means of social and political control. Nevertheless, very few people in any given country see this connection or are willing to recognize the connection as a fact. 

JM Smith has written an excellent blog post on the subject on The Orthosphere. The post, Who Profits from the Sexual Slave, concisely outlines the main arguments author E. Michael Jones makes in his book Libido Dominandi: Sexual Liberation and Political Control. 

In his blog post, Smith writes:


For some reason, perverted sexual desires—sexual desire turned away from its natural end—is even more importunate, obsessive, and prone to violence.  I do not know why this is so, but believe it is observably true. All men think about sex much more than is strictly necessary, but a pervert thinks about sex all the time.  All men are eager to gratify their sexual desire, but in a pervert this eagerness is a reckless monomania.  That is why he used to be called a sex maniac.

Traditional sexual morality was meant to protect men against becoming sex maniacs by forbidding perversions, and by enjoining a degree of chastity in the marriage bed.  The latter was based on the prudent conviction that, if a man treated his bedroom as a bordello, he would sooner or later begin to treat a bordello as his bedroom.  Traditional sexual morality recognized that human sexual desire has a way of “getting out of hand,” as just about every honest member of our species knows to his (and her) sorrow.

Sexual liberation removed traditional sexual morality and declared a general liberty to indulge in perversion and un-chastity.  It denies that human sexual desire has a way of getting out of hand and calls slavery to sexual desire “natural,” “honest,” and “uninhibited.”  It celebrates a life built around the gratification of sexual desire, and smiles with a special fondness on gratification of almost any sexual desire that is perverted from its natural end.
​

So, sexual liberation produces a nation of sex maniacs and slaves to sex because it releases men to be governed by their desires.  If anyone draws attention to this mania and slavery, he is denounced as a man twisted by the perversion of prudery.

In all honesty, I had never heard of E. Michael Jones or his book before, but a big part of me wishes I had because it may have provided me with information I could have incorporated into my book. Regardless, I will certainly look into his book Libido Dominandi in the near future. Back to the post, I have printed the excerpt from JM Smith above because they not only address many of the same themes and ideas I did include in my novel, but also reveal truths many contemporary people simply refuse to consider, let alone accept. 

Looking back at it now, I suppose part of my motivation for my novel came from, as Smith notes above, the desire to "draw attention to this mania and slavery." I suppose this makes me one of those men "twisted by the perversion of prudery," though I have not been denounced as such yet. 

Yet . . . 
0 Comments

Roll The Dice - One of Bukowski's Best

1/22/2019

0 Comments

 
When I first read this poem many years ago, I interpreted the subject to be writing, and I still feel this to be the case, but having reread it recently, I am struck by the realization that the message Bukowski transmits here can be applied to almost any and every worthwhile pursuit in life - and therein lies its simplistic brilliance.  

​

"Roll the Dice" by Charles Bukowski
from What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire


if you’re going to try, go all the


way.
otherwise, don’t even start.

if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
this could mean losing girlfriends,
wives, relatives, jobs and
maybe your mind.

go all the way.
it could mean not eating for 3 or 4 days.
it could mean freezing on a
park bench.
it could mean jail,
it could mean derision,
mockery,
isolation.
isolation is the gift,
all the others are a test of your
endurance, of
how much you really want to
do it.
and you’ll do it
despite rejection and the worst odds
and it will be better than
anything else
you can imagine.

if you’re going to try,
go all the way.
there is no other feeling like
that.
you will be alone with the gods
and the nights will flame with
fire.

do it, do it, do it.
do it.

all the way
all the way.

you will ride life straight to
perfect laughter, its
the only good fight
there is.
0 Comments

It's Official: Csíksomlyó Pilgrimage In June

1/22/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
I imagine not many people outside the Hungarian-speaking world have ever heard of the Csíksomlyó Pilgrimage,  the annual Pentecost (Whitsun) Pilgrimage of Hungarians to Sumulea, Transylvania, Romania.

Though it is difficult to calculate exact numbers, several hundred thousand pilgrims haven taken part in the event every year in the last decade or two. I have thought about going myself for several years since I discovered Fertőendréd, the village I call home, organizes a trip to Csíksomlyó every year. Oddly enough, it was my wife who insisted we finally make the journey. I agreed wholeheartedly. 

I can't wait for June. 
0 Comments

Jordan Peterson's Philosophy is a House Built On Sand

1/21/2019

2 Comments

 
I have recently taken some flak for my blog post Jordan Peterson: A Black Hole and a Mirror, which I wrote back on December 12, 2018. Some found my criticisms of Peterson unfair or too subjective; others were quick to point out that I had neglected to mention the positive in Peterson's thinking and the good he often espouses.

I took a moment to reread the post and immediately understood why my thoughts regarding Peterson were being challenged. I expressed myself rather sloppily in that post, and my metaphors were quite muddled. Regardless, I still firmly stand by the main idea I clumsily attempted to put forth in that post - on the whole, Jordan Peterson is net harmful. Following his teachings and ideas might lead to some temporary good, but the entirety of his philosophy lacks a proper basis, so in the long term it can only lead to harm, and will definitely fail in the end. I will try to make my point more explicitly by using another analogy that will, hopefully, be more easily understood.

For me, Jordan Peterson's philosophy is like the architectural blue prints for a beautiful house. The house itself appears wonderful and solid, containing all the bells and whistles you could wish for - four bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, a massive living room, gorgeous hardwood floors, a state-of-the-art kitchen and all the rest of it. You take the blue prints and start building the house in a breathtaking landscape that offers inspiring and panoramic views from all sides. When you are finished, you pack up your things and in you move.

For a few days, weeks, or years, you will truly feel at home, comfortable and content. When you glance out the massive windows, you are fed nothing but inspiration. You have finally found your place in the world; a place you belong; a place where things make sense; a place that offers a future; a place you'll finally be happy. You begin to decorate the house to your taste - not deviating from the blue prints too much, of course. You paint the walls and hang some pictures to make the house a little more your own. As you do so, you notice fine cracks in the walls. At night, you begin hearing strange creaks and groans. The days pass and the cracks get bigger. One day you wake up and notice half of the house has sunken into the earth. A few days later the roof splits in two as the sunken half of the house keeps sinking. Before you know it, a major exterior support wall collapses, and your dream house eventually submerges into the ground leaving no trace of its existence behind. And there you are, left with nothing but the crumpled blueprints clenched tightly in your hand.

Simply put, Jordan Peterson's philosophy is like the house described above - a house built on sand. Like the attractive, seemingly solid-looking house above, the problem with Peterson's philosophy lies in its foundation. 

If this story above sounds familiar, then you are more aware of New Testament parables than you might care to admit: 

24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.  (
Matthew 7:24-27) 

I am not arguing that Jordan Peterson has no good ideas or talking points, or that his lectures and speeches do not, indeed, present some aspects of truth, beauty, and goodness. The problem is this - the totality of his good ideas is based on something inherently inferior, false, and foolish, and this pretty much guarantees his ideas, even the best of them, lack solid support and will ultimately fail at the most meaningful "level of analysis" (to borrow one of Peterson's own phrases). 

Ultimately, Jordan Peterson is very much like the foolish builder above; though he has evidently spent a considerable amount of time studying Christianity, he refuses to hear the sayings and do them. Consequently, he has built his philosophical house on sand.

Having said this, I have nothing against those who find some utility in his work. I was favorably disposed to Peterson myself for many months before I gradually recognized the fatal foundational flaw in his thinking. Of course, Peterson still has time to build on a rock should he so choose, but somehow I doubt he ever will. 
2 Comments

The Joy of Having a Study to Call Your Own

1/20/2019

0 Comments

 
Until the age of eight, I shared a room with my younger sister, but after my parents purchased our first family home in a small town north of Toronto, Canada, I finally got a room of my own. Without going all Virginia Woolf about it, I will simply state that having a space to myself did wonders for my imagination and creativity. Not long after getting my own bedroom, my parents were kind enough to buy me an electric Smith Corona typewriter for my tenth birthday, and I spent countless hours at my desk - with the bedroom door closed, of course - typing away at my first short stories and early attempts at novels.

Writing is a solitary activity. Though some writers like working in bustling places like restaurants or cafés, I have always preferred the seclusion of a quiet room. As a teenager I began to yearn for a good, old-fashioned gentleman's study, the kind I sometimes saw in films depicting Victorian England, and I made a vow to create a space like that for myself once I had my own house.

Acquiring a house took a decade or two longer than I had originally anticipated, but I am happy to report that I have finally achieved the goal I had set for myself when I was a teenager - I finally have a study to call my own. Of course, creating a study was not my first priority when I purchased this house in Fertőendréd, but once the other essential renovations - floors, electrical and plumbing upgrade, new furnace, roof repair, exterior and interior insulation, painting, new kitchen and bathrooms - were complete, I finally had the chance to turn my attention to creating that study I have always dreamed about. 

The space is still a work in progress, but I have installed wall-to-wall bookshelves along the north wall and have placed my old, antique, double sided desk prominently near the center of the room. I purchased a carpet and even have a deer antler trophy on the wall. I have no real desire to make the room as opulent and rich as a Victorian study, but I have plans to buy a couple of nice chairs, some paintings, a reading chair of some kind, and perhaps some kind of chaise longue or small sofa on which I could take naps on rainy Sunday afternoons.

Though the study is only technically half finished, it is perfectly functional, and after many, many years of reading and writing in whatever space happened to be convenient in the various apartments my wife and I rented around the world, I finally have a study to call my own, but unlike my bedroom in my family's first home in Canada, I never close the door to my study because I am not the only person who uses the space.

My son staked his territory on the other side of my double sided desk not long after 
I put some temporary chairs into the room. He filled the drawers on the other side of the desk with his pencils, crayons, books, and drawings and stated he would do his work in the room as well. He has kept his word and often comes into the room while I am working and proceeds to do his homework or draw his latest masterpiece. During these times I often pause to help him, or set aside my work and join him in sketching dragons or robots or whatever creatures he happens to find interesting that particular day. Sometimes I read to him, or help him practice his writing. Sometimes we just sit and chat. The whole time I cannot help but think how wonderful it is to have a study to call my own, and how wonderful it is to have someone else with me in this study I call my own.  
0 Comments

Kosovo - A Short Film By Korab Uka

1/19/2019

0 Comments

 
Korab Uka is a young filmmaker from New York City whose credits include working on the production of the feature film Deviant, which was released in 2017. I was lucky enough to have this talented young man as a student for a year or two when I worked as a high school English and history teacher in the Bronx, NY., and I am thrilled to see him making progress as he pursues his ambitions.

This past summer, Korab visited his homeland of Kosovo after an eight year absence and made a short film about the trip. Shot entirely on an IPhone SE, Korab nonetheless does an amazing job detailing what the return to his homeland meant to him. The film is a great example of being able to do a lot with a little. Though only five minutes long, Korab's film succeeds in capturing the experience as well as the feeling and emotions of returning home after a long absence. 

I sincerely hope I will see more of this young man's work in the future.  
0 Comments

There is Nothing Positive About Pornography

1/18/2019

0 Comments

 
At one level, my novel The City of Earthly Desire is a polemic against pornography. I wrote the novel partly to confront my own previously held attitudes concerning the subject which, if my assumptions are correct, probably mirror the attitude most people hold today - that pornography is essentially harmless, a personal matter, a guilty pleasure, a form of entertainment, etc.

I admit it, for much of my adult life I  believed there was nothing particularly wrong with watching pornography or the existence of the porn industry. Yet, no matter how much I thought I believed these things, deep down I always knew pornography was not good - that there was something inherently harmful and pernicious about creating it, participating in it, viewing it and, as it is often phrased today, consuming it. I wrote The City of Earthly Desire partly to challenge these previously held views of mine; writing the novel turned out to be the first step toward the eventual but total elimination of pornography from my life. 

I will elaborate on the subject of pornography in future posts, but for the time being I will leave a link to a rather gruesome story that provides a rather shocking example of the harmful effects pornography can unleash on individuals and society. Of course, the story is an extreme example, and any porn apologist worth his or her salt could easily develop an argument to challenge it as proof of the innate harmfulness of pornography in general.

I admit, I would concede to a certain point - the story in the link truly is an extreme case example, but, I would argue, these extreme cases are now increasingly common, and that alone points to something. Regardless, instances like the one described in the link do not address the subtler negative effects of pornography consumption which, in the long-term, are likely far more pernicious. I will address those effects and develop some arguments against pornography consumption in future blog posts. 

For now I will simply offer the following once again - let the porn enthusiasts and apologists say what they will, but in my view there is nothing positive about pornography.

Full stop. 
0 Comments

In A World Without Meaning, Pleasure Is All That Remains

1/17/2019

0 Comments

 
"The only moral imperative left to us is pleasure. The only thing we can aspire to is enjoyment."

Anthony Vergil, a character from my novel The City of Earthly Desire, speaks these words when he is confronted by the notion of meaning. An unabashed hedonist, Vergil, who is also simply referred to as Verge in the novel, is a paradoxical character. He fully accepts and understands that, at its most fundamental level, life does possess meaning, purpose, and instrinsic value, and that the meaning, purpose, and value of life are primarily nested in religious and moral principles, yet he rejects these principles on the basis of what he sees as indisputable proof of the thorough defeat of meaning in our contemporary world.

In the novel he deduces that if the concept of meaning were truly valid, it would have easily withstood any and all assaults launched against it. The fact that meaning has been so devastatingly vanquished by nihilistic forces proves, to him at least, that any belief in meaning, noble though it may be, is essentially weak and illusory. Simply put, if meaning, as well as the moral and religious principles supporting it, was real and vigorous, not only would it successfully rise to meet any challenge facing it but it would also, ultimately, defeat the challenges in a decisive manner. Its perceived failure to do so proves, to Verge at least, that the forces of nihilism are far more powerful, hence real, than the forces of meaning. Rather than struggle against the nihilism eclipsing the West, Verge chooses instead to embrace nihilism wholeheartedly in what amounts to little more than a "if you can't beat them, join them" mentality." Once he has embraced nihilism, Verge is quick to notice all that remains to him is pleasure, and he proceeds to make hedonism foundation of his life.

He reveals his ontological outlook in the following manner:

“We are past the point of no return, gentlemen. To borrow a phrase from Pope, universal darkness has buried us all. We have all been enslaved by the empty promise of freedom. This is the sad truth; there is no denying it. All that remains for us in this time of decay is the unrestrained enjoyment of pleasure . . . little indulgences.”

I explored this theme and created the Anthony Vergil character to reflect what I believe to be one of the most pervasive dilemmas in the West. We in the West have suffered and are continuing to suffer through a catastrophic crisis of meaning. Like Verge, I believe many in the West have examined the religious and moral principles that were once the cornerstones of our culture and civilization, but have found them lacking.

I suspect many no longer accept these religious and moral principles for the same reason Verge cannot accept them. In other words, the rejection stems not so much from antagonism or hostility, but rather from a reasoned acceptance that past notions of meaning cannot be truly valid, for if they were they would have better withstood the test of time and progress. That meaning has not formidably withstood the pressures of time and progress illustrates that it is archaic, obsolete, and essentially useless. If this is the case, why struggle against the current of the times? 

The rejection of meaning and the meaning inherent in religious, social, and political structures lures one into nihilism. Though modern people are more than happy to reject moral and religious principles, they are not too keen to adopt a thorough belief in nothing; hence, the ultimate meaning in life becomes pleasure. Enlightened governments and social institutions have been eager to support this shift under the banner of liberty, freedom, and equality. As Verge notes in the novel: 


"That is the trick, you see. Use freedom and equality to create a world without spirit! Liberate us from everything that once defined us as human beings. Free us from the bondage of morality, responsibility, decency and unleash us upon the world with no higher goal than to gratify our passions!”

Passion gratification and pleasure seeking have thus become the new cornerstones of our culture and civilization (insofar as you can still truly call what exists today culture and civilization). Absolute values are meaningless in such a world, which causes previously held distinctions to blur. Inversions quickly follow. Suddenly, the difference between good and evil is not easy to define. The same applies to other dichotomies such as truth and untruth; and beauty and ugliness. Concepts like higher and lower also become meaningless, even in pleasure. Furthermore, those in power begin to use pleasure to distract and control the masses. The powerful understand that lower pleasures are the most effective mechanisms for control and actively encourage people to indulge in increasingly baser pursuits, something Verge states in the novel: 

"People have been conditioned to heed only their urges and desires – the lower, the better."

Wallowing in pleasure is enough to satisfy most people in our contemporary society, but for some the question of meaning remains, like a persistent itch that begs to be scratched. In The City of Earthly Desire, Béla confronts Verge about the inadequacy of pleasure and the need for meaning: 

Béla scowled. “If pleasure is all we have left then what’s the point of it all?”

“That’s precisely it! There is no point to it all!” Verge stepped out from behind the table and pointed his finger at Béla in an accusatory fashion. “Pleasure is all we have because pleasure is all we deserve. Pleasure is meaning. Death is lack of meaning. There is nothing else in-between.”


and later in the same scene:

“If pleasure is the only meaning, then we are not fully human.”

“Exactly! For centuries we wholeheartedly believed we were part of divine creation. We based our entire existence around the core of this belief. Well, I have news for you, dear chap – that belief is no longer valid. It has been stolen from us by the same people who fight for social justice and struggle against the tyranny of oppression. It is they who have reduced us to the level of animals. We are objects – commodities to be bought and sold. The quicker you accept that imposed truth, the happier you’ll be!” 


At this point some will inevitably make their toward or begin making their way back toward the meaning, purpose, and value contained within religious principles, but this remains an unacceptable option for many. People in the latter category will forgo a sincere acceptance of meaning and continue to substitute it with the faux meaning contained in social and political activism, as Verge points out after Béla complains about the inherent lack of meaning in life:

“It’s not worth it. I’m bored with the little indulgences. They’re fun for a while, but when they end, I feel empty inside. It’s nothing but meaningless pleasure,” Béla muttered.

A distraught look came over Verge’s face. He looked down at the photographs and pushed them about on the table with his hands. “Pleasure is the only meaning we have left. It is both foolish and dangerous to believe you need more.”

“I need to have some meaning in my life,” Béla said in exasperation.

“You want meaning? Delude yourself into believing you are working to make the world a better place. Work toward social justice or battle against oppression or join the struggle to save the environment or some other such nonsense,” Verge said stifling a yawn.
 
“That’s not what I meant,” Béla said. 


The essence of what I have communicated in my novel can be reduced to the following:
  • abandoning the meaning inherent in religious and moral principles has reduced our humanity and our understanding of the world
  • denying meaning can be equated with denying reality
  • if you deny reality, pleasure not only becomes the only value, it becomes a necessary value as it is the only positive one available 
  • substituting meaning with the meaning supposedly found in humanitarian activism is not only inadequate, but harmful to both the individual and society

Since I began this post quoting Anthony Vergil, I will conclude by doing the same. I believe the line below best summarizes and addresses those who have actively and purposefully accepted the belief that life has no meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.

"Pleasure is all that remains because pleasure is all you deserve."
0 Comments

Hungarian Folk Music - A Glimpse into the Spirit of a People

1/16/2019

0 Comments

 
Most people in the Anglo West know little about Hungary, which is understandable. A small landlocked nation of just under ten million, Hungary seems rather insignificant in the international grand scheme of things. What most Anglo Westerners know of the country usually boils down to the following: goulash, Budapest, goulash, Franz Liszt, and the 1956 revolt against Soviet rule, which was probably about goulash. I do not hold this against Americans, Brits, Canadians, and the rest of the Anglo West. In all fairness, I know very little about Bulgaria and Moldova, so hey. 

Regardless, interest in Hungary and Hungarian culture has been steadily increasing over the past few decades, and the number of tourists visiting the country has rocketed in the last ten-to-fifteen years. Tourism interest from Asian countries appears to be particularly high, but Americans and Brits have been coming in droves as well. I imagine those people who have taken an interest in Hungary probably browse the internet and the library in search of resources through which they can learn a little about the country. Though I wholeheartedly support anyone who makes the effort to study and learn about Hungarian culture, or any culture for that matter, I humbly suggest that guidebooks or internet sites or history books are not the best resources to start with if one is truly interested in knowing something of another country's culture. To truly catch a glimpse into a nation's soul, to feel the pulse of the people's blood, and understand the spirit of a culture, one must begin with music. 

Hungary has a rich musical legacy that includes internationally reknowned masters such as Ferenc Liszt (mentioned above) and Béla Bartok, but it is in Hungarian folk music that one can really get a sense of the spirit that rustles and moves the Magyar soul. Stemming from mostly peasant traditions, Hungarian folk music offers a genuine insights into the land and people.

Folk traditions varied from region to region, but many of these have been preserved, thanks, in no small part, to the efforts of Ferenc Liszt and Béla Bartok. Regional variations aside, the basic characteristics of Magyar Népzene (Hungarian folk music) are fairly standard - violins, violas, and a bass form the core of a given folk band. Vocal accompaniment can take many forms, but a single female or male voice is the most common.

Hungarian folk song themes span the spectrum of human emotion - from love, joy, elation, and hope to heartbreak, sadness, defiance, loss, mourning, and despair. The arrangement of the music itself - an enigmatic blend of rhapsodic flourishes and mournful wails - tugs at the soul regardless of the subject matter, but it is quite telling that even the most jubilant songs are often tinged with a hint of melancholia revealing something that is not only an innate part of the Hungarian psyche, but has also, perhaps, become a part of the nation's inherited collective wisdom. 

The folk song sample I have included below features the outstanding contemporary Hungarian folk singer Ágnes Herczku. Listen to this for ten minutes and I guarantee that you will know more about Hungary and its people than any history book could describe.  
0 Comments

One of the Most Harmful and Foolish Platitudes? “I’m okay with it, as long as they don’t force it on me.”

1/15/2019

0 Comments

 
“I’m okay with it, as long as they don’t force it on me,” was something I used to say quite often in the 1990s when I was young and held more or less purely libertarian views. The expression was a common one during that time and seemed an appropriate response to the issues spreading from the social justice plague that was still in its incubatory phase back then. Like me, I imagine people used the “I’m okay with it” phrase when they were confronted by something disagreeable, but were willing to it tolerate for the sake of avoiding conflict.

I used the phrase primarily to get along with others. I found the expression appealing because it seemed to offer a bough of appeasement while simultaneously maintaining a sense of steadfastness. Like all appeasements, the “I’m okay with’ platitude was a soothing blend of what were essentially two contradictory statements occupying the dividing line between surrender and ultimatum, weakness and strength, tolerance and intolerance, acceptance and rejection, vice and virtue, and open-mindedness and close-mindedness.
 
On the surface, it was all very noble and diplomatic. Through the phrase, I could essentially communicate some or all of the following – that I did not really accept / approve of / care about / want to think about the thing in question, but was willing to acknowledge / tolerate / ignore its existence as long as the thing remained somewhere in the external world, far away from me, and that I would not allow this external thing to be forced upon me, because when all was said and done, I did not really understand / subscribe to / approve of / endorse the thing itself.
 
This live and let live sentiment seemed to be the epitome of a classic win-win in my mind. I could essentially acknowledge the liberty of others while staunchly defending my own freedom at the same time. Also appealing was the subtle warning this “I won’t bother you if you don’t bother me” approach contained. I had drawn a line in the sand that could not be crossed, and if the line were crossed, not only would I vehemently defend myself, but I could even go on the offensive. When I spoke the phrase, I assumed the parties at whom I aimed this sentiment of acceptance / tolerance held an attitude similar to mine, that they would be grateful of my acceptance / tolerance and, in return, would respect my freedoms and leave me well enough alone.
 
But this is not what happened. As the years passed, the line I had drawn kept getting encroached upon – and when I offered no real resistance, other people were quick to draw their own lines around me, lines that effectively trapped magnanimous appeasers like me who had so nobly attempted to protect and respect the liberties of all.
 
Though I don’t like the concept of the culture wars, it could be argued that these wars had been won and lost on the back of the “I’m okay with it, as long as they don’t force it upon me” phrase. Looking at the statement today, I see it as nothing more than a self-constructed Trojan horse that I had unwittingly deployed against myself. By speaking those words, I had admitted unacknowledged enemies into my fortress.
 
In retrospect, I realize the “I’m okay with it” phrase contained two fatal errors. The first error was indirect endorsement. Although I did not recognize it at the time, signaling tolerance and acceptance of a thing I sincerely considered unacceptable actually helped to legitimize it. The second error within the phrase was the tacit consent it implied. Since “I’m okay with it” was not an outright objection, it could be interpreted as consent. In other words, not voicing an explicit disagreement equaled implicit agreement.
 
Stating that you would not accept having a thing forced upon you and then capitulating for the sake of appeasement was the second flaw within the sentiment. As I stated earlier, when I spoke the phrase “I’m okay with it, as long as they don’t force it on me,” I assumed the people on the other side of a given issue were also in the live and let live camp. This, of course, proved false as most adhered instead to the live and let die philosophy.

It also never occurred to me at the time that telling the world you would tolerate a thing without wanting any part of it essentially amounted to little more than confirmation of your disapproval of the thing in question; naturally this was intolerable to those who considered the thing good.

After all, how could I not want to be a part of the thing I had indirectly endorsed and tacitly consented to? If I was okay with, how could it, in essence, be bad? The answer was simple – it couldn’t be. Thus, the thing was obviously good, and the problem squarely resided in me. Any unwillingness to freely celebrate and support a good thing revealed I was, at best, a primitive simpleton or, at worst, a hate-filled, hypocritical bigot. As appeasers like me quickly learned, there was no place in the world for hate-filled bigots openly hostile to the good. When the attacks against the “I’m okay with it” appeasers inevitably began, a volley of accusations was usually all that was required to reduce even the staunchest defenses to rubble. I survived by sentencing myself to a self-imposed exile.
 
Nearly thirty years have passed since then and I seldom hear the phrase “I’m okay with it, as long as they don’t force it upon me” anymore. Most of the people who used to proclaim such sentiments have either freely submitted to or have been pummeled into submission by the leftist agenda. Besides, being okay with it, whatever it happens to be, is barely adequate today. Today “it” must be wholeheartedly supported, endorsed, promulgated, celebrated and embraced. The slightest failure to do so immediately creates suspicion, and inevitably leads to consequences. Barely anyone spouts noble refusals at being forced into anything anymore. If refusals are heard at all, most ring hollow and empty.
 
Of course, you will never hear leftists speak phrases like “I’m okay with, as long you don’t force it upon me.” Contemporary leftist convictions are clearer and firmer than libertarian appeaser convictions were in the 1990s. Leftists refuse to be okay with anything not fitting their particular set of values, and are quick to make that known. Unlike the appeasers, the leftists show little interest getting along with others. They prefer simply getting on. And getting on requires you either get with it or get lost.
 
When all is said and done, “I’m okay with it as long as they don’t force it on me” is a harmful and foolish phrase because it seeks to appease. Though it aims to placate and pacify, it does little more than provoke and inflame. In a way, the saying reminds me of Neville Chamberlain stiffly holding aloft that limp piece of paper he had brought back from Germany as he proudly declared he had secured peace in his time. Chamberlain’s example shows that appeasement as a strategy is, more often than not, utterly ineffectual.
 
At the personal/spiritual level, it is always ineffectual because, contrary to what we may believe, appeasement comes not from love, but fear, which is why avoiding the strategy altogether seems not only prudent, but necessary.
0 Comments
<<Previous
Forward>>
    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Blog and Comments

    Blog posts tend to be spontaneous, unpolished, first draft entries ranging from the insightful and periodically profound to the poorly-argued and occasionally disparaging.
     

    Comments are moderated. Anonymous comments are never published (please use your name or a pseudonym). 

    Emails welcome:

    f er en c ber g er (at) h otm   ail (dot) co m
    Blogs/Sites I Read
    Bruce Charlton's Notions
    Meeting the Masters
    From The Narrow Desert
    Synlogos ✞ Aggregator
    New World Island  
    New World Island YouTube
    ​Steeple Tea
    Berdyaev.com
    Adam Piggott
    Fourth Gospel Blog
    The Orthosphere
    Junior Ganymede

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    June 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012

    Picture
    A free PDF is also available in My Work. 
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.