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Quote of the Day: Muggeridge on the Progressive Mind
“One of the great weaknesses of the progressive, as distinct from the religious, mind, is that it has no awareness of truth as such; only of truth in terms of enlightened expediency. The contrast is well exemplified in two exact contemporaries — Simone Weil and Simone de Beauvoir; both highly intelligent and earnestly disposed. In all the fearful moral dilemmas of our time, Simone Weil never once went astray, whereas Simone de Beauvoir, with I am sure the best of intentions, has found herself aligned with apologists for some of the most monstrous barbarities and falsehoods of history.”
— Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge in “A Knight of the Woeful Countenance” in The World of George Orwell (1972) edited by Miriam Gross, p. 167
And here one finds it exactly. For Progressives, means to an end don’t matter. Thus, anything is possible and excusable. For the religious, the means should accord with the goal. The goal gained through ill means is not gained at all, but merely is a step in the wrong direction. For Progressives, elections are far too important to be left in the hands of the unwashed voters. They will achieve their Great Democracy without the common people. You know, the Demos.
Many pundits on Ricochet and other places are talking about the coming red wave. Will the Progressives of both parties allow that? If it is allowed, will it be subverted (again)? What do you think, Ricochet? Will there be odd dumps of votes this election? And will the Republican Party care?
Published in Group Writing
I hope the Republican Party cares. If they don’t then we will have crossed a Rubicon. I fear what could happen to the country if that comes to pass.
I thought it already did several elections ago.
There are people who care and it appears there are people who don’t care. I think those who care have seen about enough of what they have been getting. We’ll see if there is enough of them.
Indeed.
Can’t like that one but I had forgotten about it.
This quote might mean something to me, if I knew anything of significance about the two Simones referenced therein. I had vaguely heard of de Beauvoir, and had the impression that she was some feminist. I don’t think that I’ve ever heard of Weil, and have no idea why she would be considered significant.
Oh, hey, cheating in Philadelphia (or Chicago or Detroit or. . .any big city), another election day that ends in a “Y.”
Dear Jerry,
There is this thing called the Internet, in which you can find more information about almost any topic or famous person. Perhaps when coming across a quotation from an intelligent and literate person in regard to two significant figures of his day, one might delve deeper, rather than dismissing it because one does not know the personalities involved. Or, one could deduce much from the context. Still, two women born in Paris about a year apart:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_Weil
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_de_Beauvoir
I always think of Simone de Beauvoir in relation to Jean-Paul Sartre. And of course, Jean-Paul Sartre always reminds me of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
I’ve read some Sartre. I don’t recommend it. Monty Python is far more substantive.
C’est vrai.
I didn’t read Sartre in French though. It was for a freshman philosophy class and I didn’t know any French then. We did among those I remember Plato’s The Prince and Sartre’s Being and Nothingness. I swore off reading philosophy and have never recovered.
At least it didn’t totally addle your mind as it did to @saintaugustine. 😜
Also, Sartre makes much more sense in the original French while sipping wine and puffing on a Gauloises.
“Existentialism Is a Humanism” is readable. And an essay, not a book. And at least has the Golden Rule, or a version of it. I like Sartre.
Also, apparently he became a theist right before he died, to the annoyance of Simone.
Machiavelli wrote The Prince. Perhaps you mean Plato’s Republic? Did they tell you it was a manual for communism or something?
Why oh why would they have you read THAT one by Sartre??????
My advice: Just read C. S. Lewis. He has all the best ideas from many great philosophers. If you like it enough and feel like it you can find a few short and clearer books he read and read them later. If you don’t feel like it you’ll be fine.
Nonsense. Drink tea, fidget with a pencil or something, and read the English translation.
Why wouldn’t they cheat? They got away with it and convinced weak Republicans to condemn those who do care about honest elections
Yep.
I have released the Kraken!
I loved puffing on Gauloises at one time but I draw the line at wine
Ah, you’re right it was Plato’s Republic that I read. I have also read the Prince (several times). I first read that for a political science class. I have a much higher opinion of Machiavelli than I do of Sartre. Machiavelli really wanted to unify Italy the same way that France was being unified. So in many ways, he was an unsuccessful philosopher. But he illuminates the dark thoughts of power. And that is well worth understanding.
I think there will be a Red Wave, cheating involved on either side or not.
That said, I don’t think the Progressives care at all about what happens to the non-elite, lower ranking Democrats in the Elections, and don’t care if there is a Red Wave (except possibly the gubernatorial races). They are probably quite comfortable as they expect they can continue to rely on the McConnell Uniparty Rinos to do nothing to stop the Executive branch from doing whatever it wants. Which I suspect will be to cast wrath upon the Country for voting ‘New Republican’ Red. This, of course, is what the Progressives want the Executive administration to do — induce pain. They think it will ensure a Progressive will be elected President in 2024. Just as they planned. What?
Elect a Progressive? Sound crazy? Not really. By 2024, unless Joey is reined in, he could have the entire country overwhelmed with fear and begging for relief from the pain they are experiencing. But I don’t think they will blame Joey, I think they will blame the Republican Congress ‘Who did nothing! Again!’ to relieve their pain and that is why in retaliation they will vote for a Progressive aka Democrat for President. We should remember, our opponent always play the long game.
I think the only situations that can somewhat improve the above forecast is:
and, 2. don’t let K.McCarthy, M.McConnell (or their clones) be leader/chairperson/in charge of anything.
I think it is going to be wild next two years. This election will open an opportunity for the New Republican party, but no guarantees will be given.
There’s a scene in Sartre’s The Stranger in which he describes a hot day on the beach, and there’s a knife. Not a hot July goes by that I don’t think of that passage. I was in high school when I read it, and it was so vivid to me who has always hated hot days. This is the beginning of it:
[quote continues in comment 25]
[continued from comment 24]
I did look them up, and read the Wikipedia entries, before commenting. Even the Wikipedia entries seemed quite shallow.
I originally drafted a critical comment, then decided to point out the obscurity of the two people referenced.
I had heard of Muggeridge. Frankly, after reading about Weil, my modestly favorable opinion of Muggeridge declined a bit. So she was a Jewish woman from France, who started as a Bolshevik, and appears to have become a Marxist, pacifist, trade unionist, and anarchist. Despite her pacifism, she fought on the Communist side of the Spanish Civil War. Later, she became some sort of mystic.
She died in 1943 at the age of 34. It appears that she had little influence during life, but became influential after her death.
Of all bizarre things, the Wikipedia entry reports that Pope Paul VI said that she was one of his three greatest influences (with Pascal and Georges Bernanos). One might hope that a Pope would identify, say, Jesus as his greatest influence, along with some of the Apostles, perhaps, or noted theologians. But no, the Vatican II pope apparently was heavily influenced by a Jewish/Marxist/anarchist/mystic.
Don’t even get me started on the feminists like de Beauvoir. I would not grant them the best of intentions. I think that they are generally motivated by the worst of intentions — a deep hatred of motherhood and marriage.
And beyond election concerns, I think this quote is relevant to @she’s post about “Covid Amnesty.” Progressives can go so wrong when they don’t understand that the means to the end matter a lot. I always wondered how so many governors and public health officials couldn’t understand that the costs of lockdowns were more harmful than the benefits they were supposedly intended to produce.
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This is the first Quote of the Day post for the month of November. Sign up to contribute a quote this month here!
The benefit was getting rid of Trump. How can any cost be too great for a benefit like that?
Yeah, it’s the Sam Harris way of thinking.
Ooops! After hearing, uh, ‘Joey’ speak last evening, allow me to admit ‘I may be wrong’ :
— election potentially illegitimate ?
— will take a long time to count the votes ?
BOHICA!