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Progressivism Leads to School Shootings. And Much, Much More.
Dennis Prager has said that the fastest growing religion in the world is progressivism, which has been described as “the politics of jealousy.” Winston Churchill famously described it thus: “Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.” Robert Kraft has said that “Envy and jealousy are incurable diseases.” The culture of progressivism (which I generally describe as a religion, like Prager) is spreading throughout our society, and we are just now beginning to see the consequences of this. This is intentional. Most progressives don’t just come out and say that they seek a fundamental transformation of our society like Obama, but that is what they are working towards. And they are succeeding.
Grade inflation and giving every kid a trophy results in training our children that since they cannot perform badly enough to lose, they also cannot perform well enough to win. A trophy is bestowed upon them by the authorities regardless of the effort and skill shown by the children. The trophy was given to them. They didn’t earn it. That seems like a small point, but it is huge. Because if your victories are not really your doing, then your failures are not your fault, either. Which means that when something goes wrong, it must be someone else’s fault. The resulting resentment is poison. You don’t have to earn a comfortable living – it is your right. So if you want something (and the ability of humans to want things is infinite), then you don’t go work for it. You deserve it. So you go take it.
I used to wonder how the 10th commandment made it past God’s editing process and into publication. The other commandments made perfect sense: Thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, and so on. But thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s donkey? What the heck? But God knew men, and he knew of our potentially destructive tendency to reduce our competitive drive to mere jealousy, and he knew what that could lead to. If you want a donkey, get your own. Go earn it. Don’t be jealous of someone else’s donkey. That is poison to a society. But the effort that goes into earning a donkey or some other good, that is helpful to society.
So rather than leading our children to a chance at happiness through gratitude and humility, we teach them jealousy, entitlement, and thus self-centeredness, which removes any chance at happiness. Some say that social media causes depression. I think social media just exacerbates jealousy in many people, which leads inexorably to misery like night follows day. I don’t post on Facebook pictures of me going to work every day. I only post pictures from our vacation in the Caribbean once a year, which is more interesting and fun. Multiply that times a friends list of 250 people, and it’s hard to avoid at least the occasional twinge of jealousy.
Why is the left so violent? Why did Tea Party demonstrations result in clean parks while demonstrations by environmentalists result in at least a holy mess and sometimes violence? I think that lack of gratitude and humility leads to resentment and bitterness. And violent street protests. And anger at authorities when you don’t get what you want. And blaming society for one’s problems.
And yes, I think this leads to school shootings, as well.
I went to high school in rural Ohio in the 1980s. Our student parking lot could have been viewed as a fleet of heavily armed pickup trucks. Guns were so commonplace that they weren’t really even noted. We all hunted and fished. Another difference was that there were more fist fights in the parking lot after school. This is unheard of now since a simple playground scuffle can land a kid in jail. But it was considered typical boys’ behavior then. But even in the heat of the moment during a fist fight, it never occurred to any of us to use our guns on one another. Something is different now. It’s not the guns. It’s us.
My contemporaries in high school, when they failed at something, would either work harder and try to succeed, or they would go do something else. Now, high school angst can lead to hatred of other people. Telling kids their whole lives that they don’t fail at things, and problems are usually someone else’s fault, that is dangerous. Predictably dangerous. The progressive’s fostering of resentment resonates with teenagers, and this can have catastrophic consequences. I think school shootings are just one of these consequences.
Progressives are blaming conservatives for the breakdown of our previously peaceful society. They say that guns are making our society too violent as if spoons are making our society too fat. But the guns are not making our society violent – the people are. The people who have been not been taught responsibility, gratitude, and humility, but instead are raised in an environment of entitlement, jealousy, and misery. We did this to ourselves. And we did it intentionally.
Unlike the progressive habit of blaming our troubles on someone else, in this case, we have no one to blame but ourselves.
Joseph de Maistre said, “Every nation gets the government it deserves.” The government that is deserved by a nation of jealous and bitter people is terrifying.
Right now they’re just smoking pot to dull the pain, and occasionally shooting one another. Wait ‘til these kids are 50 years old and running our government and military. Obama was just a taste. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Published in General
Every time a US competitor is out of the medals or near the bottom of a long list of tiny countries’ competitors in these Olympic Games , I curse progressives.
This, coupled with human nature, is a recipe for disaster. Rome’s decline will seem gentle compared to our crash.
Yes. Fortunately unlike then, civilization exists outside America. I keep saying that other countries are picking up the mantle we are shedding.
Our country will collapse, all great nations collapse under the decadence created by their own success. America is not immune from the forces of human nature. The only real question is, who will pick up the ideas of liberty?
And yes, what I call the “Cult of Self-Esteem” contributes to teenagers thinking that shooting up a school is an acceptable response to the universe not being designed to maximize their happiness.
I so want to post this paragraph on my Facebook feed.
Perhaps the entitlement culture contributes to this, but there are likely bigger issues here, perhaps involving evolutionary biology and behavior: column in Psychology Today .
Look at studies of teens who do this. There are mental illness issues bigger than a “tanrum” going on here – animal killings, repeated run-ins with cops, relationship issues.
From that article:
There’s a scene in “Breaking Bad” where Jesse saves Mike’s life by shooting up the bad guys. Jesse handles a Ruger KP95 like a champ presumably because of hours playing video games. I doubt that video games will really provide this expertise, but they certainly render one immune to the violence against others. Death is just blood on the screen, necessary to advance to level X.
I agreee. That is why I said it “contributes” to. The cult of self esteem will not turn a normal kid into a mass-murderer, but if you already mentally ill and taught the most important thing in the world is your self-esteem, you are more likely to lash out at those you blame for your lack of self-esteem.
As I said in another thread, mental illness has been with us for all of human history and semi-automatic rifles have been around for 100 years or so, but the phenomenon of kids shooting up their school is recent, so something other than mental illlness is at play here.
Don’t even think about it!
The Giver of Commandments deserves heaps of praise for this one. Do not steal your neighbor’s stuff, and not only that, do not dwell on how you would so like to do so. It’s not yours, so never you mind! It’s not your donkey, bro! Do not boil away with resentment and envy in your mind; do not plot; do not steal by yourself; do not scheme to get others to do your stealing for you. Just get off your butt and better your own situation through your own efforts, as best you can.
I love these two statements. I will be using them.
“You ain’t seen nothin’yet.” Yes. It sometimes occurs to me that I’m fighting a losing battle.
If the up-and-coming generation wants to embrace Buraq Hussein’s ideals, they will do it.
They are waxing, I am waning.
They must increase and I must decrease.
Oh i will go down fighting, because I believe I’m right. “Pith and power, to my last hour, I will make this declaration!” as Burns put it.
But sometimes I’m overwhelmed by the terrible suspicion that inexorably, the tide of history has turned against us.
It will turn again, it always does. But I won’t be here to see it.
Thanks for this post @drbastiat. Keep the faith.
Two dirt-poor men, Ivan and Boris. One day an angel appeared to Ivan and said “You are a good man. What can I do for you?” Ivan asked for a cow to make his life easier.
Boris became envious. The next week, the angel appeared to Boris and said “You too are a good man. What can I do for you?” Boris said “I want Ivan’s cow to die.”
Doc, I hope you’re not right. But you lay it out so persuasively that you’ve convinced me you are. And that’s depressing.
Progressivism in a nutshell.
When we punish the rich, the poor are no better off. But we do it anyway, because it makes us feel better. Resentment is poison.
You’re welcome! Glad to help.
Seriously, I got depressed reading what I wrote. My goal is to write a contra post next, and explain why this is all wrong. Wish me luck.
There is always hope.
A couple of points:
Point One: The combination of really bad parenting ( pushed by Progressivism) and the Left’s ardent desire to destroy every western institution worth a damn, with the family at the top of list, have created this evil toxic brew that is leading young people towards nihilism and giving them the idea that is cool to kill other kids.
2. The Left has destroyed any emotional support system that kids used to have.
a. A huge majority of kids now come from broken homes ( which are so encouraged by the Left) where their world has been turned upside down. As a result, many kids are emotionally wounded and again have a diminished ability to cope. Such things as appropriate values and empathy for others are rarely learned when your self centered parents are at each others throats.
b. Our schools are now teaching a nihilistic view of the world. The moral aspect of every behavior is now relative. There are no such things as good and bad anymore, except for those now obviously bad things as Patriotism and love of America, Respect for others, and of course Religion and moral values. When bad behavior is not only condoned but glorified, why would anyone be surprised when some deranged kid kills others? Add that to the fact that so many kids in school come from dysfunctional broken homes, it becomes very difficult to raise a good kid in that environment where the peer pressure makes it cool to do bad things.
Point Two: I thought there was this thing called the ‘Equal Protection Clause” where every viable point of view was to be respected. Who or what said it is okay to turn our schools into this toxic waste dump indoctrination center where every thing is relative, the cult of self esteem rules, nihilism is our preferred point of view, and respect for the Family, respect for America, the Constitution, the Rule of Law, Religions, and Free Markets have been thrown in the dumpster. To my obviously warped way of thinking, we have experienced a criminal takeover of our schools and universities that has led to a horrible situation for our kids. To me, millions in our education system need to be taking a short perp walk to the Hoosegow.
Please, I would go around knocking the scientist around with a crowbar in Half-life all through out high school. If the same happened outside my home, I’m neither desensitized to the act nor more effective with a crowbar due to access to such a simulation.
I don’t recall an uptick in decapitations after Mortal Kombat. Entertainment has always been teaming with graphic depictions of violence. The scene in Ben Hur when the slaves are escaping the sinking ships was more disturbing to me than any gaming depiction of violence. Dismembered slaves attempting to escape the steerage, it’s horrifying.
This is at the feet of can’t we just be “nice people”. No apparently we can’t.
I knew you had to be an Ohioan! I just knew it!! Ohio produces the best people! ;-)
Great post. I agree with your assessment right up until the conclusion. I consider myself a Chestertonian “happy pessimist,” but I’m going to go with that other favorite contemporary “religious nut” of mine (other than Dennis Prager), Andrew Klavan, and hope for a religious revival of Victorian proportions. It could happen.
Yes, our culture is rotten, but goodness, truth, and beauty have a way of attracting. I know some amazingly good young people who don’t buy the post-modern nihilist garbage. Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson are two of the most influential people in social media right now. I just found out my 15-year-old daughter has been watching Christina Hoff Sommers YouTubes on classical (as opposed to third-wave) feminism.
We have to keep fighting, and keep the faith. Despair is a sin.
Dang right! Go Bucks!
Incidentally, I live in Hilton Head now, which is populated largely by Ohioans. So it’s like moving back home.
You’re right. Despair is easy. Hope is hard. There really are some great young people out there. And I believe that God is not an uninterested bystander in the battle between good and evil. So there is hope.
But we have our hands full.
Thanks so much for your positive take on this.
Thanks for the pep talk. It is easy to forget that truth and goodness remains an option, and many choose it. Freely.
Statism and Fed easy money robs people of their agency a kills opportunity. So socialism is a feedback loop of doom. People want it because we already have too much already.
I really like this quote.
I’ve sung that plenty without kenning it was Burns.