Why The Right Isn't Future-Ready

from OurFuture.org:



Why The Right Isn't Future-Ready
By Sara Robinson

June 25th, 2008 - 11:29am ET


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Over the course of my master's program, I've had some tortured conversations with my dean over the direction my research is taking. He's been poking at me (and, being an atheist who was raised by Jesuits, he's one of those gentle souls who knows how to poke sharp and hard, with a positively angelic smile that only barely conceals his demonic glee) about what on earth the study of authoritarian religious and political movements has to do with the future.

And sometimes, overwhelmed by the size of the argument and not always clear on where to start, all I can say is: Everything. Where we fall on the authoritarian spectrum has every damned thing in the world to do with how well we identify looming issues, which options we're willing to consider, how far we can adapt, and whether or not we're likely to succeed. Authoritarianism is dangerous not just because it's hostile to individual liberty, but also because it poisons every step of the process of social change. And societies that succumb to it are, in a very real sense, setting themselves up for failure.

In this essay, I'm going look at a few reasons why this is so.

Ignoble Savages

Conservatism begins with the foundational assumption that humans are inherently evil, selfish, greedy and lustful, and that the vast majority of us are not remotely capable of any kind of reliable self-discipline. Of course, this is a personal projection so big you'd need an IMAX theater to capture the full sweep of it all: Conservatives believe this because they know how they like to act when nobody's around to hold them accountable — and they expect others to be no different, and certainly no better.

This is why the GOP's recent pervert parade hardly fazes them, and also why they accept their own side's contrite confessions so quickly. They're quite sure all humans are natural hypocrites and liars. Furthermore, because the flesh is so weak and our reason so fallible, they believe that, ignoble savages that we are, we really don't have any business trying to control what happens next. This rejection of human agency can go one of two ways.

One school of thought holds that Someone In Charge has already decided what our future will be, and we have no right and no power to interfere with those plans. God has pre-ordained it. The President knows what he's doing. The CEO has the whole thing thought through. Daddy knows best.

The other version says that we're plenty capable of taking charge and shaping the future to suit ourselves — but, given our basic vileness and stupidity, we're almost certain to screw it up and make a far bigger hash of the situation than it already is. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/why-right-isnt-future-ready

"Conservatism begins with the foundational assumption that humans are inherently evil, selfish, greedy and lustful, and that the vast majority of us are not remotely capable of any kind of reliable self-discipline. "

Ramen!

How about this: Human beings are inherently sexist and racist, and must be restrained from saying certain words or thinking certain thoughts, for they have no self-discipline.

In the words of Orson Scott Card, before he became a religious fanatic: "Left or right - they are all pinheads, and they know it. And they want you all to be pinheads too."

I guess I learn something every day. :shrug:

You can't build the future on imaginary history. You have to start on a factual foundation if you want to build to last.

And each time, they chill my blood.

These people shouldn't be let anywhere NEAR our gov't powers.

Thus the projection. They can't conceive, in their wildest imaginings, that others may think, act and believe differently - sociopaths, one and all.

The fundamental assumption of conservatism is the status quo, or the status quo of decades past, is the ideal form of social order.

This fixation on the present or the past inhibits the conservative mind from embracing novel ideas, tastes, or technologies. Ultimately, with each successive generation, the conservative will become more and more alien as society progresses without him/her.