11. A
cultural and behavioural perspective
Next, I will look at us and them from the
point of view of cultural attitudes, and the behaviours they tend to lead to.
Our culture
For us, human beings worth the name, our cultural
attitudes are in essence formed from the values which we favour, as I discussed
above. And particularly, the values of the Enlightenment and Industrial
Revolution, our two most recent forward-moving revolutions. Some of these
values, I listed in the previous chapter. There is a fuller list in the chapter
“A historical perspective.”
Now, it is quite easy for someone whose native culture is
English to identify with the values of the Enlightenment. Seeded in England by
John Locke, the Enlightenment was transmitted first to the Scots and the
Americans. With some success, as shown by sages like Francis Hutcheson, David
Hume, Benjamin Franklin and Adam Smith. Later, it was passed on, with varying
degrees of success, to the French; to others in Europe; to the Jews; to the
British colonies, and some colonies of European powers; and, to an extent, to
the Muslim world.
We English should not neglect the earlier revolutions,
either. While England came late to the Renaissance compared with other European
countries, the best of Renaissance culture was already present in Elizabethan
times. And the legacy of ancient Greece and Rome was revived and well
preserved, too. To the extent that even today, those whose parents so choose
(and can afford it) can receive in England a “classical education.” I myself
can vouch that, for those with the mental wherewithal, such an education does
indeed foster a respect for truth and evidence, and an ability to think
precisely and rationally, that goes beyond the norm. That is very likely one of
the main reasons why Labour want to price it out of people’s reach.
Moreover, England was also the 18th- and 19th-century
cradle of the Industrial Revolution. The Welsh weren’t far behind, with their
coal and metal industries. The Scots started a bit later, but had created an
industrial power-house before 1900. The Northern Irish, too, became adept at
industries such as linen and shipbuilding.
The culture of Enlightenment twinned with industry spread,
over time, through the major countries now known as the “Anglosphere.” The core
Anglosphere consists of the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
With the result that the larger Anglosphere countries, first the UK and then
the USA, have tended to dominate the world economically for 200 years and more.
And, in many times and places, militarily and politically too.
But as human beings worth the name, the culture that defines
us does not need to be tied to any particular cultural framework. It does not
require people to share any particular skin colour, or racial origin, or
political or religious ideology, or nationality, or language, or gender, or
sexual orientation, or any other characteristic beyond simply behaving as human
beings. Our culture is ultimately, therefore, rooted in human nature.
I will try to list some of the further characteristics of
our culture, as I see them. First and foremost, the individual is important.
Self-determination and independence for everyone are desirable goals. Moreover,
we understand that our fellow human beings are individuals, and so they are
important, too. That is one reason why we judge them by their behaviour as
individuals, not merely by characteristics which they may share with others.
Second, human rights and dignity are to be respected and
upheld, for all those who do the same for others. Common-sense justice, the
condition in which each individual is treated, over the long run, in the round
and as far as practicable, as he or she treats others, is also to be respected
and upheld. There must be an unrestricted free market economy, and free trade
between people in different places. And there must be maximum freedom of choice
and action for every individual, consistent with living in a civilized
community.
Third, our culture is founded on the natural law of
humanity. And, absent good reasons such as acting in self-defence, violations
of this natural law are seen as wrong. For example, oppression and exploitation
of some individuals by others are wrong. Double standards and favouritism are
wrong. Warlike or violent aggression is wrong. Lies, deceit, dishonesty,
obfuscation and suppression of the truth are wrong. Hypocrisy, failing to
practise what the individual preaches that others should practise, is wrong. Overreach
by anyone in a position of government power is wrong. And promoting,
supporting, making and enforcing bad laws –laws that go against, outside or
beyond the law natural to human beings – are all wrong.
Fourth, our culture is based on rationality, on objectivity,
and on justice. Wherever applied, it will seek objective, common-sense justice
for all. It will use objective risk and cost-benefit analyses wherever they are
appropriate. And everyone will be held accountable for, and obliged to
compensate the victims of, any unjust and objective wrongs they commit.
Our behaviours
We human beings are not perfect. All of us have bad moments
occasionally, particularly when we are under attack, or feel threatened. But we
learn, over time, how to minimize the negative effects on others of our
mistakes and our losses of self-control. Moreover, we avoid, wherever we can,
causing harm to our fellow human beings. When we do cause unjust harm to a
human being, we feel a responsibility to compensate them if we possibly can.
And, while all life involves taking risks of one kind or another, we try to
avoid imposing unreasonable risks on others.
On top of this, we strive, at least, to be peaceful,
truthful, honest, candid, straightforward and respectful of the rights of other
human beings. We also strive to act in good faith. The great majority of human
beings worth the name are also prepared to “live and let live” in their
dealings with their fellows, and many actually manage to live up to this
standard in practice. In summary, we do our best to live up to our nature as
human beings.
Our enemies’ behaviours
In complete contrast, politicals often behave very badly
towards others. They indulge in lies, dishonesty, deception, arrogance,
hypocrisy, irresponsibility, evasion of accountability, aggression,
recklessness towards others, favouritism, targeting of scapegoats, intolerance,
bad faith, and violations of human rights and freedoms. Rather than trying to
live up to human nature, they live down in the murky depths of their inhuman
nature. They behave, for want of a better word, like psychopaths.
You can see examples of these psychopathic behaviours in
blatant lies, like the ones Tony Blair spread to “justify” the war in Iraq.
Arrogance, like Boris Johnson partying during COVID in direct violation of a
law he was involved in making. Hypocrisy, like those that travel by helicopter
or private plane to attend or speak at meetings seeking to force us to cut our
CO2 emissions. Deception and bad faith, like those that have misused
science in an attempt to bring about political policies they desire, and those
that have sought to prevent any honest, objective cost-benefit analysis being
done on “nett zero” and related policies. Violations of our rights and
freedoms, like stalking our movements with cameras, denying us the presumption
of innocence, and seeking to deem anything that contradicts their narratives,
even if factually true, to be “misinformation.” Irresponsibility, like setting
a “nett zero” target that is not feasible, or returning old people during COVID
from hospitals to their care homes without testing them for COVID. And evasion
of accountability, like claiming immunity, or using private e-mail addresses to
hide the trail of what they have done.
Our enemies’ culture
Our enemies’ culture is a top-down culture of politics. I
have dubbed it “Downerism.” (“Downer” is short for “top-downer.”)
The Downer methodology begins with an agenda. Often, a more
or less thinly disguised programme of hatred and destruction. Next, Downer
agenda setters seek to use politics to force their vision on others against
their wills. They pursue power and control over others. And they build
political movements, in order (apparently) to legitimize their agenda and their
ideology.
For Downers, legislation made by those in power trumps any
notions of right and wrong, and any ideal of justice. Thus, they seek to get
made bad and oppressive laws, with which to drain and to rule over people, and
to impose their agenda and ideology on everyone.
But to sustain their agendas, they require narratives and
propaganda. So, they like to create a mental atmosphere of lies and deceit,
hype, gloom and doom, and unreasoning fear. They season this atmosphere with
fake or misleading news, smears and insults. And they seek to suppress
dissenting views.
At the bottom of the pyramid, the foot soldiers of Downerism
believe, with blind faith, in the Downer agendas and narratives. They promote,
support or enforce bad, unjust laws. They think that those bad laws are right,
just because some bunch of politicians made them. And that those who will not
believe the faith, must be made to follow it by force.
I will list a few more characteristics of our enemies’
culture. The political state is vitally important to them. The collective,
“society” or “the community” is everything to them, and the individual is
nothing. And they see those of us, who wish to be independent and to have
nothing to do with their state, as bad people, and deserving of punishment.
They see oppression and exploitation as OK, as long as they
are done by the state. Human rights and freedoms become irrelevant, just as
soon as the state wishes to violate them. Their idea of “justice” is simply
whatever the state defines it to be. They disregard the costs they impose on
those they rule over. And they see war, even aggressive war, as desirable, if
they or their state profit from it.
They see all laws made by the state as automatically right,
no matter how unjust, and no matter how bad their consequences. These include
arbitrary, collective “targets” and “limits,” made in the name of “the
environment,” “safety” and other such ruses. They see lies, deceit, dishonesty,
obfuscation and suppression of the truth as OK. They see nothing wrong with
government overreach. They see nothing wrong with state functionaries
disobeying laws they themselves made, or with those same functionaries evading
responsibility for the consequences of what they did. And they want the economy
within the boundaries of a state to be controlled by the state, and the
world-wide economy to be controlled by a global political class.
To sum up
Our culture is founded, ultimately, on our humanity, and on
the honesty which is part of human nature. It is based on truth and
rationality, the importance of the individual, objectivity and justice, rights
and freedoms, and the values of the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution.
In contrast, our enemies’ culture has no concern for truth
and reason, for honesty, for the human individual, or for the values of the
Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution. Instead, it is rooted in faith and
force. In narratives, and the silencing of contrary views. In lies and
deceptions, hypocrisy and psychopathic behaviours. In state supremacy,
political power and political agendas. In collectivism. And in agendas intended
to bring about the suppression of humanity, in particular our economy, prosperity,
rights and freedoms; and even our core humanity.
Such is the nature of the “culture wars,” in which we are
today embroiled.
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