• ColorcodedResistor@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    26
    ·
    1 year ago

    could you imagine having so much time on your hands that you debase the entire intellectual potential of your tribe, town, city, what have you, just by being a self righteous prick about pieces of paper with words printed on them?

    i was just in another thread. and for some reason. people take HUGE offense to being knowledgeable. like if you try to climb out of the ignorant bucket but you almost can’t because the other crabs pull us back down.

    you could rape a mans wife, flay his children before his eyes and he wouldn’t lift a finger to object, but say you have a book? and this book teaches you stuff? oh, that’s greater than any sin imaginable (the best part is i didn’t mention what book, but id love to hear everyone’s ‘self righteous’ projections about which one)

    • TheActualDevil@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      I heard this guy talking about the right’s reaction to the pandemic say “This whole new idea of what’s liberty, and liberty for whom can kill. Especially when it replaces the idea of liberty as that which has to be shared in some kind of common good.”

      It’s obvious though that it’s not actually a new idea, but I think this cuts to the heart of it. It’s an inherently selfish mindset that is so prevalent on the right. They use the idea of “liberty” as a bludgeon to get what they want by redefining it. Freedom has stopped meaning a group concept and become purely a personal one. Their own wants are the most important thing in all cases. And I want to emphasize want. These aren’t beliefs. They are projecting their desires of the way they would prefer the world and calling them beliefs.

      It’s fairly universal, I think, but exemplified in American culture. I could go one about some of the “founding” ideas of the country that have had effects that last to today but I’m talking about freedom today. It was always a selfish idea here (bunch of business men didn’t want to pay taxes) and the end result is before us.

      People see a book that makes them uncomfortable - for whatever reason - and just want it removed, regardless of any wider ramifications. They get scared about their own impending doom when a pandemic hits so they seek to remove the fear by the most direct path. Actually solving it is hard, but removing the fear is quick, so they demand that everyone just stop being afraid and stop reminding them of the things they fear. It seems to be a pretty standard through-line for their ethos.