Didn't know where this would fit, but I recently watched the Tucker Carlson interview by Ben Shapiro:
I found it very interesting for a variety of reasons. I really like Tucker. I certainly don't agree with everything he says, but as far as I'm concerned, he has a great heart and soul that really shine through. Tellingly, he's also been harassed by a leftist mob recently (or rather, his family was, at his house!). I haven't read it yet, but he has also published a book called "Ship of Fools: How a Selfish Ruling Class Is Bringing America to the Brink of Revolution".
What I like about Tucker is that he's so unideological in many ways. On certain issues, he's pretty left, on others, pretty conservative - he just seems to sincerely want the best for people, ideologies be damned. And this seems to me a much better and much more reality-based "mode of thinking" than following this or that ideology.
Maybe ideologies of all kinds are a major (if not the major) obstacle towards spiritual progress in our realm. It's pretty obvious how ideological possession can turn people into complete demons if we look at the SJW left, but it can be more subtle as well. And I think a good example of this are a few moments during the interview that made the contrast between ideological and non-ideological thinking apparent - Ben Shapiro being the ideological guy here.
For example, Shapiro seems to buy into "libertarian" or free-market ideology. I mean, I have much sympathy for many of those ideas, general skepticism towards the nanny state, over-regulation and so on. But Tucker put it well when he indirectly accused Shapiro of spitting out "talking points" - that's a big red flag: once we start uttering "talking points", we are not thinking and engaged in conversation; we are just avatars for an ideology and completely robotic. Just one example from the interview was when Shapiro talked about how he would have opposed the antitrust laws passed against Rockefeller - I mean seriously? Maybe this was right back then, maybe not, but you can't just decide such complex issues based on "my ideology tells me this"!
It's kind of like Collingwood said, if I remember correctly: each historical fact has an infinite depth; you can't just come up with an abstract theory and weave this non-existing construct around like a hammer. There's way too much complexity and connectedness and depth even to seemingly simple matters for that. The only way is to start from your soul, and then hard-work your way through it, always ready to let the greater reality dictate your actions rather than some fancy theory.
Perhaps the major danger for the "right" or "conservatives" right now, when it comes to ideological possession, is the arrogant idea that if you have it good, it's only because of your brilliance and hard work. That's simply not true - from the genetic rolling of the dice to pure chance, there are a great many factors that determine one's success in life. If people become too identified with these things, they open themselves up to subtle ideological possession that turns their hearts to stone and makes them slaves to some abstract concepts that are completely divorced from the richness of reality and human experience.
Anyway, just some thoughts I had after watching this interview.
I found it very interesting for a variety of reasons. I really like Tucker. I certainly don't agree with everything he says, but as far as I'm concerned, he has a great heart and soul that really shine through. Tellingly, he's also been harassed by a leftist mob recently (or rather, his family was, at his house!). I haven't read it yet, but he has also published a book called "Ship of Fools: How a Selfish Ruling Class Is Bringing America to the Brink of Revolution".
What I like about Tucker is that he's so unideological in many ways. On certain issues, he's pretty left, on others, pretty conservative - he just seems to sincerely want the best for people, ideologies be damned. And this seems to me a much better and much more reality-based "mode of thinking" than following this or that ideology.
Maybe ideologies of all kinds are a major (if not the major) obstacle towards spiritual progress in our realm. It's pretty obvious how ideological possession can turn people into complete demons if we look at the SJW left, but it can be more subtle as well. And I think a good example of this are a few moments during the interview that made the contrast between ideological and non-ideological thinking apparent - Ben Shapiro being the ideological guy here.
For example, Shapiro seems to buy into "libertarian" or free-market ideology. I mean, I have much sympathy for many of those ideas, general skepticism towards the nanny state, over-regulation and so on. But Tucker put it well when he indirectly accused Shapiro of spitting out "talking points" - that's a big red flag: once we start uttering "talking points", we are not thinking and engaged in conversation; we are just avatars for an ideology and completely robotic. Just one example from the interview was when Shapiro talked about how he would have opposed the antitrust laws passed against Rockefeller - I mean seriously? Maybe this was right back then, maybe not, but you can't just decide such complex issues based on "my ideology tells me this"!
It's kind of like Collingwood said, if I remember correctly: each historical fact has an infinite depth; you can't just come up with an abstract theory and weave this non-existing construct around like a hammer. There's way too much complexity and connectedness and depth even to seemingly simple matters for that. The only way is to start from your soul, and then hard-work your way through it, always ready to let the greater reality dictate your actions rather than some fancy theory.
Perhaps the major danger for the "right" or "conservatives" right now, when it comes to ideological possession, is the arrogant idea that if you have it good, it's only because of your brilliance and hard work. That's simply not true - from the genetic rolling of the dice to pure chance, there are a great many factors that determine one's success in life. If people become too identified with these things, they open themselves up to subtle ideological possession that turns their hearts to stone and makes them slaves to some abstract concepts that are completely divorced from the richness of reality and human experience.
Anyway, just some thoughts I had after watching this interview.
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