Part II: The Politics of the Eloi & the Morlock
The Politics of the Eloi and the Morlock
Only in a world bankrupt of morally meaningful ideas could racial preferences or abortion rights be seen as cultural touchstones. This is what happens when the children are left in charge and there is no adult anywhere to be found.
I don't mean to suggest that women’s issues or racial concerns are meaningless, far from it. But, before you can be concerned about such things, a nation has to first hold the belief that women and minorities are worth considering, something that has been missing in most societies dating as far back as history allows.
In other words, before you can see aborting your child as a meaningful right and getting a hand up on your neighbor in an effort to right some racial wrong—one that was probably committed by someone who lived generations before you were born—you'll need to obliterate the rule of law. You'll also need an uneducated electorate to work on your behalf.
The real problem, of course, begins when the pendulum swings in the other direction, when your favorite Democrat has been replaced by somebody's favorite Republican. Then, that favorable law that you so joyously used to bludgeon the opposition, becomes the hammer that's used to bludgeon you. Everybody, no matter who they are, eventually becomes the opposition.
History teaches that, until a nation is wealthy enough to see marginalized people as valuable and not merely as competition for limited resources, their exploitation will likely continue unabated. That's why wealth is not the enemy—it makes freedom and education, for even the poorest citizens, possible. In an impoverished culture everyone suffers. This generally leads to revolution—sometimes violent revolution. Revolutions don't always have to be brutal, but generally are. Jesus, Martin Luther King and Gandhi, are fine examples of non-violent revolutionaries. Genghis Khan, Stalin and Obama mentors Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn represent the alternative.
Some might ask, “Just how did America get to be so wealthy and successful when so many other nations struggle just to survive?” After all, understanding these things so they might be replicated (or avoided) wouldn't be a bad idea.
“Americans stole their wealth!” is the common answer, at least as far as some are concerned. We stole “Their” natural resources! We stole “Their” identities! We co-opted “Their” culture (Think of Elvis...just kidding!). Theft is the natural process for the lions who devour the helpless lambs—even the Bible tells me so! This, apparently, is the one case where the Bible is okay.
Life can be so simple! And, so are the many explanations being offered, often times telling us more about the simple mindedness of the individual responding, than any real attempt at a meaningful answer. If you follow this logic to it's conclusion, it means that money (that filthy stuff that everybody want's so badly) is the real problem. “The poorer the better.” is the new mantra! Poverty, obviously, leads to nobility. And, eventually, utopia—an impoverished utopia, mind you—but it's still utopia! Bartering a pig for a pair of snow shoes is the way to go. Money just creates problems. Eliminate money and you eliminate the problem. And, while we're at it, if you get rid of guns you can get rid of death, that would be a fine parallel example.
Could it really be that technological and cultural advancement is purely the product of theft? But, then, how do you dominate those unfortunate societies without some already existing technological superiority? How do complex societies rise form the subsistence existence of tribalism, if they are no better or worse than the culture they subsume?
Greed! That's the answer—pure greed! Apparently, there are the innocents (The Eloi) lolling about nature, interacting with the badger and the fawn, eating grass or fruit, cohabiting with the gerbil and the ocelot. While greed-infested capitalists (the Morlocks) slash and burn, rape and pillage their way to a place of master and slave!
Isn't there at least some truth to this infantile parable? Sure, about as much as there is in any stereotype, including stories of happy enslaved Negroes eating watermelon and fried chicken, whilst tap-dancing to furious banjo music (If you don't like the one, you should probably reject the other.)
What is democracy, then? Or, maybe, a better question might be, what do people believe it to be? For some it's a “given” a thing to be taken for granted as the norm, when history shows it to be anything but. Whether we're talking about the present or any other period in human history, democracy is an anomaly, not a forgone conclusion.
The long struggle for civilization continues in fits and starts, interrupted (as always) by some new political messiah looking to make their mark. Or, in some cases, political Luddites looking to turn the clock back to a period of universal grace that never actually existed, except in their minds. That’s where we are today. Politicians who've never built anything run the nation by offering new rights at the expense of someone else—that is the new fairness doctrine. Apparently, quotas and racially-divisive policies should continue unopposed, in perpetuity. As long as one white man is left standing, that one will be too many.
That all of these ideas are totally inconsistent with the Constitution doesn't matter. Racist white-men were the Constitution's architects anyway, so it can be ignored, leaving politicians and judges to make laws and determine fairness as they see fit. Subdivide the nation into partisan camps, divide and conquer, and our enlightened leaders will divvy the spoils. You might as well have a Ouija board or channel the spirits, because there will clearly be no objective standard left to measure either equality or justice. Similarly, any of those other arcane principals that once were thought to be necessary in order to know anything at all.
How can a civilization that increasingly advocates science as the path to enlightenment ignore the scientific method so completely when it suits them, particularly when it comes to the rule of law? That should surprise no one. Science is only as good as the scientist involved. Bad science, like bad politics, is far more common than we might think. You only need to look around to see the truth of it.
What does all this have to do with abortion rights and racial preferences? Priorities, my friend, priorities. Without reasonable priorities there will be no people left to lament the passing of a once great nation. Darkness will eventually settle over the land—and the process will start all over again—as it has for as long as human memory serves.
Mark Magula
Only in a world bankrupt of morally meaningful ideas could racial preferences or abortion rights be seen as cultural touchstones. This is what happens when the children are left in charge and there is no adult anywhere to be found.
I don't mean to suggest that women’s issues or racial concerns are meaningless, far from it. But, before you can be concerned about such things, a nation has to first hold the belief that women and minorities are worth considering, something that has been missing in most societies dating as far back as history allows.
In other words, before you can see aborting your child as a meaningful right and getting a hand up on your neighbor in an effort to right some racial wrong—one that was probably committed by someone who lived generations before you were born—you'll need to obliterate the rule of law. You'll also need an uneducated electorate to work on your behalf.
The real problem, of course, begins when the pendulum swings in the other direction, when your favorite Democrat has been replaced by somebody's favorite Republican. Then, that favorable law that you so joyously used to bludgeon the opposition, becomes the hammer that's used to bludgeon you. Everybody, no matter who they are, eventually becomes the opposition.
History teaches that, until a nation is wealthy enough to see marginalized people as valuable and not merely as competition for limited resources, their exploitation will likely continue unabated. That's why wealth is not the enemy—it makes freedom and education, for even the poorest citizens, possible. In an impoverished culture everyone suffers. This generally leads to revolution—sometimes violent revolution. Revolutions don't always have to be brutal, but generally are. Jesus, Martin Luther King and Gandhi, are fine examples of non-violent revolutionaries. Genghis Khan, Stalin and Obama mentors Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn represent the alternative.
Some might ask, “Just how did America get to be so wealthy and successful when so many other nations struggle just to survive?” After all, understanding these things so they might be replicated (or avoided) wouldn't be a bad idea.
“Americans stole their wealth!” is the common answer, at least as far as some are concerned. We stole “Their” natural resources! We stole “Their” identities! We co-opted “Their” culture (Think of Elvis...just kidding!). Theft is the natural process for the lions who devour the helpless lambs—even the Bible tells me so! This, apparently, is the one case where the Bible is okay.
Life can be so simple! And, so are the many explanations being offered, often times telling us more about the simple mindedness of the individual responding, than any real attempt at a meaningful answer. If you follow this logic to it's conclusion, it means that money (that filthy stuff that everybody want's so badly) is the real problem. “The poorer the better.” is the new mantra! Poverty, obviously, leads to nobility. And, eventually, utopia—an impoverished utopia, mind you—but it's still utopia! Bartering a pig for a pair of snow shoes is the way to go. Money just creates problems. Eliminate money and you eliminate the problem. And, while we're at it, if you get rid of guns you can get rid of death, that would be a fine parallel example.
Could it really be that technological and cultural advancement is purely the product of theft? But, then, how do you dominate those unfortunate societies without some already existing technological superiority? How do complex societies rise form the subsistence existence of tribalism, if they are no better or worse than the culture they subsume?
Greed! That's the answer—pure greed! Apparently, there are the innocents (The Eloi) lolling about nature, interacting with the badger and the fawn, eating grass or fruit, cohabiting with the gerbil and the ocelot. While greed-infested capitalists (the Morlocks) slash and burn, rape and pillage their way to a place of master and slave!
Isn't there at least some truth to this infantile parable? Sure, about as much as there is in any stereotype, including stories of happy enslaved Negroes eating watermelon and fried chicken, whilst tap-dancing to furious banjo music (If you don't like the one, you should probably reject the other.)
What is democracy, then? Or, maybe, a better question might be, what do people believe it to be? For some it's a “given” a thing to be taken for granted as the norm, when history shows it to be anything but. Whether we're talking about the present or any other period in human history, democracy is an anomaly, not a forgone conclusion.
The long struggle for civilization continues in fits and starts, interrupted (as always) by some new political messiah looking to make their mark. Or, in some cases, political Luddites looking to turn the clock back to a period of universal grace that never actually existed, except in their minds. That’s where we are today. Politicians who've never built anything run the nation by offering new rights at the expense of someone else—that is the new fairness doctrine. Apparently, quotas and racially-divisive policies should continue unopposed, in perpetuity. As long as one white man is left standing, that one will be too many.
That all of these ideas are totally inconsistent with the Constitution doesn't matter. Racist white-men were the Constitution's architects anyway, so it can be ignored, leaving politicians and judges to make laws and determine fairness as they see fit. Subdivide the nation into partisan camps, divide and conquer, and our enlightened leaders will divvy the spoils. You might as well have a Ouija board or channel the spirits, because there will clearly be no objective standard left to measure either equality or justice. Similarly, any of those other arcane principals that once were thought to be necessary in order to know anything at all.
How can a civilization that increasingly advocates science as the path to enlightenment ignore the scientific method so completely when it suits them, particularly when it comes to the rule of law? That should surprise no one. Science is only as good as the scientist involved. Bad science, like bad politics, is far more common than we might think. You only need to look around to see the truth of it.
What does all this have to do with abortion rights and racial preferences? Priorities, my friend, priorities. Without reasonable priorities there will be no people left to lament the passing of a once great nation. Darkness will eventually settle over the land—and the process will start all over again—as it has for as long as human memory serves.
Mark Magula