''I have found from many observations that our liberals are incapable of allowing anyone to have his own convictions and immediately answer their opponent with abuse or something worse.'' - Dostoyevsky (epigraph)
Why is Dostoyevsky right? Why liberals so rigid?
''The language of modernization, by referring, if only associatively, to technology compels us to see the world as an object of engineering and innovative activity, almost like a machine to be improved by new devices and perfected by new inventions.''
Give (force) human and human society an update. Now!
''The word “technology” comes, of course, from the Greek technê, which, as the ancients said, had such a powerful potential that it could make men equal to gods. It was Prometheus who made a gift of technê to the human race, the gift that enabled people to survive and then to improve their living conditions and make life better.''
Humans 'equal to the gods'!
''This wonderful gift had, however, another side to it: the ancients warned that technê could, precisely because of its miraculous, almost divine creative potential, draw man into the sin of hubris. Modernity made Prometheus a hero, and his gift was thought to be the best thing that ever happened to mankind because it was believed to be a vehicle of infinite progress carrying the human genius to unimaginable achievements. The meaning of modernization in today’s world goes far beyond technology in standard terms, but the faith in it draws its strength largely from the unprecedented technological successes that man has achieved so far and with which it can yet surprise the world in the future.'' (5)
This 'faith' is now worldwide.
''The need for building a liberal-democratic society thus implies the withdrawal of the guarantee of freedom for those whose actions and interests are said to be hostile to what the liberal democrats conceive as the cause of freedom.'' (19)
What? Withdraw freedom in the cause of freedom? How is this explained? -
''Why waste time, they think, arguing with someone whom the march of history condemned to nothingness and oblivion? Why should anyone seriously enter into a debate with the opponent who represents what is historically indefensible and what will sooner or later perish? People who are not liberal democrats are to be condemned, laughed at, and repelled, not debated.''
Evidence, reasoning, logic are from the old world. Therefore - bunk!
''Debating with them is like debating with alchemists or geocentrists. Again, an analogy with communism immediately comes to one’s mind. The opponents of communism—e.g., those who believed free-market to be superior to planned economy—were at best enemies to be crushed, or laughingstocks to be humiliated: how else could any reasonable soul react to such anachronistic dangerous ravings of a deluded mind?''
Family authority? Remove it!
''After all, in a liberal democracy everyone knows—and only a fool or a fanatic can deny—that sooner or later a family will have to liberalize or democratize, which means that the parental authority has to crumble, the children will quickly liberate themselves from the parental tutelage, and family relationships will increasingly become more negotiatory and less authoritarian.''
These observations seem so accurate, so current, his vision just jumps off the page!
''These are the inevitable consequences of the civilizational and political development, giving people more and more opportunities for independence; moreover, these processes are essentially beneficial because they enhance equality and freedom in the world. Thus there is no legitimate reason to defend the traditional family—the very name evokes the smell of mothballs—and whoever does it is self-condemned to a losing position and in addition perpetrates harm by delaying the process of change.'' (21)
Who is this guy? -
''Professor Legutko is both a prominent Polish and European statesman and a distinguished philosopher who, in addition to more conventional credentials, was once the editor of Solidarity’s underground philosophy journal. . . . So he is ideally equipped to analyze the mystery of this ideological edge.''
Forward
Introduction
I History
II Utopia
III Politics
IV Ideology
V Religion
Conclusion
This an erudite, scholarly work. Refers to Marx 57 times, Tocqueville 12, Rousseau 10, Talmon 2, Hegel 4, Kant 8. For example. . .
''The triumph of liberalism and democracy was supposed to be emancipatory also in the sense that man was to become free from excessive demands imposed on him by unrealistic metaphysics invented by an aristocratic culture in antiquity and the Middle Ages. In other words, an important part of the message of modernity was to legitimize a lowering of human aspirations.'' (29)
'Low human aspirations'? Not improving- but degrading?
''There were, as I have said, exceptions to this view—few, but worth noting. Among the eighteenth-century authors, Kant, who defended liberalism, set up high standards for humanity; in the nineteenth century, John Stuart Mill and T. H. Green had similar intentions. The last two aptly perceived the danger of mediocrity that the democratic rule was inconspicuously imposing on modern societies. They both believed—differences notwithstanding—that some form of liberalism, or rather, a philosophy of liberty, was a possible remedy to the creeping disease of mediocrity. Mill remained under the partial, albeit indirect influence of German Romanticism, and thus attributed a particular role to great, creative individuals whose exceptionality or even eccentricity could—in a free environment—pull men out of a democratic slumber.'' (29)
This, clearly, did not happen.
''But these ideas did not find followers, and liberal-democratic thought and practice increasingly fell into the logic of minimalism. Lowering the requirements is a process that has no end. Once people become used to disqualifying certain standards as too high, impractical, or unnecessary, it is only a matter of time before natural inertia takes its course and even the new lowered standards are deemed unacceptable.'' (29)
Race to the bottom!
''One can look at the history of liberal democracy as a gradual sliding down from the high to the low, from the refined to the coarse. Quite often a step down has been welcomed as refreshing, natural, and healthy, and indeed it sometimes was. But whatever the merits of this process of simplification, it too often brought vulgarity to language, behavior, education, and moral rules. The growing vulgarity of form was particularly striking, especially in the last decades, moving away from sophistication and decorum.'' (29)
Who can deny it?
(Added 11/28/21 after listening twice to audible version. Great!)
“Modernity, a completely new era that was born when its makers decided to reject everything that preceded it and to start anew. The creators of modernity—Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Bacon—saw themselves as pioneers of the new who boldly turned their backs on the past.’’
This explanation of the source of modernity seems valid; not Darwin, not Einstein, not Marx.
“When we look at communism and liberal democracy from this point of view, we can see that they are both fueled by the idea of modernization. In both systems a cult of technology translates itself into acceptance of social engineering as a proper approach to reforming society, changing human behavior, and solving existing social problems.’’
Technology isn’t science. Cell phones are tools. Science is belief.
“Having cast away the obligations and commitments that come from the past, the communist and the liberal democrat quickly lose their memory of it or, alternatively, their respect for it. Both want the past eradicated altogether or at least made powerless as an object of relativizing or derision. Communism, as a system that started history anew, had to be, in essence and in practice, against memory. Those who were fighting the regime were also fighting for memory against forgetting, knowing very well that the loss of memory strengthened the communist system by making people defenseless and malleable.’’
Interesting that the Bible written as historical record that teaches lessons and illustrates wisdom.
“There are no better illustrations of how politically imposed amnesia helps in the molding of the new man than the twentieth-century anti-utopias 1984 and Brave New World. The lessons of Orwell and Huxley were, unfortunately, quickly forgotten. In my country at the very moment when communism fell and the liberal-democratic order was emerging, memory again became one of the main enemies. The apostles of the new order lost no time in denouncing it as a harmful burden hampering striving for modernity. In this anti-memory crusade, as in several other crusades, they have managed to be quite successful, more so than their communist predecessors.’’
Author repeatedly asserts that democracy more successful than communism in destroying previous culture.
“In a famous essay, Immanuel Kant wrote about the advent of the era of “perpetual peace” among the republics. What is interesting, however, is that, according to Kant, this blessed era could and actually should be preceded by a phase of enlightened absolutism.’’
Still coming . . .
“The need for building a liberal-democratic society thus implies the withdrawal of the guarantee of freedom for those whose actions and interests are said to be hostile to what the liberal democrats conceive as the cause of freedom.’’
Freedom withdrawn. No kidding.
“As once when all major designations had to be preceded by the adjective “socialist” or “communist,” so now everything should be liberal, democratic, or liberal-democratic, and this labeling almost automatically gives a recipient a status of credibility and respectability. Conversely, a refusal to use such a designation or, even worse, a ostentatious rejection of it, condemns one to moral degradation, merciless criticism, and, ultimately, historical annihilation.’’
Cancel culture is here.
“Not only should the state and the economy be liberal, democratic, or liberal-democratic, but the entire society as well, including ethics and mores, family, churches, schools, universities, community organizations, culture, and even human sentiments and aspirations. The people, structures, thoughts that exist outside the liberal-democratic pattern are deemed outdated, backward-looking, useless, but at the same time extremely dangerous as preserving the remnants of old authoritarianisms. Some may still be tolerated for some time, but as anyone with a minimum of intelligence is believed to know, sooner or later they will end up in the dustbin of history. Their continued existence will most likely threaten the liberal-democratic progress and therefore they should be treated with the harshness they deserve.’’
Harshness they deserve. Indeed.
“After all, in a liberal democracy everyone knows—and only a fool or a fanatic can deny—that sooner or later a family will have to liberalize or democratize, which means that the parental authority has to crumble, the children will quickly liberate themselves from the parental tutelage, and family relationships will increasingly become more negotiatory and less authoritarian.’’
Right! Who can argue with something so obvious?
“Dignity was something to be earned, deserved, and confirmed by acting in accordance with the higher standards imposed by a community or religion—for instance, by empowering a certain person with higher responsibilities or by claiming that man was created in God’s image. Dignity was an attribute that ennobled those who acquired it. As noblesse oblige, dignity was an obligation to seek some form of self-improvement, however vaguely understood, but certainly closer to the Socratic way and further away from its opposite. The attribute was not bestowed forever: one could always lose it when acting in an undignified way. At some point, the concept of dignity was given a different meaning, contrary to the original. This happened mainly through the intercession of the language of human rights, especially after the 1948 Universal Declaration. The idea of human beings having inalienable rights is counterintuitive and extremely difficult to justify. It may make some philosophical sense if derived from a strong theory of human nature such as one finds in classical metaphysics. However, when we accept a weak theory, attributing to human beings only elementary qualities, and deliberately disregarding strong metaphysical assumptions, then the idea of rights loses its plausibility.’’
If humans are just random chemicals, smarter animals why have rights?
“Solidarity stood up in defense of human dignity (in its original and not the corrupted sense), access to culture, respect for truth in science and for nobility in art, and a proper role given to Christian heritage and Christian religion. It seemed that suddenly those great ideas at the root of Western civilization—which this civilization had slowly begun to forget—were again brought to life and ignited like a fire in the minds of the members of a trade union. This was probably one of the reasons why Solidarity met with such widespread, though short-lived admiration. Suddenly, in this godforsaken place there emerged a movement that not only challenged the Evil Empire, but reminded everyone of the spiritual dimension of human existence, of truth, God, heroism, nobility of culture, the importance of historical and religious heritage, and other high moral principles.’’
This did inspire millions. Unfortunately author explains that this movement didn’t last. The democratic replacement of communism successfully removed these beliefs.
(See ''Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning'', by Jonah Goldberg)
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The worst angels of liberal democracy
Maybe the junction of liberalism and democracy wasn't a good combination after all. Liberal democracy is sick, and it is hard to say why in a single statement. In The Demon in Democracy, Riszard Legutko does this in five short chapters: what it is this ailment, what does it consist of, what are their symptoms, why you should be preoccupied. Nobody knows what is going to happen next, but what we do know is that -strange as it sounds- LD is becoming dangerously similar to communist regimes from the pre-1989 era: in fact, this is the thesis of the book, supplied by examples, historical anecdotes and, even most important, a crude and insightful analysis.Professor Legutko doesn't provide any bibliography or footnotes along the book, it's just him. From beginning to end are his own words against the entire world, but it is easy to agree with him because what he says is what you see on a daily basis in newspapers, media, and social networks. There is not a single statement proposing something nonsensical or crazy, everything has been thought and meditated by a man who lived two important periods in European history. First, as a Polish citizen in the seventies and eighties. Then, as a polish citizen in the years after 1989 until today (the book was published in 2016, and translated to English in 2018).As such, he could compare the two regimes, and as the time went by he could see (with disenchantment or maybe horror) how both of them began to converge like a clamp in the world of our days. For years I've been building a library on these topics (representation, elections, candidates, propaganda), because of my gradual but growing loss of faith in democracy. In Chile, in 10/2019, following the civic insurrection, thirty years of democracy went directly to nothing. When you look around and see the streets, the walls, the subway, everything vandalized, you cannot find a full explanation, just conjectures, thousands of conjectures and ideas trying to say why a country destroys itself.I don't know yet, but this book is a light in the darkness, even though it doesn't give you good news. If it has any advice it is "keep fighting." Latin America doesn't get a mention in The Demon, but what is happening in Europe, here, in Latin America, is being reflected all the time. Unfortunately is what you discover as long as you read the book. My favorite example is what the author says about the term Dignity in page 31. It leaves you sputtering ideas, asking yourself where you were or what you were doing when things began to lose their meanings. From then on everything has changed, everything has began to be demolished in my country, and the very first symptoms were all those things professor Legutko addresses in his book, language being just one of the most outstanding, the lost of diversity and pluralism some of the less notorious.To say that this book is a necessary reading is an understatement. It is not just that, it is a continuous meditation on our human condition. Why do these things happen to us? Why here? Why now? That's the reason I put it in my desk and keep it there because it is a query text. We shouldn't forget the simplest of the terms -which is freedom-, it is always an issue: always far from the elementary, it is a compendium of actions, desires, and most of all, limits. A beautiful piece of something really, really fragile, as we could prove in my dismayed country.I hope we'll have the chance to see The Demon published in Spanish some day. The sooner the better. We don't have enough time.
Top reviews from other countries
Will Martin
Liberalism is destroying the pluralism on which much of its philosophical legitimation rests.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 25, 2018
Cliente Amazon
Un paralelismo procupante entre sistemas aparentemente opuestos
Reviewed in Spain on March 2, 2017
