Gnosis (My American Dark Age, Part Ten.)

Mandrake, do you recall what Clemenceau once said about war? ... He said "War is too important to be left to the generals." When he said that, fifty years ago, he may have been right. But today war is too important to be left to the politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion, and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids. ~Colonel Jack D. Ripper, from the film Dr. Strangelove

I had a thought early this morning at work, specifically after reading the snipped quoted Tweet.

As regards Trumpist "Conservatives" and all that goes with them, we're no longer dealing with a political party here. We're dealing with a movement of ideological and racist fanatics that's trying to Immanentize their particularly shitty Eschaton.

Which is an ironic thought for me to have, given that I'm familiar with this stuff and used to be a conservative. The phrase "Immanentize the Eschaton" itself was popularized by William F. Buckley and his followers in the 1950's and 1960's. To "Immanentize the Eschaton," which means 'trying to make that which belongs in the afterlife happen here and now, on Earth, was exactly what Buckley and other conservatives at the time accused the Left of trying to do. In so doing they equated Leftism and Liberalism with Gnosticism, that is the belief that the chaos, disorder and untruth of the world could be transcended by extraordinary insight, knowledge or learning.

Of course, looking at it now, that view implies a certain tolerance for chaos, disorder, and injustice on the part of conservatives, but I digress. It's like if Buckley and the National Review would have gone whole-hog in supporting Ayn Rand and all the cranks and crypto-cultists instead of demonizing them and kicking them out of conservatism.

Never mind that in today's "Conservatism" the cranks and crypto-cultists, right down to Ayn Rand and the John Birch Society themselves, along with Q-Anon and every other damn nut you can think of, are the ones driving the bus.

And it's funny how this crap always seems to come back to racism.

The heirs of William F. Buckley on the other hand, up to and including actual National Review alumni like David French and Jonah Goldberg, are Never Trump Republicans, cast into the outer darkness along with people like George Conway and Rick Wilson and their Lincoln Project ad guys, and actively working toward getting Joe Biden elected.

If I had to guess, there's probably a reason for that.

Also, Speaking as a former pro-life conservative myself here I'd just like to point out that if even one person needs to die for your statue to have meaning, you probably need a better philosophy of life.

Need a better philosophy of life, you say?

KW Miller: Hold my beer, son.

So, not only is this dude a flaming Q-nut and a racist, he's apparently got some kind of mental issues and a persecution complex on top of that.

Wow, Republicans can really pick 'em these days, can't they?

It's like Idiocracy, but with even dumber people.

Trump Republicanism is full of people we'd never have heard of without Donald Trump, the dead enders whose next professional statement, without him, would be some variant of "Would you like fries with that?"

Without Donald Trump, Brad Parscale would be designing porn websites or something and still riffing (badly) on his Star Wars related opinions.

And these fucking people are going to fight like hell, and rub their dicks all over the country while they're at it, to preserve their...well, being relevant at all.

Every last one of these goddamned idiots, with their eyes shining with messianic fervor, would happily bring American empire and American power and international prestige crashing down around their ears just to have something they could say "Look at me, Look at ME!" about. It doesn't matter what it is. These fucking people don't believe in anything. But God sent them, as if that's not the oldest fucking trick in the book when it comes to trying to silence an argument against yourself. I mean, fucking seriously, it would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic.

These fucking people don't believe in God. At least not in the sense that I understand what those words mean.

They just want to get famous, and to get money. If that means doing the bidding of Chinese Communists, Vladimir Putin or the Devil Himself they'll do it. It doesn't matter what it is. If Brad Parscale or KW Miller could get rich by singing old Frank Sinatra songs while wearing women's clothing they'd do it. If Angela Stanton King has to sell out every other Black person in the country, she'll do it and shed all type of crocodile tears if she's ever called to account. If they have to pretend they have a divine mandate and work up an affect full of messianic fervor that's just part of the tactics of trying to bullshit and flimflam their way into power.

And, as the current state of Trump's 2020 campaign shows, they'll shank each other right in the back just as well as you or me. And most of them have some sort of an ax to grind against their fellow Americans, mostly because we exist. I strongly suggest you should adjust your expectations accordingly.

These people see Black Lives Matter, the Democratic Party, anybody else who's trying to not die from COVID-19, and hell, the very concept of justice itself (social or otherwise) as detrimental to their holy work of Immanentizing the Conservative Eschaton to bring about Heaven On Earth for themselves alone.

If they'll otherize somebody like George H.W. Bush, John Bolton, John McCain, Mitt Romney or Rick Wilson, who all helped to get them where they are, to do it they'll sure run over you or me and not think twice about it. In point of fact, you can be the Trumpiest Trumpster that ever tried to Own A Lib and they'll gladly throw you right under Tommy Tuberville's burning campaign bus just because you went against Donald Trump basically one time. Oh, hi Jeff. Fuck you too!

The thing is, what I've seen of actual working for the greater good, or even simply doing your job, not to mention actual spiritual power or transcendent anything has mostly come from the other side, while the religious right bows down before an increasingly orange-hued Golden Calf.

And the entire Conservative mentality these days could be summed up as "Never mind what your conscience tells you, what the people want or what the Word says, just watch my Youtube video!" While they sit there counting their money and pondering shady investment schemes and pricey villas in non-extradition countries. Or worse, since they're facing an increasingly hostile electorate; How, when and where they can break off a piece of America for themselves so they never have to face the consequences of all this bullshit, not without a few million more deaths, anyway.

Seriously, we really need to stop paying people for being nuts.

I'd very much like My American Dark Age to end. Until we stop monetizing and tolerating cruelty, injustice and madness, that shit ain't gonna happen.

Part Nine.