Alternative Vertical: "If the Right Wing has an essence that most can agree on, it is hierarchy, natural inequality, meritocracy, and aspiration to the sacred, in other words a sense of the vertical. Likewise the essence of the LEFT, when it isn’t forming itself into elitist revolutionary cliques preparing for heroic military conquest, has been an all-embracing egalitarianism and anti-hierarchical tendency, essentially a horizontal value."
So instead left/right, liberal/conservative, we really have Flatteners and Verticalists, Flats and Verts.
True, but not likely to catch on.
I have noticed, while watching TV, that the ubiquitous reality shows --run pretty well entirely by and for liberals-- are nevertheless mercilessly vertical. No affirmative action, no complaints about privilege. They are win/lose propositions and no whining is allowed. Like all of Hollywood, it mouths the pieties of the Church of Liberalism but lives a pretty much 19th century robber baron capitalist life. Hypocritical much?
Not unlike academia, where the tenured resist with all their might any attempt by the degreed proletariate, the lecturers and TA's, to organize for better wages, etc.
Now back to my coffee.
'via Blog this'
So instead left/right, liberal/conservative, we really have Flatteners and Verticalists, Flats and Verts.
True, but not likely to catch on.
I have noticed, while watching TV, that the ubiquitous reality shows --run pretty well entirely by and for liberals-- are nevertheless mercilessly vertical. No affirmative action, no complaints about privilege. They are win/lose propositions and no whining is allowed. Like all of Hollywood, it mouths the pieties of the Church of Liberalism but lives a pretty much 19th century robber baron capitalist life. Hypocritical much?
Not unlike academia, where the tenured resist with all their might any attempt by the degreed proletariate, the lecturers and TA's, to organize for better wages, etc.
Now back to my coffee.
'via Blog this'
1 comment:
Reminds me vaguely of the English Revolution/Bishop's War in 17th century, as I learned about in an old class about various forms of social control throughout history and in the book 'The World Turned Upside Down' (by Christopher Hill I think). There were many sides (Diggers, Levelers, True Levelers, Familialists/Family of Love, Seekers, Fifth Monarchists, Quakers, Ranters, Muggletonians, Puritans/Calvinists, etc) - and how each had its own Christian "theology" (all protestant of course) and vision of Church driving its position.
Its been a while, but I remember it seeming to be ultimately about the attempted implementation of a horizontal system of egalitarianism and 'free love' and non-property ownership and such (such as the True Levelers who promoted radical ideas like universal male suffrage and vaguely communitarian/communist ideas about property being redistributed once a year based on need), vs the maintenance of the vertical social/economic system and the struggle to promote a theology and vision of Church that had principles best suited to not inspiring attempts at leveling the system. I specifically remember one gentry-man who was a big supporter of the free-church system until it was brought to his attention that such a theology and vision of church would lead to the demise of his massive property holdings, elite social standing, and political power and privileges that came with the verticle system. His "conversion" was quite rapid and he suddenly began supporting the re-implimentation of the Bishop/Episcopal/High-Church structure because it was most useful for keeping the rabble in line - The quote that most stuck out in my head was something along the lines of "The light of God needs to be disciplined" or "The people of God need to be put back in their place" or something like that; basically the sentiment that all of this liberalist/egalitarian/proto-socialist/free-love/unstructured society/ anti-property/pro-democracy/anti-hierarhcy/etc was coming from certain theologies which he desired to crush to maintain his land/social position/political power, etc. And interesting read, if you have the time (at least pages 87-106, 151-183, 306-386).
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