My last post reviewed the death of George Floyd and Donald Trump’s exploitation of that tragedy. But Donald Trump is not the only opportunist here.
George Floyd’s death is deeply disturbing. It strikes at the very fundamentals of civilised behaviour. It reminds us that the USA still has a problem with race. But more broadly it indicates that the US authorities really need to re-examine their attitudes about authority towards their citizens overall, especially given the spirit and principles of their remarkable constitution.
My view is that the American authorities have lost all sense of Christian values and democracy, and are now a de facto Plutocracy worshipping Corporate Materialism.
If President Trump’s photo opportunity was offensive, so too was the political exploitation by the representatives of the liberal Left metropolitan elite. We had the Democrats “taking the knee” and we then had the British Opposition Labour leader posting a photograph of himself, “taking the knee”.
This is classic PC exploitation: weaponizing issues. George Floyd’s death is an affront to us all. It is an affront to every civilised sensibility. It is not the property of any political party or cause. It is a symptom of our fallen humanity and the deep rooted problems that exist as a result.
When Trump or Pelosi in the USA, or Starmer in the UK behave like this, they reveal themselves as partisan opportunists who arrogate the right to say that they are the spokesmen, the representatives of civilised values. That their particular ideology or cause has a monopoly on Virtue.
The very fact that they behave like this reveals their unsuitability as guardians of our civilisation. They are just politicians cashing in on the latest crisis to make themselves look good to everyone. Bidders at an auction of popularity [paragraph 396 – reference below]
But it is not just politicians seeking votes and polishing their image that troubles me in all this. It is the instrumentalization of the issue by institutions that really ought to know better: Universities. They ought to know better because they should be using their brains, not just their hearts; they should be places of research and education, not indoctrination.
Universities have now been taken over by the adherents of what Edmund Burke described as the spirit of atheistical fanaticism. [paragraph 251 – reference below]. He correctly likened it to a religious phenomenon.
It is particularly dangerous because it unites politics and religion in one cause. Politics and religion separately can ignite strong feelings and give rise to serious conflict. But the characteristic of atheistical fanaticism is that it combines both in one. That in itself should alarm us.
My alma mater has issued statements reflecting this religious zeal. They have specifically reacted to the issue around George Floyd.
Are they going to take up every major crisis in this world from now on and change institutional policy each time ?
Are they going to speak up for the most persecuted religious group in the world today – Christians ? After all, my college is a Christian foundation …
They have appropriated an issue from US society. It is the pretext to go on a witch hunt for demons in the College’s past and expose them to the Righteous indignation of today’s Perfect PC Priesthood. It is the pretext to realign an educational institution with the Creed; to be politically correct, espousing the sacred cause of minority Rights.
They will appease the MAN god’s anger by confessing the sins of our forefathers and by reinventing the criteria by which people are assessed for entry to the College and University.
The objective criteria which apply to all must somehow be adjusted [bent?] to make it attractive and welcoming to black and other minority people.
How insulting to black people. They need to be given preferential treatment. This is the convex/converse of racism – one side is oppressive and cruel; the other is fawning, apologetic and submissive.
Where is the sane and healthy norm based on the simple fact that black people are human beings like everyone else, to be treated normally as human beings. That means neither denigration and denial, nor preference and special treatment.
Yes, black people are under-represented at Oxford and Cambridge. So are other social groups. The question for legitimate research is why are certain groups over-represented i.e. the products of private, fee paying schools and others under-represented i.e. children from State educated and manual worker backgrounds.
Indeed, why should these under-represented groups see themselves as deprived just because the university authorities view them as deprived ? Why should they adopt the mindset and values of Oxbridge just because the mindset governing those Universities deems it right and necessary for such groups to see themselves in that way ?
It is for pupils and schools to decide about applying to university. It is not for the Universities to determine people’s choices and ambitions. The role and choice for Universities must be in assessing a candidates suitability for the courses on offer. It is not for Universities to try to dictate who applies; or try to determine that certain people are deprived and that universities must deliver them from their deprivation !
There are cultural factors at work here – and the universities should know this. Fee paying schools foster a culture of going to university and the parents of their pupils demand it. State schools must cater for everyone; they cannot focus on such a culture in the same way; and parents expectations are not uniformly ambitious. There are harsh facts of life in play here.
What we are witnessing is the politicisation of our universities. An ideological creed is driving this, not purely academic and educational considerations.
That creed rules that colonialism and the nation State – and that everything associated with that past – is evil. Until they completely refashion the world according to the Materialist Rights of Man, holy war must continue. They must eradicate every vestige of the evil past. We must bow down and worship the new Ideal. We must sacrifice to the MANgod; confess the sins of our forebears against the Atheistic Doctrine of Rights; we must vicariously repent and rectify.
I find that psychologically fascinating and disturbing. How can I apologise for people who are dead ? Why should I associate myself with the evils committed in the past by people I never met or had anything to do with ?
This is a gross and dangerous corruption of true religion. My religion teaches me to deal with my issues and to leave judgement of other people to God. I am responsible to put right the wrong in my own heart, not other people’s. If we all do that, the world will be a far better place. Why ? Because we are all then dealing with the root of the real problem.
But this atheistic corruption of religion makes a virtue out of poking your nose into other people’s business; condemning other people’s faults; and puffing up your own sense of righteousness.
It is the very opposite – and will have the opposite effects. Instead of changing me for the better, Society must be changed for the better by intrusive, know-all State Institutions. That is the teaching of a particularly powerful sect of Materialism, namely Marxism.
Change the world; change every one else; I’m not the problem; My Rights are sacrosanct.
MAN is now God !
Ray Catlin
Reference made above is to this writer’s edition of Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France titled “Core Conservatism: Edmund Burke’s Landmark Definition” published by Westbow Press and available at Amazon here
Edmund Burke’s Reflections has remarkable and pertinent insights into political correctness, note eg paragraphs 185-6 and 208 on mindset and tactics. He also comments accurately on their abuse of history at paragraphs 235 following. Abuse of our history is precisely what is being perpetrated today by the self righteous zealots of atheistical fanaticism
Conservatism Institute 