Now that’s a fascinating take, and I hadn’t thought about it that way. I’ve always wondered why people who claim to be future-oriented are so relentlessly pessimistic about it; if they’re truly “progressive,” shouldn’t they be the most pollyannish people imaginable?
I also think there’s a smug sort of anthropocentrism involved—these people really believe that humanity has removed itself from nature, and therefore anything it does is “unnatural.” Which is total BS. I have no doubt there’s a connection there with all this transgender and transhumanist business as well—it’s almost as if progressives view themselves as godlike beings that have transcended the limitations of nature and matter.
Excellent point about the traditionalist way of seeing things, too!
Carbon cultism is bullshit but I've been telling Canadians for many, many years now that if it's true, it cannot possibly be a bad thing for Canada, and therefore they should support it.
What it shows, though, is a general anxiety about the future - a sense that it can only get worse, possibly inevitable for those who think they've reached the apex of human development. A psychological trap within progressivism perhaps? Whig history makes you think you are always at the top, with nowhere to go but down, and you therefore come to fear change while schizophrenically proclaiming its glories? While traditionalists who see things more cyclically understand that in many ways we are closer to the nadir than the zenith ... and that therefore we can in fact, improve things by changing them.
Now that’s a fascinating take, and I hadn’t thought about it that way. I’ve always wondered why people who claim to be future-oriented are so relentlessly pessimistic about it; if they’re truly “progressive,” shouldn’t they be the most pollyannish people imaginable?
I also think there’s a smug sort of anthropocentrism involved—these people really believe that humanity has removed itself from nature, and therefore anything it does is “unnatural.” Which is total BS. I have no doubt there’s a connection there with all this transgender and transhumanist business as well—it’s almost as if progressives view themselves as godlike beings that have transcended the limitations of nature and matter.
Excellent point about the traditionalist way of seeing things, too!
Carbon cultism is bullshit but I've been telling Canadians for many, many years now that if it's true, it cannot possibly be a bad thing for Canada, and therefore they should support it.
What it shows, though, is a general anxiety about the future - a sense that it can only get worse, possibly inevitable for those who think they've reached the apex of human development. A psychological trap within progressivism perhaps? Whig history makes you think you are always at the top, with nowhere to go but down, and you therefore come to fear change while schizophrenically proclaiming its glories? While traditionalists who see things more cyclically understand that in many ways we are closer to the nadir than the zenith ... and that therefore we can in fact, improve things by changing them.