“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
-William Butler Yeats, The Second Coming[1]
The last 12 months have been historic by any measure. Western civilisation has reached an inflection point and the world will change and has changed. The social division seen in the United States on January 6th 2021 is not endemic to the United States, it is across many Western countries at various levels of development. Whilst the mainstream media scrambles to make use of the tragic events that unfolded on January 6th to spread a narrative to justify the silencing and demonisation of roughly half the population who did not vote for their preferred candidate, the division grows more and more.
For months and months we have seen the mainstream media, academia and politicians of the left wing political spectrum, normalise and attempt to justify violent riots against private property, innocent people and government buildings in the name of combating racism. Then suddenly we are expected to act surprised when riots occur in the Capitol building? For years and years we were told by the mainstream media that Russia rigged the 2016 US election. We had years of investigation and constant news coverage about Russian interference and now apparently the public is expected by that same mainstream media to instantly accept the numerous irregularities of the 2020 election without any substantive investigation? The mainstream media normalised all of this.
For decades and decades we have seen the mainstream media, academia and politicians of the left-wing political spectrum fuel social division with identity politics and woke ideology. Again we are then suddenly expected to act surprised when riots occur in the Capitol building? These events do not occur in a vacuum and are linked to each other. What happened on January 6th was normalised by the mainstream media and the far-left mob they have enabled for years. Hatred begets hatred, bigotry begets bigotry and violence begets violence. The violence of the far-left has now led to violence on the far-right and so the cycle goes on and on and on.
What happened on January 6th should not have happened and is not justifiable, but let us not excuse the role of the far-left and the mainstream media in fuelling the social division we saw on January 6th. The condescension of the far-left and the mainstream media toward the other half of the population and their attempts to silence and attack dissenting opinion no matter how reasonable and civil it has been delivered, has been nothing short of disgraceful. Ironically it has been that very incendiary behaviour from the far-left and the mainstream media and them consistently talking down to people and ignoring the needs and concerns of vast swathes of the population, that got Trump elected in the first place (like labelling people they disagree with deplorables and Nazi’s). So there is no moral high ground to be gained from the events of January 6th for either the left or the right, let us get that straight.
This destructive cycle must be stopped or it will eventually tear society apart. This is not a warning, it is a perfectly predictable outcome to decades of hyperpartisan indoctrination and identity politics from media and academia in particular. If society continues to tread this hyperpartisan path, then expect more riots, more violence and more hatred and division. If there was one thing I could suggest to people, it would be this- Turn off the tv or the phone, stop watching the mainstream media and being a slave to social media and stop letting people fill your head with hyperpartisan ideology. Don’t feed the beast. The same goes with academia, stop enrolling in courses that indoctrinate you into identity politics and ideologies that foster resentment and social division.
Whether you love him or hate him, Ted Cruz’s speech[2] in Congress was right on point. It was a short but brilliant speech that will stand the test of time. Both the left and right needed to adopt a higher moral standard than their own interests. A standard that puts the needs of the country before the needs of their party and their convictions about the result of the election. That is what Cruz spoke about. I am in no doubt that historians will be citing that speech decades from now, as an historic time capsule of where the country was at and a great opportunity to unite and heal the country that was missed. Despite the result of January 6th and the events of that day, it does not mean that the United States or the West cannot look to aspire to that higher moral standard that Cruz alluded to every day from now on. What happened last week, does not have to be what we resign ourselves to for the future.
I write about men’s issues and gynocentrism, because I correctly recognise that the strength of the relationship men and women have with each other is a major contributing factor to the strength and prosperity of society. Dividing men and women against each other with patriarchy theory and having a one-dimensional lens of looking at the world and history as one of female oppression and male privilege, is fundamentally divisive and also fundamentally untrue. It ignores the issues men face and have faced and it is also ignores the reality that men and women live together, share the same blood and have children.
The intent of my writing is simply to bring greater balance to the narratives we have about men and women and the issues they face. Balance is key to maintaining a strong relationship between any group. Aside from there being a need to speak the truth about men and the issues men face, there is also a need to confront the gynocentric bigotry preventing the truth from being discussed. If we are not prepared as a society to face the truth on issues like men’s issues and gynocentrism, then there will be no balance in our society. Without balance, you end up getting the ever-escalating social division we are currently witnessing in society.
The vast majority of people want to live in a peaceful, prosperous and lawful society and go about their daily lives in peace. I am one of those people. However there are authoritarians on the extreme fringes of our society that are highly involved politically and wish to impose their one-sided worldview on all of us. To them the ends always justify the means. They don’t play by any principles aside from the principle of acquiring more power at any cost they can get away with. A major strategy these authoritarians have employed to garner more political and social power, is by fuelling the social division we are seeing unfold.
Turning women against men, black people against white people and left against right like they are mortal enemies, with one-sided and heavily skewed social narratives and stirring up emotions of hatred, jealously and resentment is their modus operandi. It is psychological warfare being waged on the population by power hungry authoritarian ideologues in the media, big tech, politics and academia etc. When the inevitable violence comes to the surface these people throw petrol on the fire they lit. Then when just a small fraction of their opposition steps out of line, that is then used to make justifications on why all of our rights and freedoms should be curtailed in the name of safety and security. See how that works? It is a trap. It is a strategy to use fear and division to grab authoritarian power. Divide and rule.
What is the solution? Don’t play their game. The authoritarians want violence, they want chaos. The violence and chaos they help encourage, is the excuse authoritarians need to do what they love doing- acquiring more power. What I would suggest people do instead of rioting is don’t feed the beast- don’t watch hyperpartisan mainstream media, don’t enrol in courses that teach identity politics. Instead smell the roses and live your life and have as little to do with identity politics and left or right wing hyperpartisan politics as possible. It is fine to be politically and socially engaged, but not to the point where you are “ideologically possessed” as Jordan Peterson coined. Too many people are caught up in a storm of ideological possession, unable to live without their chosen ideology or see beyond it.
With that said, not having any political interest at all can be just as dangerous but for other reasons. For the silent majority my advice is that now more than ever is the time for you to become actively politically engaged, before you become the silent minority. The authoritarians responsible for this chaos do not stop. I repeat they do not stop. There is no end point for them and the power they acquire will never be enough, they will always seek more and more. Part of the reason this current societal mess exists, is because for far too long too many people have not paid attention to the health of their institutions or their political system. It should not be surprising that so many politicians now seem to be disconnected from the reality of main street, when there has been so much apathy to politics for so long by so many in society. This has allowed extreme fringe groups and special interest groups that often have an authoritarian leaning, to have far too much influence over our society, whilst the interests of the majority are ignored. When the silent majority remain silent for too long, they become the silent minority under the boot heel of authoritarians.
Most people whether they are on the left or the right, are in the centre of the political spectrum and just want to go about their lives in peace. For what it is worth, whilst I don’t hold to a political ideology and just go where the facts are, I do lean centre-left. I have far more in common with people on the centre-right, then I do on the far-left. Far more in common! I think it is worth people like me saying that right now who are centre-left. That’s what authoritarians don’t want people figuring out- That they have more in common with other people in the centre on the other side of the political spectrum, than they do with hyperpartisan ideologues on the far-left and far-right extremes. Note how unpopular it is right now in the mainstream media to express an opinion in the middle? That is intentional, it is by design. That mentality is what we must wholeheartedly reject as a society and discourage.
One of the reasons censorship by big tech is being instigated, is to remove avenues for dialogue so there can be no middle ground reached and to entrench the social division in society even further. It is a strategy of divide and rule, so they can gain influence at the expense of society. The censorship of a President is not normal in a democracy, let alone the United States. Whatever you think of Donald Trump, it should be of grave concern to everyone that values their freedom, that the supposed “leader of the free world” is currently not free to speak on major social media platforms.
Censorship has not just been restricted to the President either. Censorship of major news coverage[3] by big tech that did not fit their preferred narrative, was happening well before January 6th. Big tech is even going as far now as deplatforming other social media companies like Parler[4], to control the political narrative and to silence any dissenting views it disagrees with. There is no excuse they can hide behind for that. Censorship promotes division and it promotes violence. Dialogue promotes unity and it promotes peace. It is in the interests of everyone to make sure that freedom of speech is protected.
I support women’s rights as much as I do men’s rights because we are all fundamentally human. I don’t support feminism because it promotes hatred at its core. Mainstream media articles like, “Why Can’t We Hate Men?”[5], do not come from a movement that genuinely fights for gender equality. However I will never agree to the censorship of such hateful feminist rhetoric. That is not a solution. A more compelling narrative is the solution to such hatred and it’s not hard to develop one. Consider that hateful article for a moment and pose the question to someone- Which world do people want to live in, a world where we demonise half the population for being male or a world where the sexes work and live together to maximise human potential and humanities future?
It is not rocket science to debunk hatred and it is not difficult to challenge bad ideas. There is no need for censorship, all censorship does in the long term is give validity to the censored. There is only one way to tackle bad ideas in the long run and that is to come up with better ideas. Time is a great teacher. People eventually will abandon bad ideas for good ideas out of self-interest if nothing else and because it eventually becomes conspicuously self-evident why they should adopt good ideas over bad ideas given enough time.
Patience is the key. Do not silence anyone, instead step away from the emotionally charged narratives surrounding race, sex and political ideology that breed hatred and resentment and just pause for a moment. Is this really what you want? Open a history book and you will find a plethora of examples of this type of thinking leading nowhere good. All people have to do is step away from the ideologies they emotionally cling to and look at the mess society is in with fresh eyes and independent thought and free of ideological possession.
United we rise and divided we will fall. If we want to restore faith in our institutions then the silent majority needs to become the vocal majority. Centre-left and centre-right can work together, men and women can work together and black and white people can work together to achieve this. There is very little authoritarians can do against a society that is united against them, supportive of each other and absolutely determined to uphold the law. It keeps authoritarians up at night. Spreading division is the only tool authoritarians have to keep society at bay. Ignore their divisive rhetoric and challenge them with narratives that promote unity. This may take time and patience, but genuine positive change is not going to come from shouting at people, censoring them, cancelling them or demonising them. Real positive transformational change comes from mutual understanding, mutual respect, balance and dialogue. Pride has to take a backseat and humility and an open enquiring mind must surface.
A strong and united centre will hold, with all of the best united and speaking with the greatest conviction to our better natures. The downward spiral of society will then come to an end.
References
1. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43290/the-second-coming
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN4yljm6y5U
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oeHylP48ws
