amicus
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2003
- Posts
- 14,812
On the Author’s Hangout, I refer to them as the ‘usual suspects’, a loose unholy association bound together by a shared hatred of Capitalism and the free market, business and free enterprise.
Most of the usual suspects are bright, well educated people, as evidenced by the “University” thread, if you believe what they post.
They are indeed the ‘intelligentsia’, the intellectual elite of society. They are the writer’s (which is why they are here), and the artists and the musicians and the educators or our time or any time, in fact.
They are the ones who write the books and film scripts, paint the pictures and sculpt the statues, compose, write and perform the music that entertains us, the ones that write the computer programs and educate our children at all levels.
And the vast majority are all left wing, anti capitalists. Why?
And they are ’superior’ in all ways; they know it, flaunt it and by God remind us of it incessantly. They promote the Opera and PBS, the Theatre and Classical music and gourmet dining and refinement of taste in all areas, while looking down their collective noses at the masses, who frequent McDonalds and Walmart, listen to rock & roll, are NASCAR fans and even believe in God; the old fashioned Christian one.
Ah, yes, no doubt about it, they are superior beings to whom the masses should bow and scrape.
I have read, as much as I could stomach, of the posted literature of the ‘usual suspects’ here on Literotica, and their philosophy and sense of social justice filters down into their stories. They are the Bohemians of literature, operating on the fringe of the acceptable, promoting, pushing the envelope of human behavior, promoting their behavior as acceptable alternatives to the norm and all the while, demeaning traditional and conventional social behavior. Which is what writer’s are supposed to do, the ‘normal’ and accepted is not exciting to read, so, the writer attempts to tease interest by exploring the edges.
But back to the issue…I am trying and have been for several days, to condense the contents of several books on the subject of why the intellectuals are left wing, into a manageable essay.
It is as difficult as I thought it would be.
I ask you to consider the past human history of the intellectual among us. First off, they flourished in religion as clergy and scribes whose endeavors were funded by the church, by the people who contributed to the church and supported the church.
That also includes the artists, of all kinds, those employed by the church to decorate the houses of worship.
There is a self evident conclusion here: at that time in history, the literati had to function to please the church with their intellectual endeavors. They depended on the church for their livelihood and the degree of success was directly related to how well they fulfilled the visions of those who paid them.
Thus the entire existence of the literati depended on the generosity and approval of the church.
Move forward in time to the Great Empires of the world, where totalitarian rulers determined the content and product of the intelligent. It became a matter of actual life and death depending on how well the artist or scribe pleased the Emperor or King or Mongol Prince.
In sum, the whole range of intellectual activity depended upon the subjective whim of the ruling powers. This made the intellectuals a very nervous class of workers.
Again, move forward in time to medieval European Monarchies and the feudal lords and barons upon whom the intellectuals had to depend for their existence.
Advent the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment and the Age of Reason, and everything begins to change, slowly of course, but inevitably and never to return.
The printing press and the rise of trade and wealth outside the realm of aristocracy, lo and behold, the rise of the middle class and independently wealthy men and families, not beholden to King or God.
The poor, lost intellectuals found themselves without a patron of their arts.
Now, to survive, they had to please the new wealthy class with their art, music and literature.
The intellectuals hated it. Hated pandering to the wealthy businessman and trader and his fat wife and unruly children. They hated the flaunting of wealth the ostentatious manors and estates of new money, the tastes and habits outside the Church and the Royal Courts.
Enter the hope and the salvation of the disgruntled intellectual who did not favor competition in the artistic world; enter the dream of the collective, where once again, the intellectual would have a protected and cherished niche in society provided by the socialist utopia.
There would once again be an honored place for intellectual pursuits, far removed from the greedy capitalists and unfeeling businessman.
The entire intelligentsia began a collective quest still in progress to this very day. Destroy capitalism and the free market, control and restrain the common man and impose a new dictatorship, a safe one for the literati, in which all things are possible.
Modern intellectuals are children, at best, wanting a safe protected home again; cowards at worst, a soul deep fear of competition on the open market for their services.
You can probably find a copy of “The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality”, by Ludwig von Mises, in your library or at an old book shop and I imagine it is still available at bookstores.
I didn’t do nearly as well condensing the thoughts in that book as I wanted to, nor did I reference other works that deal with the subject from other directions. But surely, if you are interested, you can find your own damned box.
There is no appreciable difference between Socialism and Communism; contemporary European social democracy’s are but stepping stones on the path towards full socialism.
The curious thing is, that should the intelligentsia ever accomplish their desires, the first class of people eliminated in a socialist society are the intellectuals. They are far too dangerous to leave at large with their thoughts.
?
Amicus…
Most of the usual suspects are bright, well educated people, as evidenced by the “University” thread, if you believe what they post.
They are indeed the ‘intelligentsia’, the intellectual elite of society. They are the writer’s (which is why they are here), and the artists and the musicians and the educators or our time or any time, in fact.
They are the ones who write the books and film scripts, paint the pictures and sculpt the statues, compose, write and perform the music that entertains us, the ones that write the computer programs and educate our children at all levels.
And the vast majority are all left wing, anti capitalists. Why?
And they are ’superior’ in all ways; they know it, flaunt it and by God remind us of it incessantly. They promote the Opera and PBS, the Theatre and Classical music and gourmet dining and refinement of taste in all areas, while looking down their collective noses at the masses, who frequent McDonalds and Walmart, listen to rock & roll, are NASCAR fans and even believe in God; the old fashioned Christian one.
Ah, yes, no doubt about it, they are superior beings to whom the masses should bow and scrape.
I have read, as much as I could stomach, of the posted literature of the ‘usual suspects’ here on Literotica, and their philosophy and sense of social justice filters down into their stories. They are the Bohemians of literature, operating on the fringe of the acceptable, promoting, pushing the envelope of human behavior, promoting their behavior as acceptable alternatives to the norm and all the while, demeaning traditional and conventional social behavior. Which is what writer’s are supposed to do, the ‘normal’ and accepted is not exciting to read, so, the writer attempts to tease interest by exploring the edges.
But back to the issue…I am trying and have been for several days, to condense the contents of several books on the subject of why the intellectuals are left wing, into a manageable essay.
It is as difficult as I thought it would be.
I ask you to consider the past human history of the intellectual among us. First off, they flourished in religion as clergy and scribes whose endeavors were funded by the church, by the people who contributed to the church and supported the church.
That also includes the artists, of all kinds, those employed by the church to decorate the houses of worship.
There is a self evident conclusion here: at that time in history, the literati had to function to please the church with their intellectual endeavors. They depended on the church for their livelihood and the degree of success was directly related to how well they fulfilled the visions of those who paid them.
Thus the entire existence of the literati depended on the generosity and approval of the church.
Move forward in time to the Great Empires of the world, where totalitarian rulers determined the content and product of the intelligent. It became a matter of actual life and death depending on how well the artist or scribe pleased the Emperor or King or Mongol Prince.
In sum, the whole range of intellectual activity depended upon the subjective whim of the ruling powers. This made the intellectuals a very nervous class of workers.
Again, move forward in time to medieval European Monarchies and the feudal lords and barons upon whom the intellectuals had to depend for their existence.
Advent the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment and the Age of Reason, and everything begins to change, slowly of course, but inevitably and never to return.
The printing press and the rise of trade and wealth outside the realm of aristocracy, lo and behold, the rise of the middle class and independently wealthy men and families, not beholden to King or God.
The poor, lost intellectuals found themselves without a patron of their arts.
Now, to survive, they had to please the new wealthy class with their art, music and literature.
The intellectuals hated it. Hated pandering to the wealthy businessman and trader and his fat wife and unruly children. They hated the flaunting of wealth the ostentatious manors and estates of new money, the tastes and habits outside the Church and the Royal Courts.
Enter the hope and the salvation of the disgruntled intellectual who did not favor competition in the artistic world; enter the dream of the collective, where once again, the intellectual would have a protected and cherished niche in society provided by the socialist utopia.
There would once again be an honored place for intellectual pursuits, far removed from the greedy capitalists and unfeeling businessman.
The entire intelligentsia began a collective quest still in progress to this very day. Destroy capitalism and the free market, control and restrain the common man and impose a new dictatorship, a safe one for the literati, in which all things are possible.
Modern intellectuals are children, at best, wanting a safe protected home again; cowards at worst, a soul deep fear of competition on the open market for their services.
You can probably find a copy of “The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality”, by Ludwig von Mises, in your library or at an old book shop and I imagine it is still available at bookstores.
I didn’t do nearly as well condensing the thoughts in that book as I wanted to, nor did I reference other works that deal with the subject from other directions. But surely, if you are interested, you can find your own damned box.
There is no appreciable difference between Socialism and Communism; contemporary European social democracy’s are but stepping stones on the path towards full socialism.
The curious thing is, that should the intelligentsia ever accomplish their desires, the first class of people eliminated in a socialist society are the intellectuals. They are far too dangerous to leave at large with their thoughts.
?
Amicus…
