Camille Paglia on Jordan Peterson and the "Deep State"


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The Facebook Group "For the New Intellectuals" is sometimes a font of interesting articles relating directly to Objectivists and objective-ism. Earlier this week, Anoop Verma posted a link to an article at the US Spectator, "Camille Paglia: ‘Hillary wants Trump to win again’"  In it she dishes on a variety of stone cold losers and screechers assembling at the starting gate for the Democratic presidential nomination contests. Piquant, zesty, trenchant, pick your adjective ...

She also gets in the weeds about the Deep State:

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Does the ‘deep state’ exist? If so, what is it?

The deep state is no myth but a sodden, intertwined mass of bloated, self-replicating bureaucracy that constitutes the real power in Washington and that stubbornly outlasts every administration. As government programs have incrementally multiplied, so has their regulatory apparatus, with its intrusive byzantine minutiae. Recently tagged as a source of anti-Trump conspiracy among embedded Democrats, the deep state is probably equally populated by Republicans and apolitical functionaries of Bartleby the Scrivener blandness. Its spreading sclerotic mass is wasteful, redundant, and ultimately tyrannical.s

I have been trying for decades to get my fellow Democrats to realize how unchecked bureaucracy, in government or academe, is inherently authoritarian and illiberal. A persistent characteristic of civilizations in decline throughout history has been their self-strangling by slow, swollen, and stupid bureaucracies. The current atrocity of crippling student debt in the US is a direct product of an unholy alliance between college administrations and federal bureaucrats — a scandal that ballooned over two decades with barely a word of protest from our putative academic leftists, lost in their post-structuralist fantasies. Political correctness was not created by administrators, but it is ever-expanding campus bureaucracies that have constructed and currently enforce the oppressively rule-ridden regime of college life.

In the modern world, so wondrously but perilously interconnected, a principle of periodic reduction of bureaucracy should be built into every social organism. Freedom cannot survive otherwise.

What is true multiculturalism?

As I repeatedly argue in Provocations, comparative religion is the true multiculturalism and should be installed as the core curriculum in every undergraduate program. From my perspective as an atheist as well as a career college teacher, secular humanism has been a disastrous failure. Too many young people raised in affluent liberal homes are arriving at elite colleges and universities with skittish, unformed personalities and shockingly narrow views of human existence, confined to inflammatory and divisive identity politics.

 

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  • 3 months later...

Jordan Peterson news, from Memeorandum:

JordanPetersonCambridgeBoot.png

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On 3/21/2019 at 8:35 PM, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

They also banned Jordan Peterson's latest book in New Zealand

(((They))) did not 'ban' the book.  A jumpy and rather stupid move by a major bookseller resulted in the book being unavailable in its own stores and online portal.

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6 hours ago, william.scherk said:

(((They))) did not 'ban' the book.

(((They))) probably did not 'ban' Solo Passion either.

Right  now, when you type in solopassion.com, the following is what you get:

03.25.2019-16.55.png

The message that is almost covered by the logo graphic says:

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Taking a break, folks. Back whenever.

God knows I'm no fan of Perigo, but that kind of language does not sound like him.

If (((They))) are doing anything against him or his site to get them offline, I stand on principle against (((Them))).

Michael

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NZ needs to get out into the streets like the Yellow Vests have for 20 weeks now and like the public in the U.K. will be doing and their gov’t have brought in 10,000 foreign guest troops to be prepared for, in four days, on the 29th. They have to stand up for themselves, talking time is over.

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SOLOgone.png

 

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3 hours ago, Jon Letendre said:

SOLO is down again. And “Well, here we are again ...” didn’t sound like him, either.

Jon,

The new message on the "Site down" page doesn't sound much like him, either. And if it is him, it sounds coerced or dictated by someone else.

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Taking a break, folks. Back whenever. In the meantime, why not take the SOLO pledge?: "Just as I reserve the right to hold and express my opinions on any matter whatsoever, I promise to respect the right of all others to do the same. I renounce unreservedly the use of coercion and violence in the promotion of my opinions."

I don't think anyone is holding him in a room or something like that, but I do think there are government people telling him he will not be allowed to keep his site online, and I believe they might be threatening him with jail time. This is speculation, but it sounds about right to me.

btw - There never used to be any such drivel as a Solo pledge like the one above. Not that I remember. Here are the two texts that he Perigo used for this kind of message (I got them off older copies of the site.) 

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SOLO Credo

Submitted by Lindsay Perigo on Wed, 2005-11-30 09:26
SOLO—Sense of Life Objectivists.

"The total passion for the total height."
Rational passion and passionate reason.
Say what you mean, and mean what you say.
"This above all, to thine own self be true."

Welcome to the web site for SOLO—Sense of Life Objectivists.

Sense of Life Objectivists (SOLO) was founded in 2001. Like other Objectivist organisations, it seeks to transform the prevailing culture from one of nihilism and unreason—a culture conducive to dictatorship—to one of life-affirmation and reason—a culture in which freedom can flourish. It also seeks to transform the culture of Objectivism itself, from one of cultism, censorship, heresy-hunts, emotional repression and robotic "Randroidism" to one where authentic individuality may blossom.

SOLO places a heavy emphasis on activism, recognising that while ideas are powerful, ideas without action are useless. It encourages reason-and-freedom-lovers to submit articles to SOLOPassion.com; it provides a completely open discussion forum; it offers a book (and other merchandise) store; it promotes life-affirming art, movies, music and literature; it offers a culture of camaraderie and joie de vivre; it touts a fellowship of freedom.

SOLO is for those who—to invoke George Walsh's famous remark when he helped David Kelley launch the Institute for Objectivist Studies—consider themselves "homeless Objectivists" still. It’s for those who, after 15 years of IOS/TOC, want an alternative to repressive religiosity within Objectivism other than the timid, tepid somnambulist ecumenism that pervades TOC (now renamed The Atlas Society). It's here for any Objectivist, aligned or non-aligned, who agrees with this Credo. And for any Objectivist who doesn't!

SOLO seeks to galvanise all Objectivists who recognise that Objectivism is a tool for living, and who repudiate any reason/passion dichotomy. We seek to be a magnet and a home for those who are exuberantly rational and rationally exuberant, who aspire to the "total passion for the total height"—intellectually and emotionally, simultaneously and harmoniously.

We aspire to embody within our ranks and promote at large a culture of sincerity and integrity, where mind-games, deceit and posturing—and having to read between the lines—in one's dealings with others are a thing of the past, where Shakespeare's "This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. ..." is second nature.

SOLO is for those who want reason and logic to be liberated from the Mr. Spock straitjacket and impregnated with KASS—the "kick-ass" factor—in the service of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

We see ourselves most emphatically as being at war with the current culture: the culture of anti-heroes, nihilism, destruction and dishonesty (hence a significant, though by no means exclusive, focus on esthetics here). Yet we acknowledge that Objectivism's critics can be honest, and should be granted more than a perfunctory discussion or two before being dismissed out of hand. We acknowledge that Ayn Rand made mistakes (and should not be expected not to have), that she didn’t answer every question that could be asked (and should not have been expected to), that she was wrong about some matters of considerable existential moment, such as homosexuality (which matter we have already addressed). But we salute her as an epoch-changing giant—comparable to Aristotle—whose mistakes were of little moment when compared to her unprecedented insights, and whose life was indeed a Post-Script to her philosophy, a P.S. that said, "And I mean it."

We want to help Ayn Rand's philosophy, Objectivism, become the living, breathing, growing, vibrant, reality-orientated, life-affirming phenomenon that it really is when untainted by religiosity. We want to plant another flower, fierce and radiant, in the Garden of Reason.

We seek nothing less than to change the world.

Lindsay Perigo

Founder and Principal

And this:

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Guidelines for Posters

Submitted by Lindsay Perigo on Thu, 2005-12-01 07:50

Anyone who signs up to SOLOPassion.com is free to post here, unmoderated.

Anyone who is gratuitously rude or abusive, will, however, be moderated in the “play pen” for children, after reasonable warning.

When posting, remember the “Three Gs”—good faith, good will and good humour. If the second two are rendered impossible, the first is still a minimum requirement.

As a sign of good faith, please sign on and post under your real name with photograph, which you can upload when you register an account.

In dealing with non- or anti-Objectivists, remember the objective is to persuade rather than intimidate, bully or disgust.

Remember you are guests in Linz’s house, enjoying his hospitality for free. Do not presume to tell him how to run this site or SOLO. If you don’t enjoy being in his house … well, there is no one forcing you to stay.

Respect the privacy of others here—and your own.

If you’re a self-important grandstander, poseur, attention-seeker or blowhard monologuer who knows it all, contemplate the possibility that this might not be the place for you.

If you’re a rationally passionate romantic, seeking the stars and looking for other pilgrims in your quest, contemplate the certainty that this is definitely the place for you!

Enjoy!

I can't believe I am defending Lindsay fucking Perigo, but life is weird at times. And this is a time for principle. 

Michael

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26 minutes ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

Jon,

The new message on the "Site down" page doesn't sound much like him, either. And if it is him, it sounds coerced or dictated by someone else.

I don't think anyone is holding him in a room or something like that, but I do think there are government people telling him he will not be allowed to keep his site online, and I believe they might be threatening him with jail time. This is speculation, but it sounds about right to me.

btw - There never used to be any such drivel as a Solo pledge like the one above. Not that I remember. Here are the two texts that he Perigo used for this kind of message (I got them off older copies of the site.) 

And this:

I can't believe I am defending Lindsay fucking Perigo, but life is weird at times. And this is a time for principle. 

Michael

They are all in a very dangerous moment in NZ. They are being slow–boiled like frogs. They must revolt.

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Re Peterson's book and the jumpy/stupid decision to pull it from sale at Whitcoulls ...

On 3/25/2019 at 8:54 AM, william.scherk said:

A jumpy and rather stupid move by a major bookseller resulted in the book being unavailable in its own stores and online portal.

Jordan Peterson book returns to New Zealand bookshops after Christchurch attack

 

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  • 1 month later...

I haven't watched the whole thing (faltering at the one-hour mark), but it makes for absorbing entertainment, if titrated to your style.

 

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  • 1 month later...
On 3/26/2019 at 2:11 PM, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

Jon,

The new message on the "Site down" page doesn't sound much like him, either. And if it is him, it sounds coerced or dictated by someone else.

I don't think anyone is holding him in a room or something like that, but I do think there are government people telling him he will not be allowed to keep his site online, and I believe they might be threatening him with jail time. This is speculation, but it sounds about right to me.

btw - There never used to be any such drivel as a Solo pledge like the one above. Not that I remember. Here are the two texts that he Perigo used for this kind of message (I got them off older copies of the site.) 

And this:

I can't believe I am defending Lindsay fucking Perigo, but life is weird at times. And this is a time for principle. 

Michael

I just saw Satan come up out of the ground, he had frostbite and asked me for a shovel 😈

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