Introduction: The dictatorship of relativism
by Roger Kimball

An introduction our symposium "The Dictatorship of Relativism: Who Will Stand Up for Western Values Now?”

There are no facts, only interpretations.
—Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power

If relativism signifies contempt for fixed categories and [for] men who claim to be bearers of an external objective truth, then there is nothing more relativistic than fascist attitudes.
—Benito Mussolini

As a rule, only very learned and clever men deny what is obviously true. Common men have less brains, but more sense.
—William T. Stace

It wasn’t that long ago that a responsible educated person in the West was someone who entertained firm moral and political principles. When those principles were challenged, he would typically rise to defend them. The more serious the challenge, the more concerted the defense.

Today, as the Canadian writer William Gairdner reminds us in his little-noticed but excellent new study of relativism,[1] the equivalent educated person is likely to have a very different attitude towards whatever moral and political ideas—“principles” is no longer the right word—he lives by. When those ideas are challenged, deference to the challenger rather than defense of the principles is the order of the day. “While perhaps more broadly learned” than his less forgiving predecessor, such a person, Gairdner writes,

is more likely to think of him or herself as proudly distinguished by the absence of “rigid” opinions and moral values, to be someone “tolerant” and “open.” Such a person will generally profess some variation of relativism, or “you do your thing and I’ll do mine,” as a personal philosophy. Many in this frame of mind privately consider themselves exemplars of an enlightened modern attitude that civilization has worked hard to attain, and if pushed, they would admit to feeling just a little superior to all those sorry souls of prior generations forced to bend under moral and religious constraints.

The institutionalization of this amalgam of attitudes—blasé tolerance shading into moral indifference underwritten by that giddy sense of self-righteousness and superiority—has precipitated what Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) called “the dictatorship of relativism.” I understand that, for those enthralled by this dictatorship, the fact that an orthodox Catholic provided a rubric for the servitude is reason enough to dispute its relevance. But considered simply as a sociological datum, the triumph (if that is a less opprobrious word than “dictatorship”) of relativism describes, in Anthony Trollope’s phrase, “the way we live now”—“we” being the beneficiaries of that “enlightened modern attitude” that Gairdner described in the passage just quoted.

More at: http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Introduction--The-dictatorship-of-relativism-3981

Yep, sadly I was born to late, its I simply don't understand it really. Right and wrong are dead, now its all shades of gray. Well I call BS.


Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
John Adams

Here is a good one from my relative.

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From personal observation this is only true of the so called "educated elite" in the west. Who have had it beaten into their heads that the west is the cause of all the worlds ills. Having worked all my adult life in Silicon Valley I have worked with educated individuals from all over the world. Most of the people I deal with have either a masters at a minimum and a higher percentage have Phd. These people will defend their culture and their history in any discussion. It really is only the westerners who have been taught to be ashamed of their heritage and culture, white guilt is rampant.

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That sounds about right. The west is bad, white guilt, blame America first, etc.

All things that leave a foul taste in my mouth.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Maybe it is, because 'Education' in it's entirety has been stolen away from the common people, while an Elite Minority reserves the right not only to be educated, but also to be the educators.

In the meantime, the majority of common people are handed the wisdom of "No child left behind" and entertainment that leaves no sense without numbness.

One could also call it a "Dictatorship of Mediocrity".

America has never bothered to be very critical of itself. Now is a good time to start.

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Yes. Utter BS. It's definately an anglo saxon phenomenon. Check out a guy called "Theodore Dalrymple" on Youtube if you want a really interesting attack on this kind of PC BS.

- Peter.

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Formerly...
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1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
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1971 108 280S

Brilliant, It's Bush's fault.

Exactly

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Understand that all I am about to say is relative: Consider this, Western societies have reached a point where actually being "poor" or "hungry" is a very rare thing. Yes, there are soup kitchens, homeless and the like but the huge majority, even those at the bottom of the heap, are better off than huge majorities in entire countries such as India, China, and the like.

My thought is a person is far more inclined to "shades of grey" kind of thinking the more comfortable they are. I may not be explaining this correctly. The best way to make my point is go find a person who lived through the Great Depression and speak with them. They still remember what it is like to "have not" and I can guarantee they do not think in "shades of grey"

That said, we may all be about to learn that lesson the hard way. Its a good lesson, one you will never forget, just like them.

RT

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I thought I was a nihilist but I was in denial.

I was gonna say, You need to get that 'Bush' out of your head. But than again, which 'Bush', do you have in mind?

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I realized when I was still in school, that the longer I was in school and the farther I went academically, the less I was certain of. That seems to fit with this.

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OBK #55

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Did you throw your shoes at the blackboard?

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http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/NWO/silent_weapons_quiet_wars.htm

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