Civil Courage and Practical Dissidence

This just over the transom from Malcolm Pollack:

The problem, Bill, with your call for prudence is that courage is what encourages courage in others, and vice versa. 

But it's true also, as both you and Moldbug remind us, that in a predatory environment we should remember that we are prey. I agree with you about the confrontational folly of open carry, and the value of ketman. Genuine martyrdom is hard to achieve: most are simply destroyed and forgotten, and what good does that do anyone (least of all, oneself)?

 

These are difficult times. We live under exactly the soft, smothering power that Tocqueville saw coming, so long ago.

Malcolm has the dialectical savvy to realize that his first point, with which I agree, is balanced by his second. I thank him for the reference to Moldbug's idea-rich article.  As for martyrdom, perhaps we should distinguish between secular and religious martyrdom, and within both between effective and ineffective. Malcolm is right: most martyrs for a secular cause simply throw their lives away, are soon encairned in oblivion, and accomplish nothing.  But suppose Christianity is true and that the Christian martyrs who went to their deaths in the Coliseum and elsewhere won the eternal crown.    Whether they achieved anything for Christianity in this world, they achieved the ultimate for themselves in the other. If Christianity is false, however, then they too threw away their lives.  The problematic here is a lot deeper and trickier than I am making it out to be, but I want to get on to Moldbug's warnings, insights and tactical suggestions.

 

He warns again confronting the powers that be. "When the weak step on the toes of the strong, the strong step on their face." Don't fancy yourself an enemy of the state. "Dissidents are prey of the state." The regime should be thought of as a predator rather than as an enemy. In the wild I do nothing that might attract bears such as sleep with my food in the tent, nor do I bait them; if one shows up I will try to evade him, and shoot him only if absolutely necessary. Given what we are up against, "the immediate tactical goal of the dissident is to maximize the product of independence and security." So: don't react in a threatening or violent manner. Your impotent reaction will provoke Power's potent action. (Have you learned anything from J6?) That's what they want you to do so that they can justify their jackboot tactics and middle-of-the-night full-auto intimidation. Quietly prepare, and bide your time.

 

I'll leave you to read for yourself the rest of his article. An excess of cleverness impairs its readability, but there is a lot of fresh thinking here. And do bang on the Tocqueville link which  features an astonishingly prescient passage from Alexis as well as an impressive defense of Donald Trump by Malcolm.

 

If you are interested in the origin of my dissidence, take a gander at my  From Democrat to Dissident in T. Allan Hillman & Tully Borland (eds.), Dissident Philosophers: Voices Against the Political Current of the Academy. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield. pp. 261-277.

 

 

Comments

[Vito B. Caiati]

This excellent, revelatory interview of Congressman Clay Higgens by Lara Logan directly relates to this issue of civil courage: https://twitter.com/i/status/1735328799288348931

[Vito B. Caiati]

One further comment: Higgins' comments on January 6th alone make watching the video imperative.

[BV]

Thanks, Vito, but the thing is almost 40 minutes long! TL;DL. Can you direct us to the portion dealing with civil courage?

The intro by Logan is too long. And why does she have to distract us with the health of her 'lungs'? Yes, I am being peevish, but her credibility is not enhanced, but diminished, by her topside display.

[Vito B. Caiati]

Well, if we leave aside the important revelations of January 6th, those of which Higgins openly speaks and those to which he only alludes because of legal constraints, you could take a look at two brief moments, 5:27-6:30 and 10:53-12:40, which well reflect a civic courage rarely found in the political class.

The "topside display" is, I agree, distracting.

[Joe Odegaard]

If all of us subscribe to prudence, evil wins.

[BV]

Thanks, Vito. I just now watched the two segments you mentioned. I will point out to Joe the measured and prudent responses of Higgins: he aims to defeat our political enemies peacefully and within Constitutional parameters. In the second segment one notes how calmly and professionally Higgins dealt with the disruptive punk.