Regarding the Bill
Cosby trial, it is obvious that the Court of Public Opinion settled the matter
long before the Court of Law did, reflecting poorly upon both, for they must
always recognize their independence and their inequality. The verdict came down
to a simple, cynical question: who are the liars? One man or fifty women? Whom
are we to accuse, lest we be accused? The trial was really one that tried the
American People. On the surface, we were being tried for sexism; deep down, we
were being tried for Fascism and mob rule. Presented with that cynical
question, only incidentally gendered, (though not without the influence of
gender politics, though we were tested to see if we would ignore that bias)
there was no obvious answer, nor was there one which was more obviously cynical.
My vote came in this form (for whatever good my vote ever does, for Reason has
historically occupied the extreme minority): that experience has shown me that
people, especially those involved in politics, with personal gain in mind, are
far MORE likely to lie in groups, even condemning the few who speak the Truth
to ridicule; the word “snitch”, a slur more perverse than any ethnic
pejorative, serves to evidence this depraving tendency. That I side against
fifty women in defending one man is simply a matter of course in matters of
Justice, since the mob is almost always wrong, no less so for believing its own
lies as each of its constituents hears them repeated enough times. Their gender
is incidental from a rational perspective; the tragedy is not one of sexism but
rather that, in the attempt to curb the toxic influence of sexism, feminism organized
women INTO a mob, shamelessly promising them not only protection but success in
solidarity, in matters so subtle and consequential that they ought instead to
have been handled by rational individuals, operating free of partisan
distortions. This much I can say for certain, for it requires no further
evidence: the sexism of any one man PALES before the sexism of fifty women, and
the fact that they have yet to be put on trial in EITHER Court serves to
corroborate this unbiased commentary upon Humanity.
[({Dm.A.A.)}]
Perhaps I have been
too kind towards the Dead. Looking back on my relationship with Alanna, I can
see why I abandoned the ideal of chivalry which still drives so many deluded
men in their defense of grotesquely privileged women. I had been the One and
Only to play the part of the Knight in Shining Armour, the Gentleman and the Loyal
Servant, exalting myself only in direct proportion to my idealism, expecting
only that which I would have granted to those most loyal to me. The nature of
our relationship could not be reduced to any sort of friendship that could have
been betrayed by sexual longing, so my longing was not inappropriate; even
passersby who witnessed our first meeting were charmed by the seeming romance
of our correspondence, and veritably most romance comes out of these specific
conditions. Even if I would never mate with someone who had been so loyal to
me, it is only because those few who have been loyal to me were never as attractive
as I was in doing so, for I served her only as a gentleman courting a lady would,
and she showed little reservation in using this tradition for herself. The fact
remains that she chose someone disloyal and treacherous over someone who
adapted his entire lifestyle to her influence, desiring primarily her
self-preservation and only secondarily her love, while the other squandered the
love and renounced the preservation, though he owed the both to the both of us,
having betrayed my friendship to acquire the love and having had her
preservation as his only justification for having done so. It was I that had to
protect her from him; Reason offered me no recourse, whatever her madness might
retort. And SHE thought to call ME “stalker”? I deserve better.
[({Dm.A.A.)}]
Regarding
Equality:
1.
All beings value their own lives.
2.
It follows logically that all beings
must value all lives.
3.
The best means by which to preserve
all lives is through reciprocal altruism.
4.
Equality is the only means by which to
effectively enact reciprocal altruism.
a.According to
equality, I can value others as much as I value myself.
b.It follows that I
might prioritize others over myself (altruistically) with the conviction that
they will do so for me (reciprocally).
c.
Additionally, if I am to treat others
as I would like to be treated, I must confess that no one wants to be treated
as inferior, so the attempt to escape inferiority by becoming superior is a
fruitless enterprise, for it only ensures that others feel inferior to me.
d.Additionally, the
benefit of Equality is that the preservation of my needs is not confined to my
abilities, for I can rely upon the abilities of others to protect my needs.
e. By
the same token, and perhaps even more significantly, my abilities are not
confined to the preservation of my own needs. This allows for a sort of
progress which is not exploitative and irrational.
5.
Envy, jealousy and vindictiveness are
simply attempts to adapt to the betrayal of Altruism. Equality as an ideal does
not stem from them, but the obverse is true.
[({Dm.A.A.)}]
The
Kohlberg Hierarchy of Love:
1.
Rape.
On
the basest level, the Individual is concerned only with self-interest and that
which (s)he may get away with.
2.
Promiscuity.
Barely better than rape, though it perpetually tries to escape its downstairs neighbor,
this is a mindset wherein others are merely means towards ends, to be
manipulated for personal gain.
3.
Formal
Relationship. Herein, love is a measure of
reciprocity, just as in promiscuity, but reciprocity is maintained by the
observation of socially accessible norms which must be followed if intimacy is
to be maintained. Deviance reflects poorly upon the deviant, and romantic
failure may be pinned upon the failure to conform.
4.
Marriage.
A legally binding contract, this is the goal of many formal relationships that
seek to attain a relative permanence through the observation of rules, till
Death or Divorce do us part.
5.
Unrequited
Love. As convention falls away, so does the felt need
for reciprocity. The post-conventional Individualist understands that norms are
merely social contracts; authenticity occurs in the privacy of one’s own
psyche, and the Heart is a Lonely Hunter. The intensity of a feeling, not its
reciprocation, is a measure of its value, for the former is a measure of
commitment and potential, whereas the valuation of the latter is merely reflective
of the tendency for human beings to pursue a reward, which started on Level Two
as merely an escape from Level Three.
I should note herein
that Rejection is experienced so powerfully precisely because most social
pressure operates on the Lower Levels, specifically levels two through four (though
perhaps with an Unconscious Influence from Level One), centered about Level
Three, which is most normative and prevalent. When I profess my love for
someone, I fear rejection not only because I desire reciprocity, but because I
know that, without reciprocity, I am forbidden to love. Yet this does not
reflect upon the ulteriority of my motives. If I seek reciprocity by just means,
rather than by manipulation, it is not that I am doing “the right thing for the
wrong reasons”, but rather that I must take account of the “wrong reasons” in
order to do the “right thing”, recognizing that those same reasons may in fact
turn, if all goes well, into the Best of All Outcomes. If I should allow my
fear of reproof to skew my judgement, however, I will be no better than the
rapist, seeking only to operate within the confines of that which will keep me
out of trouble. Simply by expressing my love, knowing its worth to be immutable
regardless of the reception which it receives, I lay the ground for the Next Stage
of Development, one which must by necessity protect my own right to make such
an expression, so that it is not heard as merely a sales pitch:
6.
Consummate
Love. Upon this level Romance is married to Reciprocal Altruism.
Two people, each of them capable of unrequited love for the other, recognize
within one another the readiness to make the Ultimate Sacrifice. Because each is
willing to risk social standing and health for the Other, they protect and
nurture one another as postconventional Individuals, recognizing a truer Freedom,
Individuality, and Authenticity in this self-sacrifice, this disentanglement
from the bonds of convention, than any who find their happiness in the relative
safety of moral inferiority. It is upon this Level that our entire Ideal of
Love is created. This is where the
ballads come from, and it is from this platform that lovers can think to
reach God. Hence religions and poets alike venerate this Ideal.
[({Dm.A.A.)}]
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