by Brett Stevens on July 4, 2009

Our society is very fond of the idea that we are enlightened. We are scientific, progressive, compassionate humanity.

Underneath this veneer of nice, the usual manipulations go on for personal profit — which is the underlying theme of humanity in every age: sacrifice the self for the whole, or sacrifice the whole for the self.

However, in order to keep the sheep and goats in line, we form pleasant fictions in order to compensate, and from this we get our inflated self-image. We did not start out overrated ourselves; we did it in response to one too many incidents of humans failing themselves.

Our society is also very fond of the idea that we have done away with superstition, and replaced it with modern science, including Darwin’s natural selection. But what if superstition just changed names, so that when we batted the old away, its falling reveals a new face on the same mentality?

To make this concrete, let me ask you what you think of this political party’s chances in the 2012 elections:

THE DARWIN PARTY OF AMERICA Our platform: * We feel no obligation to any other nations or the U.N.

* We will push aside and occupy the territory of any nation near us which is lower in average IQ or less organized, more corrupt or less militarily strong.

* Our state will have no welfare. Instead, there will be rigorous competition at all levels.

* Those who cannot pull their weight because they are deformed, retarded or disabled will be left to die.

* We will maintain a distinct plumage, and a high-degree of third cousin inbreeding, so we resemble each other and can defend each other as a group.

* Meritocracy will replace bureaucracy. The only criterion for someone’s choice for a position is how competent they are.

* We will not have prisons. Violators will either be killed by the public or exiled from our lands. Darwinism, or natural selection, works because it always puts those with the best abilities ahead. This way, you don’t need an authoritarian “nanny state” making sure we all make it through. The Darwin Party is based on the idea that we should not all make it through — only the best should survive.

How well do you think this party would do in a democracy? Pretty poorly, indeed.

Our modern society is based on the idea of pity. It starts with self-pity, when we’re afraid we personally cannot compete or do not have a place. That extends to group pity, when we figure out that if we pity someone worse off than ourselves, we benefit because if their extreme situation becomes acceptable our less extreme situation does as well.

This is the psychology of modern society: band together to protect our least competent members, so that each of us feels we are protected by that rule.

It’s that old superstition — “the meek will inherit the earth” and “we are all equal in the eyes of God” — but with a new face, isn’t it?

Each time I see someone committing an act of murder against the environment, I think: there is someone who probably should not be alive, because this destructive act is the height of their competence.

Each time I see someone bungling a simple task — driving, home care, a logical argument — I realize that somewhere out there is a society where they haven’t made bungling politically correct, and they will eventually dominate us. Because they play by Darwin’s rules, even if our secular superstition has made Darwin taboo.

How do giant corporations, rapacious overlords and bad politicians gain power? They appeal to masses of people who fear for their own competence, reach out with pity, and then manipulate them just the same.

Some will say that I have not defined “competence” very well here. In a universal sense, it is a word like the Darwinian “adaptation” which is so vague yet has such concrete incarnations that it’s nearly impossible to define.

Competence is the process of understanding your world, understanding what you need to do it in to survive at your level of competence, and then staying organized and diligent to do it, including a level of raw ability.

We don’t see much of that these days. Get the credit card, the wide-screen TV, and the optional job, and you can just space out in your own little world — and attack anyone who tells you you’re being selfish. The overlords don’t care. Your dysfunction gives them problems which they gain power by fixing. Your incompetence keeps them in power.

It’s a curious little human world where, having come to our intelligence level by Darwinism, we have decided life is too frustrating to think outside of the herd, and so we create toys and social games, but never look too deeply into the human beast, because that’s where we’ll find the future date with reality that’s going to re-affirm Darwinian natural selection.

Tags: cognitive dissonance, crowdism, overpopulation, passive aggression, religion

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