mediocracy

notepad: December

2011-12-05T00:57:00.029Z

The purpose of mediocratic ideology is the same as that of Marxist ideology: to make life impossible for genuine intellectuals, i.e. those who might generate real cultural progress. To mask the issue, an ersatz system of high culture has been built up, designed to perpetuate and reinforce the ideology, and to ensure no assistance is given to those whom the system carefully excludes.• What does it

notepad: November

2011-11-07T07:35:00.018Z

notepad: October

2011-10-10T07:00:00.027+01:00

notepad: September

2011-09-13T08:00:00.013+01:00

notepad: July

2011-07-04T08:00:00.020+01:00

Branching out into oppression

2011-06-20T08:00:00.011+01:00

quick revision links

2011-06-06T11:36:00.001+01:00

notepad: psychological reflections from an ignored genius

2011-05-02T15:53:00.014+01:00

notepad: April

2011-04-04T01:53:00.027+01:00

Nobbling the little guy

2011-03-07T02:00:00.009Z

“You cannot [and will not] go on as you are.”

2011-02-15T06:42:00.017Z

Servicing the status quo

2011-02-09T14:12:00.011Z

notepad: January

2011-01-03T08:00:00.031Z

The continuing saga of EaziLeaks

2010-12-27T05:13:00.006Z

• A spokesperson for the Electronic Frontiers Foundation, an organisation which claims to defend civil liberties in the digital world, has said that the hoo-ha over the recent mass disclosure of leaked confidential documents representsthe biggest free speech battle of our lifetimes … This is the moment when we will see whether publishers can continue to freely distribute truthful political

abolition/thought — notes

2010-12-08T12:44:00.012Z

• As a social scientist, it is pleasing to receive empirical confirmation of one’s hypotheses, especially if one does not have to wait very long for it.• In the previous post I wrote about ‘research’ which seeks to provide support for state intervention.A more recent spin on this theme is work that tries to show that critics of intervention, or those who fail to demonstrate allegiance to the

The abolition of dangerous thought

2010-10-24T02:00:00.009+01:00

The Decline and Fall of Science, published in 1976, has a powerful opening paragraph, which has proved remarkably prescient.The recent peak of civilisation, centred on Western Europe, from which we are in the process of declining, was the highest that the world has known. At its height, it encompassed scientific and philosophical ideas which had not previously been formulated. However, in doing

The case of the missing cortex

2010-08-23T10:48:00.020+01:00

• A columnist for a certain right-wing newspaper, formerly a member of the il-liberal elite but now (as all good ideologues must) having converted to post-liberal moaning in her old age, has come up with a solution to all our ills: parenting classes for everyone. Marvellous.I would like to suggest my own panacea. Subcontract everything, including but especially the upper echelons of government,

More real motives behind ‘moral’ interventions

2010-07-23T07:12:00.014+01:00

What taboos shall we break, or toy with breaking, this time? Mediocratic ideology has so many buttons to press. As is often the case, the official party line contains an inversion of this. In theory, it is awfully easy (and rewarding) to shock ‘conservatives’. The popular image is of a Colonel Gusset-Smythe type, spluttering into his gin and tonic. In reality such types, if they ever existed,

Sense and ‘sensibleness’

2010-06-26T11:14:00.008+01:00

Have you ever met any upper-class people? I do not mean buffoons, like the Marquess of Bath. They used to be found in the upper echelons of the top banks and oil companies. Contrary to the popular image of them, as churned out by all cultural channels nowadays, they are not as a rule sadistic and ruthless, at least no more than the average person, nor are they “nice but dim”. What they do tend to

weekend notes #8

2010-05-28T07:00:00.005+01:00

• The Bigotgate episode, though ludicrously blown out of proportion by the media, and illustrating the complete lack of privacy in a mediocracy, does seem to confirm one of the key tenets of the mediocracy thesis: that the dominant ideology, while ostensibly based on the interests and wishes of ordinary people, actually bears little relation to what ordinary people really think. It is invented by

Election special

2010-04-22T07:00:00.003+01:00

Who will you vote for?A. Bloke who believes passionately in building a fairer society, supports idea of state medicine/education, doesn't know what to do about the debt, has trendy wife to keep him in line.orB. Bloke who believes passionately in state medicine/education, supports idea of building a fairer society, doesn't know what to do about the debt, has trendy wife to keep him in line.orC.

Academia UK: just another PC think tank

2010-03-24T07:00:00.016Z

printable versionRecently rejected two papers ... from people saying CRU has it wrong over Siberia. Went to town in both reviews, hopefully successfully. If either appears I will be very surprised, but you never know with GRL.Professor Phil Jones, head of CRU, email 31 March 2004[One of the two papers refereed by Jones was by Lars Kamel who] claimed to find much less warming than Jones, despite

Pillows, morphine and autonomy

2010-02-05T09:00:00.007Z

The backlash against the absurdities of the socialist project will be authoritarian, I suggested in the previous post. Support of the underclass produces too many children without adequate parental care? Response: selective sterilisation. What about the fact that a system of free medical ‘care’ (of sorts) results in a vast army of the elderly who need to be supported to live on into decades of

year-end notes

2009-12-12T09:00:00.018Z

• The backlash will not be libertarian. I have said it (to myself) for years: the reaction against the absurdities of the socialist project, when it finally comes, will not unfortunately be in the direction of greater liberty but in the direction of more authoritarianism. Earlier this year I saw evidence which suggested this has started to happen. Two of the top columnists of a certain

2009-10-21T12:07:00.012+01:00

Due to lack of financial support, this blog is on sabbatical until December or January. In the meantime, why not browse the archives. Topics covered in 2009 include:• crazy equity markets; zero interest rates; Nouriel Roubini; gushing over Obama; Shazia Mirza; feminism; offensiveness; architecture; Norman Foster; Germany's clerics; Deutsche Bank • the myth of deregulation; black swans;