This video is comical if not entirely depressing. Zero facts, zero reality, just folks role playing what they 'feel' is right and most of the country just watching along, aghast, while others cheer it celebrating.
The media—on both sides—has gotten so caught up in social-level power games for so long, that any real pursuit of intellectual values and the common values which underlie them get entirely sidelined. Instead, it’s far too easy to accuse the other side of corruption and ignore our own blind spots. Few voices in American media seem truly dedicated to preserving uncorrupted intellectual values, regardless of the side championing falsehoods.
For those of us who value the Metaphysics of Quality, it’s all too clear that sticking to a strictly subject–object viewpoint too easily shuts out the nuanced role values at play in our understanding of culture and truth. Our perspectives aren’t shaped in a vacuum; they grow out of what we each hold important. And if we can see that, and help our culture see that, we might have a shot at bridging the so-called “great divide” between left and right. Between one media saying one thing, and the other saying something else entirely, it would be nice if folks could begin to acknowledge their own values, the values of others, and then begin to find common ground. Yet instead of that, we’re stuck in a race to the bottom, where even the simplest facts are often dismissed if they don’t align with whichever “side” someone happens to be on, and discussions quickly end.
There’s something profoundly frustrating about all this of course, because deep down, I think most people sense that we’re missing a better approach. An approach that acknowledges how values filter into every corner of our worldview. Rather than continuing to dig trenches, if we can recognize how all these values coexist we can start to find common ground and not simply get stuck in our bubbles. It doesn’t have to be about giving up what we believe or pretending our differences don’t exist. It just means working toward understanding how each person’s values shapes their sense of “right” or “true.” With that, folks can begin to acknowledge the values of the other side as being important, especially intellectual values, and true cultural progress can be made.
Sadly, that’s not what’s happening now, and especially here in this video. But our current situation hasn't come out of nowhere. It's the result of decades of social level corruption of intellectual values. Of an elitist social level power making decisions in the name of the common man, and the dismissal of the importance of an informed people and the intellectual values they help to protect. With this elitist attitude towards the intellectual values of the common man - cynicism among the people has grown and an appreciation of common values we all have has been thrown out the window.
So this is where we are. On full display in this video. It's now just about pure team playing. With social level power using our current amoral metaphysics to keep folks divided, to ignore intellectual values, and fight one another. Intellectual Morality, Dynamic Morality be damned.
For the great majority of good things in my life - I rejected them when I first heard about or saw or heard them.
Everything from my favorite author - to my favorite movie - Gattaca - a now to one my favorite songs - 'You can do it' by CARIBOU. At first - when I heard this song I found it too repetitive and far too simplistic for my ears. It's the type of song to get on ones nerves if heard in the wrong way or wrong context. But now much later.. having needed the occasional push of encouragement - it's one of the few songs that comes to mind when I need it.
Its repetitive drive, its pattern, really gets me going and into a more positive mood..
Maybe you will like it - maybe you will hate it like I did when I first heard it. But either way it's fascinating how our opinions of Art can change over time. And for me at least, it's usually those things which challenge me the most, which I'm likely to reject outright, but which are actually the best things going around.
To fully appreciate these things - I have to grow. Oftentimes that growth isn't done intentionally. I don't intentionally think about liking something - and very often things are rejected which, for good reasons, are bad anyway. But sometimes things aren't so easily rejected. And in an effort to understand them - to appreciate them - sometimes I end up running out of reasons to dislike them. In the process of understanding them, in the process of putting them in their own unique context, I realise that I can really just appreate them for what they are. And sometimes, very rarely, but sometimes, those things first rejected, but which took an extra long time to appreciate, are the best things going around.
To understand required growth. And in that growth was the Quality that was there all along.
When you know of a better way of seeing things, how long of holding onto that idea does it become immoral not to tell others of this better idea?
I've been spending some time recently criticizing progressive leaders in the American Congress for sitting on their hands and not using their power and leverage, to achieve great things. However, here I am and I know of a Metaphysics that's far better than our current one. Truth be told, if all intellectuals knew, understood and appreciated this Metaphysics, it's highly unlikely we would be in this mess that we're in right now.
Because what's abundantly clear to me is that we live in a time of great metaphysical failure. Our current metaphysics has horrendous guardrails against all sorts of immoral behavior because what's considered 'common sense' is far broader than what morally and intellectually ought to be. This is a failure not just because of our corrupt politicians who began to give their backs to the working class in increasing intention over 50 years ago. But as the Metaphysics of Quality (MOQ) uniquely shows - it's a failure also of our current metaphysics which says that whatever anyone says, does or advocates is up to them and their morality and that there's no way for us to judge the morals of others.
This is wrong and denying this is the case is itself immoral. Claiming that something is and ought to be amoral when in fact it is and ought to be moral is itself immoral. Because most things are, in some way, moral. It's up to us to decide what's better or worse, and with the Metaphysics of Quality we are provided with a powerful way to do this that's in line with logic and experience.
This is far greater than our current metaphysics. A Metaphysics which has so many weaknesses we are left with countless instances of soft corruption and social forces being permitted to immorally take control of our culture.
The corruption at the heart of our democracies sits at the center of this immorality. An immorality which prevents parliaments and congress from doing what's intellectually right for the people and instead takes heed of what their donors request of them. So, with the powerful being democratically catered for and the working people given short shrift, it's no wonder that the grievances of these working class folk are turning to increasingly radical means of their voices being heard.
"All these politicians, they work for us! We pay their salaries, and we pay our taxes. And what do we get? Nothing! They don't represent us. They need to pay the ultimate price for their crimes." MAGA Trumper Storming the Capitol
What the MOQ shows clearly is that neglecting working class folks and instead catering to a parties donors wishes is immoral. Intellectual laws exist so that folks are to be treated equally. At their base; political donations are immoral in that they preference the social power of money and corruption over the intellectual spirit of the law but yet still they are an aspect of our democracies that continue to be tolerated. Why?
They are tolerated not just because the same folks who need to change this are the corrupted politicians themselves. They are tolerated not just because our media, also on the take with money from social forces, is undermined in its ability to intellectually report on what's occurring. But also, and even more importantly, is that they are tolerated because our intellectual class uses a Metaphysics that fails protect itself from these social forces.
But also, and even more importantly, is that they are tolerated because our intellectual class uses a Metaphysics that fails to protect itself from these social forces.
Start with the media. Reporters are supposed to remain 'unbiased' and 'objective', we are told, and to only report on the 'facts'. Morals? They are likely subjective prejudices that muddy a good reporters view of what is occurring. 'Objectivity and amorality is the most important thing for a good reporter'. Morality be damned.
The same is true for academics who ought to be intellectually investigating how values influence and create our shared cultures and commenting on present day cultural events from this same moral and values based perspective. But they don't because our current metaphysics doesn't allow it. Instead our current metaphysics allows far more immorality than what, the MOQ shows, logically makes sense. A strong man who at all points undercuts and undermines intellectual quality is immoral; this isn't just someone's opinion about morality and not necessarily true. It's true for all people, everywhere. But academics can't ever say that quite so easily and when they do say it they can easily be replied to with a 'Who says?'.
Indeed, if everyone knew and used the MOQ instead of the clunky metaphysics that we use today, it ought to be obvious to just about anyone that not just political donations, but a strong man coming in and taking over congress is immoral and dumb. This is the strength of the MOQ. We are able to call Trump and his supporters actions immoral. Not just in some time, and not just in someone's opinion. With the MOQ we can say logically, empirically, by supporting Trump and his overthrow of congress - his supporters are being immoral.
But the MOQ goes further than simply calling someone immoral. The MOQ provides us a way to understand the values of others, and our own, in a way that is far from the cynicism and unproductive conflict we are constantly bombarded with today. Because another strength of the MOQ is that it provides us a way to understand and sympathise far more easily from other folks perspectives. With the knowledge that at their core, folks are thinking and acting based on their values, we can look at those values, examine them, and understand why they value the things that they do.
Turn on cable television of most mainstream news networks and we are lead to believe that most Trump voters are racist or bigoted; and that's the extent of their dissatisfaction. But if we hit the streets as Chris Arnade has, and you listen to the forgotten middle part of America, then you will quickly discover that their grievances oftentimes are extremely legitimate. They are the forgotten but their voices are still extremely important. Shining a light on those voices and their struggles, as Chris does, is incredibly valuable.
Because it's within all that suffering and hopelessness that has continued unaddressed for decades, that they've been primed for manipulation. Their distrust for intellectuals, with their failing metaphysics and long time neglect, has hit an all time high. Instead they've become increasingly skeptical of even basic facts they're told and so have turned toward paranoia and conspiracy. It's only been comforting for them to see these same conspiracies, disinformation and propaganda spewed by the Orange man himself. Someone who assures them, 'Trust me - I know better'.
The most common factor in Trump support has always been how strongly they identify with Authoritarianism. In Trump their basic values are met and they follow him and commit whatever horrible acts in his name to wherever he takes them.
But what's very clear to me is that in a world which understands and appreciates the MOQ - this never happens. Those authoritarians don't stop respecting authorities, but they do respect authorities who uphold decent values not the strong man anti-intellectualism given to us by the current guy in the job. Indeed - one of the greatest strengths of the MOQ isn't that it's better for intellectuals to protect what's good and right (although it is that); but that it's something anyone can understand and they can use it to act accordingly - including any current or future Trump supporters!
But when? When do folks start to see that our current problems are largely metaphysical and the power and beauty of this better, alternative metaphysics called The MOQ?
That's not something that's easy to answer.. But hopefully - it's sooner than we think! :)
Does the Metaphysics of Quality(MOQ) support those not wearing masks and instead support protesting against them? No, it doesn't. The great thing about the MOQ is that it's really simple and was created so just about anyone can understand it. The MOQ says that Human Rights are intellectual values which are separate to and distinct from biological and social values. Society absolutely has control over what you do with your body when it comes to looking after society at large.
When the MOQ makes a clear distinction between intellectual and social values - it is pointing out the fundamental role that society has played in our evolution. This role has been to control, for its own benefit, our biological selves. Often it involves giving our bodies things they need in order to protect them from other bad things such as starvation, disease and death.
With a pandemic knocking on our doors, society is well within its own rights to force people to physically wear a mask over their biological bodies and indeed, when it's available, to get vaccinated too. This is not about intellectual Human Rights - it's about society protecting itself from a deadly threat.
So why is there such a strong but small vocal minority around the world pushing against wearing masks and also pushing to refuse vaccines?
As with the great majority of issues in the world we see around us today - first and foremost it's the result of a failed metaphysics. Nefarious characters are justifying all sorts of bad and immoral things by exploiting the metaphysical failures generated by our current metaphysics. In this case a couple of failures come to mind..
For decades our current metaphysics has failed to morally protect social level values such as the social value of the working class and so there has been blow-back with a growing trend of anti-intellectualism.
For decades our current metaphysics has failed to support intellectual values against a media that has instead been driven by the social value of profit and the biological values of fear and titillation of the senses. Driven by access and power, the media has often seemed synonymous with power.
With such little intellectual accountability, the public is understandably growing distrustful and so here we are... having debates about whether wearing a mask is a human right or those refusing to do so are selfish.
The Metaphysics of Quality answers that they are being selfish, but with our current metaphysics and the failures of it over the past few decades - their attitudes are entirely understandable. It's time we adopted a new Metaphysics that beautifully and simply shows these error in thinking, and points us toward a better world.
It would be nice if there was a philosophy that reflected back some of the beauty of expression we experienced in the world.
These days - philosophy is seen of as mostly a crutch. Especially modern day academic philosophers. Where's the new philosophies of the world that get folks excited? That impress them? That they can immediately appreciate?
