| Subject: | [socialcredit] Re: JUSTIFYING ZERO A+B NEOCONS; Walt Responds. | | Date: | Wednesday, May 18, 2005 11:11:59 (+0000) | | From: | Walt.p <Walt.p @....fr>
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Looking for more info about neoconservatives I ran it thru google, along with
Leo Strauss. One of the most interesting things was this book review (on a book
about neocons):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312217838/102-2588487-0018558?v=glance
I have a somewhat different take on this book than the other reviewers. I am
struck by the idea that the Straussians neoconservatives, who have seized
strategic positions in the U.S. Government and the Republican Party,
fundamentally agree with the Secular Humanists about the nature of religion
(i.e., that there's no god out there to rapture us away, much less lecture us
about right and wrong). They just disagree with the Humanists about the
advisability of telling ordinary people the truth, pretending instead that
increasingly absurd and delusional christian beliefs like the ones promoted by
the Left Behind novels are worthy of respect, as long as christians who hold such
fantasies vote Republican. (By contrast, UFO cultists who promote similar
scenarios about mass alien abductions are ridiculed.) In other words, Neocons
view religion as a useful tool for keeping the rabble in line, including the
unsophisticated religious politicians who support their agenda.
I find this crypto-Atheism contemptible, though also complimentary in a
back-handed way. Intelligent people in many times and places have arrived at
Atheism by following their own inquiries into the nature of reality. Strauss and
his followers just add further support to the legitimacy of the Atheist
discovery, though their systematic dishonesty about it has led to harmful
consequences in the real world. The increasingly Atheistic populations of Western
Europe, where even American christians readily visit for vacation, show that
advanced societies can function well without religion, empirically falsifying the
Straussian prejudice that the sheep need superstitions while their shepherds can
handle Atheism.
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And here's some stuff I copied to summarize it all
PRINCIPLES: Deception, Deceptive Power of Religion, Aggressive Nationalism ...
Wise men must tell noble lies to shape humanity
Leo Strauss believed that truth is not sacred, but dangerous, and even
destructive to society--any society. He taught that a political aristocracy must
necessarily manipulate the masses for their own good.
At the same time, he stressed that religion was for the masses alone; the rulers
need not be bound by it. Indeed, it would be absurd if they were, since the
truths proclaimed by religion were "a pious fraud."
Many neoconservatives like Paul Wolfowitz are disciples of a philosopher who
believed that the elite should use deception, religious fervor and perpetual war
to control the ignorant masses.
Leo Strauss is called the "father" of neoconservativism ....
I think the better term is "pimp"
Walt
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Re: JUSTIFYING ZE
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