Saturday, 22 February 2025
To the infinite confusion of all values
The other delegates from America — red-headed Schwartz with his saint’s face and his infinite patience in straddling two worlds, as well as dozens of commercial alienists with hang-dog faces, who would be present partly to increase their standing, and hence their reach for the big plums of the criminal practice, partly to master novel sophistries that they could weave into their stock in trade, to the infinite confusion of all values.
F. Scott Fitzgerald - Tender is the Night (1934)
When we consider educated elites, it soon becomes apparent that their education is enough to offer a partial explanation of their disdain for veracity, especially in the political arena.
The explanation arises when educated mediocrities are able to articulate their political interests via sophistry. They climb the elite ladder by doing what Fitzgerald described, they use their ability to master novel sophistries that they could weave into their stock in trade, to the infinite confusion of all values.
There is no member of the UK Cabinet who doesn’t do it. They may be mediocrities, but they are educated enough to master sophistries which restrict and control the interests of the wider population and they do it in pursuit of an undeserved and undignified political career.
The point to be made is this - if they did not restrict and control the wider population, those sophistries wouldn't be elite sophistries, they would be subsumed into the market of ideas. They have to be sophistries which don’t restrict the elites, do restrict the wider population, but are just about plausible enough to acquire a following of useful idiots within that wider population.
Unfortunately here in the UK, many elite mediocrities struggle to maintain their grip even on the lax standards of mediocrity. The failed mediocrity has become a fixture within UK political elites. They eschew sophistries in favour of lies, and censorship which they find easier to master.
Thanks to our deplorably low standards of elite mediocrity here in the UK, Net Zero has evolved into a tangle of ridiculous lies and nonsense with hardly a plausible sophistry to be seen. As have mass immigration, gender politics and the supposed benefits of the EU. We see it all the time, we've always seen it, but previous elites sometimes managed their sophistries with style. Not now.
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4 comments:
The answer, as usual, is machine-gunners.
"They may be mediocrities, but they are educated enough to master sophistries which restrict and control the interests of the wider population and they do it in pursuit of an undeserved and undignified political career."
But if we are being optimistic those that master sophistries build them on the interests of the wider population, in particular the ordinary members of their party... and the interests of the wider population are wandering away from the approved narratives and undercutting the sophistries.
That's why the Conservatives fared so poorly in the last General Election and the current Labour lot seem particularly unsettled. They realise (if only subconsciously) that their sophistries have been rumbled.
You could argue that that is why support for the 'populists' is growing. By and large they rely on plain speaking... indeed the outgoing elite criticise them for being unsophisticated, not seeing that this is a feature of populism, not a bug.
"They have to be sophistries which don’t restrict the elites, do restrict the wider population, but are just about plausible enough to acquire a following of useful idiots within that wider population."
Yes, well put. Net Zero is, as you say, a perfect example. And so is immigration. It actually helps the elite by providing a pool of cheap service workers, is a nightmare for those ordinary people who are forced to put up with depressed wages and crime, yet is appealing enough to convince some nice intellectuals and caring types that they ought to support it on humanitarian grounds.
dearieme - cheap too, with no impact on borrowing.
DJ - yes, plain speaking seems to be more and more popular, as if more people lump political promises with advertising and a kind of mental ad-blocker is developing where only plain speaking gets through the blocking.
An example is Donald Trump recently accusing Starmer and Macron of doing nothing to stop the Ukraine conflict - it gets through. Not to everyone and probably not to Starmer, but it gets through.
Sam - thanks and yes, mass immigration creates some obvious problems for anyone who is in that pool of cheap service workers, but of course it doesn't affect those nice intellectuals and caring types and they have their sophistries to wave it all away.
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