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liberal theocracy is a deathcult b/c mass culture + meritocratic exemptions from anarchotyranny interact to hijack all impulses to family formation
mass culture: think of this as complement to intentional communities. you live in a mass culture when intentional communities are the only way to transmit your opinions and traditions to your kids
“meritocratic anarchotyranny”: this is more subtle. you know how journalists think freedom of expression is called “free press” and it’s a right only journalists have? generalize to all rights and all forms of prestige
generally high-status ppl in liberal theocracies believe in the full suite of classical post-westphalian european natural rights: property, association, movement, contract, speech, belief, conscience, personal security, &c&c — but only for ppl like themselves
A number of subtleties to this aspect of modern society. Can’t go into all. Worth noting: 1. tolerating tribalist violence at bottom makes holding a spot at top that much sweeter; and 2. pursuit of status involves a kind of winner’s curse where spots held by ppl who overbid
Here’s the bottom line: parents who care enough to protect kids’ souls can’t avoid overparenting in a way that makes time & cost of status goods per child hard to bear. Those casual enough to underparent don’t even notice theocrats grooming their children https://twitter.com/QuasLacrimas/status/1276314030089666562?s=20
And yes, as @WokeCapital is fond of reminding us, Woke Capital is interested in your children. All theocracies are; they need recruits, janissaries, true believers, tithers, naifs who will come into the sacristy late at night
But most sacred traditions assure the continued supply of seminarians/cattle by tightening their belt, scourging out abuses, and doing more far more to strengthen the families whose members they draw away than the replacement rate requires.
Liberal Theocracy (which as everyone knows isn’t even a religion mkay?) accepts no such restraints! It will take as many children as it can get and it doesn’t rly care about efficient the (ruined lives)->(fresh meat) conversion rate is. (Always more immigrants somewhere...)
Every family in every civilization has been responsible for raising pious & honorable, but not fanatical, children. Mass culture does not respect this distinction: the priestly class will decide how much leftism is enough, tyvm
Astute readers will note I’m hinting at implicit theory about parental investment: high investment in cultural nonconformity is v valuable, high investment in status goods etc mostly not, & psychic drives that determine parenting style make it impossible to discriminate like this
With a caveat tho: the stark underlying reality of meritocratic anarchotyranny is that if you earn enough to buy your way into a legally segregated zip cope your kid is less likely to be victim of a serious crime. That’s real, not a helicopter parent delusion.
Avoiding the various indignities of anarchotyranny by overinvesting in status *divides # of children that fit in your budget by N w/o any comparable multiplier in their longterm success*. That’s it.
*** At least at normal, non-ergodic lvls of rights-deprivation we are familiar w
*** At least at normal, non-ergodic lvls of rights-deprivation we are familiar w
The thread is over. I concede in advance it is rough, concedes many hostages to fortune, omits many exceptions & complications. It is worth mentioning, for example, that only ppl who plan for future can be caught in a fertility trap by the bitter incentives liberalism offers
