The Ghost of Robespierre

Guest Post by The Zman

Maximilian Robespierre is mostly remembered as the man responsible for the Great Terror. Progressives, of course, remember him fondly for this. Killing enemies of the revolution is the thing they fantasize about the most. It is why they are always trying to instigate violence. Normal people think of him as an example of what happens when fanatics gain power. He’s the example of the guy who started out with good intentions, but he eventually grew mad with power and ended up worse than what he opposed.

He was a much more complicated person than is remembered, though. For example, he opposed the death penalty, but then championed the execution of the king. He opposed the indiscriminate use of terror, but ended up claiming it was the necessary tool of democracy. He defended rivals branded as traitors, but then turned on close friends and saw them off to the guillotine. As a result, he remains one of the more famous and most controversial figures in the French Revolution.

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The thing that was his eventual undoing was the fact that he could never work out the limit of civic virtue. At what point was a man deemed sufficiently virtuous? Where is the line between traitor and patriot? It was a problem for all of the revolutionaries and a problem that has haunted the Left ever since. Radicalism always starts as a rejection of something. It never ends at a clearly defined point. There’s no limiting principle. No matter how much you oppose something, there is someone else who opposes it more.

That was the problem the revolutionaries faced when they toppled the king. The old order was orderly, even if it was unjust. It set limits on behavior. The new order, such as it was, had no limits as it was entirely based on the rejection of royalty and the royalists. Revolutionary virtue was one’s opposition to the old system and one could ever be too opposed to the old order. At least, that was the thinking until the members of the National Convention figured out where it was heading.

That’s the inherent problem with radicalism. It lacks a limiting principle. Christianity, for example, solved this problem early on by turning the problem around. The concept of sin makes virtue the passive position. Heresy is the active state, while grace is the passive state. As long as you did not actively commit sins against the faith, you were sufficiently virtuous. Even though you were born with original sin, baptism into the faith cleansed you of that sin. From there, it was up to you to maintain it.

Political radicalism has never found anything similar and thus has been condemned to repeat the life of Robespierre. There is not point at which one clearly passes from the state of sin to the state of virtue. Instead, virtue is the running from sin, which is always running after you like a monster in a horror movie. It’s why the Left today obsesses with leaning forward and looking ahead to the future. Virtue is an active state, the act of running from the past, like a frightened animal trying to outrun the slowest of the herd.

We’re seeing this with anti-racism. The recent Martin Luther King holiday provided an opportunity for the members of the One True Faith to display their piety. When the holiday was created a generation ago, it was sufficient to say some nice things about the man and leave it at that. Most people simply ignored it entirely. Today, you have to come close to demanding the death of all white men or you risk being called a racist by the Cult. The day is filled with one anti-racist after another signalling their virtue.

This column appeared Monday in USA Today.

I’ll let Ta-Nehisi Coates boil it down for you. White society was not achieved through “wine tastings and ice cream socials, but rather through the pillaging of life, liberty, labor and land.” In short, through three centuries of kidnapping, torture, murder and rape. Broken teeth, broken bones and broken spirits. Families ripped apart. Children taken from their parents. Men humiliated in front of their wives. Women brutalized within earshot of their husbands. Lash after bloody lash on bare backs. Then, sleep on a bare wooden floor. No doctor, no dentist, no nothing. Just non-stop misery with a few hymns on Sunday.

The whole column boils down to a blood libel. If you are white, you are born with a sin that can never be cleansed. You are forever outside the light of salvation. That means there is no limit to your misery, which is why honkies, like the idiot who wrote that piece, write columns where they condemn themselves and others for being white. There can be no limit to how much one hates their ancestors, and therefore themselves, as there is no outrunning the mortal sin of whiteness.

Anti-racists are the modern version of the Flagellants. During the black plague, the allegedly virtuous would go around whipping themselves as a form of mortification of the flesh. Put another way, just being alive made them, and everyone else, sinners. The willingness to destroy their own flesh was supposed to show their rejection of sin. Initially these people were viewed by the authorities as harmless lunatics, but then the Church eventually did the wise thing and condemned the movement.

This is where anti-racism is right now. You cannot be anti-racist enough. There is no limit so anyone can come along and be more anti-racist than the current most anti-racist guy. If one is not constantly racing to be even more pure, they risk being accused of heresy, which in the modern age means being a racist. It is why Trump is called a racist. It’s not just a political taunt. The lunatics of the anti-racism movement see anyone not racing toward virtue as an enemy of their cause.

This is the natural end of all radicalism. It is why it appeals to the hive minded. The anti-racists would merrily round up white people and kill them, not for any crimes they committed, but as a form of human sacrifice. That is what the regular executions in Paris became during the Terror. They were purification ceremonies, not punishments for the guilty, but purity was always just one more head in the basket away. It’s the inevitable end of all mass movements when there is no limiting principle.

Robespierre eventually went to his demise in what we call today the Thermidorian Reaction. The sensible people of the revolution figured out that putting lunatics in charge was going to get everyone killed so they did what had to be done, which was kill the lunatics. It is a lesson that has had to be relearned time and again since the French Revolution and one that will have to be learned now with the anti-racists. There’s no reasoning with them so the only solution is to eliminate them.

It raises a larger question though. How does a modern society keep these radical lunatics from coming back with some new cause? Christianity used to be a handy brake on this sort of thing. The overthrow of Christianity as the transcendent moral authority has opened the nuthouse doors to these sorts of movements. If you look at the history of the West since the Enlightenment, it has been one blood thirsty movement after another trying to replace Christianity as the moral authority of last resort.

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Old Guy

I regret the violence which is coming cannot be avoided. The communists and their snowflake army are so far removed from reality, I see no other possible outcome. With the exception of their leadership cadre, they are emotion driven and therefore malleable to any irrational course of action.

Southern Sage
Southern Sage

Yawn. All human populations have at some point suffered terribly. There is nothing special about the blacks except that white men, in a fit of insanity, fought other white men to free them. If the Union soldiers came back to life today and saw that we have been effectively turned into a rather seedy version of Haiti, they would kill themselves, kill the blacks or join General Lee. This is the truth, as unpleasant as it may be for some to swallow. The United States of America was from the first intended to be a white man[s country, period. Blacks were not citizens when the constitutipon was adopted nor could Muslims, Chinese, Somalis or other such aspire to be naturalized. The only reason it was made explicit in the Constitution is that nobody in their wildest nightmares could have foreseen what has happened to America. Don[t believe me_ Read the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, as well as the first immigration laws. There is zero room for “interpretation”.

Michael Keane
Michael Keane

I prefer “deism” and “My mind is my own church”.

Paine will forever be denied his true place because he vilified Washington and ironically, enough, his true place was filled, on the wrong side of the prison door.

The fact he is perceived to have also denied the existence of God (although, Washington-as-ingrate and unresponsive to a fellow Revolutionary, probably carried greater condemnation), also, likely, served to rob him of his Revolutionary Authority: universal suffrage and an end to slavery, as perhaps two of his best and, for his time, most “Radical” suggestions, in the face of the status-quo.

Given the choice, I’m certain Paine would be on the right side of the door, guillotine, or no, in his understanding it is dangerous to paint one race or another, as “radical”, to the point they require disposal, merely because they are beyond the perception of their detractors.

Old Guy

@ Michael Keane…… I make it a point to allow others their opinion and never down thumb anyone. And I won’t down thumb you. But it’s JMO fella’ that you went out and never came back.

Beeherder
Beeherder

Hi MK

Christian Deism as articulated by Jefferson and his bible without any of the “revelations” seems to be a fine foundation of moral virtue without the sanctimonious floundering of clergy. JMO but the ideals of Christ are not represented by any religious practice I am aware of. Having spent nearly half a decade on my knees mumbling latin I did not understand stumbling though the rituals of a church consisting of those who believe in collectivism for the greater good I find no value in religion but great value in the moral philosophy of the Christ.

A careful reading of the first amendment to the US Constitution does not exclude the practice of any religion. And that represents my view as well, I do not object to anyone’s religious beliefs but find little or no value in religious cult practices in my own life. Those who choose to practice such ceremonies are fine with me so long as they do not force those beliefs or ceremonial practices on any others. Yes I do believe in the power of prayer but I also believe that prayer can be misdirected and controlled by those without conscience. Seems to me that the authoritarian hierarchy of most religions just attract those psychopaths and I refuse to follow the insane regardless of how many true believers all around scream that I must conform. Hey you, welcome to the 50s and early 60s in America, see Madison Avenue and its associated mind control.

And the moral dilemma of Robespierre described by Zman is exactly my concern. Yes a great cleansing is coming, can NOT be avoided in fact it MUST not be avoided. However, who will decide the guilty and who will decide the punishment and how these determinations shall be made are the difference between civilization and a mob. There is no single fellow citizen who I would trust to be my jury, however if 12 of my peers are seated to fairly review the evidence for or against the charges I’ll be quite content. In my reading of history Robespierre was a villain through and through and he was never honest or genuine, JMO. Those who would make these decisions to cull based on skin color are repugnant to me and I openly reject them and always shall.

The penalty for treason is death. Any who would lead a rebellion against the dully elected officials of the USA are most likely guilty of treason and the penalty should be melted out swiftly after conviction and NOT by a mob in the street. AND THAT IS MORE THAN AN OPINION THAT IS KNOWING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RIGHT AND WRONG.

Thanks for the thoughtful article Zman

EL Coyote (yes, I am wise but it's wisdom born of pain..)
EL Coyote (yes, I am wise but it's wisdom born of pain..)

I figured that out as soon as I read the beehive’s first two words. Skip the rest of his shit and read where he thinks, “..the penalty should be melted out..”

Stuck, I feel your pain, bro. We need a TBP Robespierre to put a lot of noobie snowflake basket cases to the blade.

Beeherder
Beeherder

Really? Are you really advocating killing someone who disagrees with you? Hey I find these snowflakes offensive but I do recall being young and stupid myself (oh so long ago) and unless these bozos commit a felony or make direct threats of violence then disdain is the biggest response they will get from me. Talk is cheap but make a credible threat and get your ass stomped or arrested. I’d like to think they can grow up to be responsible contributing members of a community (any ethical community).

HOWEVER personal responsibility is what life is about and if one of these little precious piss ants who could barely tie their shoes without help commits physical acts of violence during the inauguration period then I hope they get to meet one of my biker brothers up close and personal. The wall of meat will grind them to dust.

18 U.S. Code 2384 Seditious Conspiracy

If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 808; July 24, 1956, ch. 678, § 1, 70 Stat. 623; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(N), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)

The one hour delay builds some interesting dialog. Are you able to read my drafts before the editing period closes because it sure looks like it.

I wish no ass kicking on peaceful protesters, key part of that comment being peaceful. Dumping butyric acid in the ventilation system is not peaceful protest. Inciting violence is not a peaceful protest.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

Beefart, if I had to take a stance, I’m a pacifist. I might flay you with a few choice words but I wouldn’t wish on you the ass-beating you wish on citizens exercising their right to protest.

For the record, it’s a waste of time and it is ill-timed. They should wait until we are deep in the muck to protest the president. At this time it is counter productive like trying to topple a tree after only a couple of whacks. There comes the time when the tree topples with just the push of a finger.

Looking at it another way, Obama never delivered on his immigration reform promise. Perhaps these folks do not intend to wait a couple of weeks to get shined on with more promises.

You have to build momentum; pounce, as it were, to get what you want regardless of what they planned. Democracy at its best.

Waiting and pleading is what you might call, tyranny.

Unsanctimonious
Unsanctimonious

The guy flagellating himself (who Z is referring to) is a Caucasian preacher who seems to be advocating a “works based” salvation via self-immolation before the alter of race. Grace be damned on his way to buying the stairway to heaven.

If you follow that, you may do so at your own peril, according to the book of Zeppelin:

“And did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind.
And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul.
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How ev’rything still turns to gold.”

Was the price paid? Or not. Therein lies the question.

EL Coyote (yes, I am wise but it's wisdom born of pain..)
EL Coyote (yes, I am wise but it's wisdom born of pain..)

Flagellate this, Unflogged. Will you be preaching the gospel of Black Sabbath next? These lyrics are more apropos of the article since the savior becomes the executioner. Plus, since it is the ghost of Robby we’re talking about, it really is vengeance from the grave. Fuck, I’m so smart today! Suck it. I win!

Vengeance from the grave
Kills the people he once saved

Nobody wants him
They just turn their heads
Nobody helps him
Now he has his revenge

KaD
KaD

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/18/man-burns-attempting-start-fire-outside-trump-hotel-dc/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

A man was injured Tuesday night while attempting to start a fire outside the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.

PatrioTEA
PatrioTEA

“Beeherder” indicates: “…but the ideals of Christ are not represented by any religious practice I am aware of.”
Try checking the Conservative Mennonites. I believe that they are as close as one can get.

Beeherder
Beeherder

Hi PatrioTEA

Hmm, if the Wikipedia description is accurate I would have the same problems with the Conservative Mennonites as I do with the Catholics, Lutherans, and Four Square Gospel cults. (limited but that’s my experience set) Long on ritual short on ethics, long on control short on critical thinking. If you find solace and comfort and any kind of peace in any of these practices I am happy for you. Still doesn’t work for me.

Wonder if anyone else thinks “Doing unto others as you would have them do unto you” is the core of ethical thinking. And along with that if you do violence to others you can expect that in return. I kinda like the non-coercion principle and really prefer dialog and discourse to shit throwing monkeys. So if you think the readings of Thomas Jefferson make me a moron your are free to read something else cuz I really don’t care. If you want to discuss why Jefferson might have found some parts of the King James version of the Bible objectionable or some other point of history for which I am probably not fully educated then please do speak out.

And if you can’t stand the writings of Jefferson on Deism the try Thomas Paine’s “Age of Reason” from Wikipedia:

“The Age of Reason; Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology is a work written by English and American political activist Thomas Paine. It follows in the tradition of eighteenth-century British deism, and challenges institutionalized religion and the legitimacy of the Bible. Originally distributed as unbound pamphlets, it was published in three parts in 1794, 1795, and 1807. It was a best-seller in the United States, where it caused a short-lived deistic revival. British audiences, however, fearing increased political radicalism as a result of the French Revolution, received it with more hostility. The Age of Reason presents common deistic arguments; for example, it highlights what Paine saw as corruption of the Christian Church and criticizes its efforts to acquire political power. Paine advocates reason in the place of revelation, leading him to reject miracles and to view the Bible as “an ordinary piece of literature rather than as a divinely inspired text”. It promotes natural religion and argues for the existence of a creator-God.”

Send all name calling to the bit bucket. Ad Hominen attacks only reveal the weakness of your argument or position and provide nothing to the discussion of ideas.

Beehives are those boxes full of insects called apis melifera or the european honey bee. I herd those boxes from place to place trying to get them on the bloom of the moment, therefore I have adopted the moniker Beeherder. I take no offense at your chiding just to let you know I like bugs. No really, I like bugs, especially the ones that help pay the rent here at Beeherder central. Perhaps with some success I can offer TBP a little something sweet like my favorite TBP writer HSF, not yet, maybe soon as I try to transition from hobbyist to businessman. If you want a challenge try making money in agriculture without owning any land.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

Beehive, please submit an idea.

Your new here, so I will clarify something you might miss: we appreciate your comments. Really, please stick around.

However, you can expect some push-back if your ideas do not hold water or if you fail to proof-read your post.

PatrioTEA
PatrioTEA

Beeherder:

Boy are you EXTREMELY misinformed, as Wikipedia must also be. I am not a Mennonite, was raise Lutheran, but no attend a Conservative Mennonite church, and there is no comparison of any mainstream protestant church(s) and the Anabaptist Mennonites. And where do you get name-calling from me? But, simply, you are way off-based in your analysis.

Beeherder
Beeherder

The name calling comment was directed at El Coyote, sorry if you took offense. He got it.

There is a Mennonite and Amish community near me. I’ve only been in this area 3 years but the locals don’t bond well with either of the religious groups. Same locals don’t accept outsiders easily either.

I’m generally accepting of any non-coercive philosophy, and around here the Mennonites and Amish wear those uniforms. My understanding is that if you are part of their community dress choices are not optional, that concerns me. Too many years in Catholic schools with the compulsive uniforms kinda soured me on forced conformity. The Mennonite philosophy may be wonderful, my own prejudices prevent me from seeing beyond those surface uniforms. My shortcoming, not theirs.

PatrioTEA
PatrioTEA

There is a huge range of Mennonites; and while the Black Buggy & Bumper ones dress much like the Amish, the “Conservative” churches are a little more individual, while still trying to maintain a very modest form of dress. They still want to stand out to differ from the “worldly” and provocative manner. The churches are without steeples, crosses, or any trappings of vestry. The services are very simple worship by song (acappella/no instruments,) prayer, witness, and sermon. It is simple and clean communication with God of the Bible. They welcome visitors, like our family, and are very gracious. If you can attend a Pilgrim Conference, Conservative Mennonite Church, anywhere, please do so to learn of their non-resistance, God-fearing message.

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