Jordan Peterson: the Bible is the foundational document for Western civilisation

True. I’ve written as much, several times, before. But that’s obvious, even w\o explication.

Not that gRogdawg’s purpose is to explain my posts…or to bingo himself. Pleading the 5th (not necessarily of scotch, but there’s all kinds of hooch), or pleading special, it don’t matter… if you move, they like to say in aikido, you are defeated. But if you don’t move – assumin’ you ain’t dead – you just might already have been defeated & stayed rooted in it.

Communication with self, integrated, is, or should be ~ ideally ~ pole position. & pole position self-talk that isn’t generated from a muse, in youse, is, past training wheels beginnings, a waste of time, effort; my perspective.

Which doesn’t preclude the possibility that technical writers of SOP manuals find dry & boring amusing. Or edifying. Or something. dawg does come up with amusing bits, now & then; accidents do happen.

Comms with others as primary goal is also malinvestment; my perspective. Even tho some may find that amusing, or something, despite the fact that everything’s been said, in every possible way, over & over – & so what? But choirs got songbooks, repertoires, & that’s that.

If your default is an audience, you’re like Sally Fields, accepting that Oscar, & admitting that “you” exist only, or mainly, in the vacuum of them, the clappers out there. It’s a common wiring configuration, herds (packs in dawg’s case) making social lowing (whimpering) noises, but, obviously, it’s not the only one.

If you don’t love it, or at least like it a lot, have fun with it for its own sake, as opposed spectator approval, you’re on the beaten, wrong, track; my perspective.

Regurgitating the same stuff the same way ad nauseum, well that’s got a lot in common with grog addiction & hangovers. Or dawgs & their vomit.

Know a guy, a cook\chef, that drank-to-puke so often he needed surgery. All that regurg burned up his esophagus. He has an impressive scar. After that he stopped the grog-regurg cycle. He’s much more amused, & amusing, now. ☻

But 1 or 2 hereabouts aren’t chained to stumped, or as big a stumped, & as short a chain, as the dawg is.

Plus, he’s an engineer type; allowances for handicaps is within my compassion, even as the muricans with disabilities act isn’t.

I dislike leash laws too, but dawgies chained up in junkyards, dawgies in windows & glass houses, & itty bitty dawgies in mills, is just s.a.d, the world over.

Rigidity’s a religion, or what underlies religions, & like the poor, the chained uptight’ll always be with ye.

For dawg, that codes to being all about minimal effort. But being chained up’ll do that to many. Not all Shawshankers want redemption. In fact most don’t, & prison is Panglossian by them.

Adaptation’s fine, as far as it goes.

But adaptation + projection is a fine. Punitive. ‘The law’ some will aver. & defer. & supine before it. Syntax & grammar & parliamentary obedience, oy yea. But merely color of law, in truth. An excuse to impose trespass by another name, a false identity.

The magic o’ barbed wire whirreds. Parole boards, boarders, swear by that magic act. Took Red decades to figure it out…he didn’t even know he’d figured it out until after the fact. Counterintuitive, skiing the fall line is.

Oh say can you see what’s correct, & incorrect, & how it applies to self, & other-talk – whirreds? ::

“The saturation of American discourse with this *Godfather*–inspired vocabulary is amusing, but it is a joke only on one level. On another it reflects the incipient triumph of Don Corleone’s moral & social philosophy. In a contemplative mood toward the end of *The Godfather*, the old Don says to Michael, “I don’t apologize for the way I’ve lived my life. But I refused to be a fool, dancing on a string held by those big shots.” In these comments the Don’s whole worldview is expressed: in this corrupt, dishonorable world, you either pull the strings or play the fool. The only honorable alternative is the one that he has chosen – total independence, based on the loyal support of family & friends.

Mafiosi often claim that they merely satisfy eternal human appetites, & regard their opponents as moralistic hypocrites. As Big Paul Castellano put it to the FBI agents who conducted him to a federal courthouse,

“Hey, I know you disapprove. That’s why we’re here, after all, isn’t it? So the United States government can make the point that *we do not approve of how certain guineas make their living.* Okay. Fair enough. If I was the government I’d put my ass in jail for a 1000 years….But not because I’m *wrong.* You see, that’s the part I object to – this idea that the law is right & that’s the end of the story. Come on. We’re not children here. The law is – how should I put it? – a convenience. Or a convenience for some people & an inconvenience for other people.”

To a certain extent, we agree. It’s true that our public tradition celebrates America as a land of opportunity where all are created equal, where wealth & privilege hold no sway, & where merit is always rewarded. There is plenty of evidence for this view of America as an exceptional nation. But there is also plenty of evidence for the alternative view, namely that the system is corrupt, the game is rigged, & influence trumps merit.

In one episode of *The Sopranos*, Tony’s wife, Carmela, tries to get their daughter admitted to Brown by pulling strings. “It’s all connections now, it’s who you know,” she complains to her husband. If the rules don’t apply to everyone, why follow them? Since the game is fundamentally unfair, she thinks nothing of intervening on her daughter’s behalf, tho she is careful to do so without her knowledge lest that harm her self-esteem. To the extent that this episode reflects a pervasive attitude toward the institutions of American democracy, it can fairly be said, “We’re all goodfellas now.” It’s a short step from this kind of thinking to the radical familism of a man like Vito Corleone. We may deplore his methods, but we have to respect the old Don for facing this reality squarely & not flinching from its consequences.

The mafia makes a good starting point for a history of nepotism in human affairs. After all, it is the nepotistic organization par excellence – the ultimate family business. The mafia preys on people’s needs, exploits their weaknesses, & uses violence, intimidation, & corruption as its tools. Yet it’s amazing tenacity in the face of all our efforts to destroy it is, if nothing else, a powerful testament to its sheer efficacy as a mode of organization. Hack at its branches as we may, we seem unable to uproot it. This fact alone should make us take respectful notice of its nepotistic character – all the more so as our continuing fascination with the mafia suggests that the nepotistic values it embodies may yet have merit & legitimacy in our eyes.

*The Godfather’s* appeal for American audiences was due in part to the nostalgia of assimilated ethnics for the comforting closeness of the immigrant family & the nepotistic system that sustained it. This system was hardly an Italian invention: it is typical of all societies based on the Old Nepotism (which involved parents hiring their children outright or pulling strings on their behalf; was highly coercive – obedient daughters married according to parental wishes, dutiful sons allowed fathers to chart their careers, & often to select suitable brides for them as well ), & it was deployed in different ways by different groups as a means of adapting to American life, taking such collective forms as ethnic mutual aid societies, unions, & political machines. The core of that appeal was the dark, commanding figure of the patriarchal father – a dominating figure who will tell you what to do, establish norms for your behavior, & who is capable of harshness & brutality, yet who will also reward your obedience by giving you the whole world & everything in it.

This kind of father no longer exists in America. The authority of fathers has been weakened by a gradual campaign of disenfranchisement that began with the liberal revolutions of the 18th century & continued with a protracted political & legal assault that eventually replaced the father’s powers with those of the state. Yet now that we have effectively killed off this patriarchal father, we experience a predictable nostalgia for him. This may simply be an expression of the patricidal guilt that Sigmund Freud discerned at the heart of civilized society. But it may also signify our genuine longing for the father & the nepotistic system that produced him.

Moreover, despite the suppositions of 18th century social contract theorists, it is the mafia-style corporate family – not the isolated sovereign individual – that represents the default mode of social organization. Throughout history, men have built upon their families, drawing on their resources of loyalty & trust to advance their collective ambitions. As they rose, they linked themselves by marriage & other fictive kinship ties to other families, creating a web of family interests that in time became a conscious, institutionalized elite. The Roman aristocracy, the ancient Chinese bureaucratic class, & the mercantile & banking clans of Venice, Florence, Amsterdam, & London were all products of this pattern of family enterprise.

In Western societies, the growth of the state & the market have reduced the importance of families & liberated individuals to pursue their own personal ends. But in most other parts of the world, these familistic patterns still predominate. This is notably the case in Arab countries, most of which are ruled today by monarchs or dictators who continue to base their power on their families, clans, or tribes. But even in America, this pattern is more common than we think. American history, & Western history in general, is much involved with the rise & fall of dynastic groups that base their power on the ad hoc webs of kinship that they wove around their families. As the Roman historian Ronald Syme expressed it, “In all ages, whatever the form & name of the government, be it monarchy, republic, or democracy, an oligarchy lurks behind the façade.” This is not a conspiracy theory of history but a recognition of the neglected importance of families in public affairs.

The mafia is a deep repository of cultural history & knowledge about the actual foundations of society, & that is why it has become such a powerful symbol of the deep contradiction underlying our national creed. The remainder of this book will seek to shed fresh light on those foundations, beginning with the deeply engrained habits & impulses that induce us to favor our kin.” ~ “In Praise of Nepotism, A Natural History” by Adam Bellow (Saul’s kid)