Lies are Trad

I worked it out. I see, I'm supposed to understand folk like Michael Anton are just lying:

"Yet in the summer of 2020, our ruling class actively encouraged, through state-aligned media, the repeated sacking of Manhattan, the very beating heart of the Davos Archipelago, where our richest and most powerful overlords live and work."

(Autism: it's not good for you.) In reality they can't be that powerful, now can they? Can't even stop a riot? Indeed they are not. Ref: when BLM tried to burn down CNN all of a sudden cops found their backbone. Anton knows, (you can tell because he's smart enough to tie his own shoes without a minder) but he lies about this because that's just what his in-group does. Those are just his mores. You're supposed to understand that nobody could possibly be this stupid without getting their internet cut off for non-payment.

(P.S. See also: the first night of rioting in NYC was shut down, because the mayor forgot to order the cops to stand down. It's okay, someone made the right phone call by night two. Oops, that was embarrassing! How are Antonites supposed to pretend they're incompetent if they accidentally forget to be incompetent?)

Originally, they thought that "serious" Americans could never possibly take seriously the depths of depravity that Communists normally sink to. The Communist evil was downplayed. Secondly, as hardly needs be said, McCarthy. A half-intensity story would be enough, right? In any case, the less-left is a bunch of surrender monkeys, so failure isn't failure. McCarthy's anemic accusations brought genuine Sovereign wrath, affirming the less-left's commitment to never genuinely oppose it. McCarthy didn't make it in the "real world." Obviously not Kwality-selected like we are, right guys?

By now it's clear that being open about it would A) condemn their forebears as, at best, extremely naive and B) spread "despair," which would, of course, affect revenues such as donation and sold column-inches.

Mores created, mores set. It's customary.

Fascists gonna Fasc, which is isomorphic to Satanists gonna Sate. Worshipping lies is just traditional and Lindy at this point. 

P.S. Anton is clearly historically illiterate, as per Fascist and Christian mores. Burn those books, lest we recognize this has all happened before. How are you supposed to repeat your rapine and plunder if your methods are recognized as rapine and plunder? Come now. 

P.P.S. If the link breaks again, try this.

Republic Book 4, All Sections

"The happiness of the state, Socrates reiterates, consists in the happiness instilled in each individual member of the classes from his having functioned well at his appointed task, performing his job well."

No rulers, only followers.

Except Plato, of course. He gets to tell you what your job is. 

Also note the Prussian-school-like ritualization. If happiness is a job well done, okay, but what is a job well done? Why not assign trivial jobs and then everyone can be trivially happy? Contra Plato, Gnon indeed exists. If you get satisfaction from the doing the wrong job - the deadly sin of falsehood - then Gnon will condemn you.
Plato doesn't know which jobs need to be done, and it's largely none of his business. Conquest #1 => the person doing the job normally does know which jobs need to be done. If you want more of a job done, do the responsible thing and pay more to get more.

"They should not be permitted to suffer either from extreme wealth or from extreme poverty. Socrates explains that extreme wealth will cause the craftsmen to become lazy and lax in their duties. They may refuse to work."

wut iz suplae end daymand

When craftsmen retire, supply goes down, which mean prices go up, which entices more to take up craftsmanship. If they can't get paid it means they're not producing wealth and should stop. In either case it's none of Plato's business. 

Scholar trying to bully merchants. If they get away with it, all that happens is everyone gets poor and nobody can supply the warriors...

 

"We will not, Socrates says, require many laws in the ideal state; too many communities suffer from an overabundance of too many laws"

True, but again none of Plato's business. It's caused by the irresponsible and unjust unilateral imposition of laws. It's not even the overabundance per se that's the problem, but the fact the laws are designed to profit the lawgiver at the expense of the lawtakers. The lawgiver sees no reason not to, and frankly, if the lawtakers are dumb enough to sit there and take it, neither do I. Weakness is a sin and ought to be punished. 

"The true way to achieve that general truth lies in the program we have already established for the Guardians: education and nurture."

Pedagogue tells us that pedagogy is the highest, purest task. 

Slave, go back to leading dumb children. Spare us this self-serving nonsense. 

--

"Socrates proceeds to try to determine the essential virtues that may be said to characterize it (the Four Cardinal Virtues): wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice."

Coincidentally already BTFO by my last post. 

 

"he argues that a choice example of injustice would ensue if members of a given class, or classes, should by force attempt to seize the "rights" of some other class."

If it can happen it will happen. A logiomantic State plans on what to do after it happens, rather than dying instantly if it cannot prevent the problem.

Of course, the answer is Exit. The property of others will be unjustly seized. Once this starts occurring, revoke your consent. If a State doesn't have a formal, simple, and cheap consent revocation procedure: run, don't walk. Never get involved in the first place. 

--

"It is a given proposition (a self-evident truth) that a given physical body "
"From this, we may deduce that there exist two parts of the human mind"

The mind, however, is all weird. Our understanding of it is impoverished.

Due to the nature of subjective ontology, a single mind is all one unitary thing. Also, at the same time, a typical human mind is somewhere near the quarter-megabyte range. The single state has complexity to it - and not one or two degrees of freedom, but at least half a million. How is this possible? I dunno. However, these two facts are unassailable, so they must be reconcilable in one way or another.

"Thus the essential aspects of the mind follow: (1) reason; (2) emotions or the "spirited" element; and (3) desire, or passions. These aspects of the mind correspond to the three classes of the state"

Plato/Socrates goes off track here. I think they didn't have enough background at the time. 

Intuiting. The trifunctional caste system is based on a pre-human logical fact: dominance may be physical, intellectual, or social. 

Plato wants warrior-monks in charge (emphasis on the monk), with pure warrior auxiliaries, ruling over a mass of merchants. In reality there is no universal solution. Further, it's clear by inspection that the king needs to be a proper member of all three castes. A warrior-priest-merchant. Ideally, the king is the best fighter or strategist, the wisest scholar, and the shrewdest merchant. However, they only need to be the best at one thing, and merely competent enough to overcome Dunning-Kruger in the others.

"There is an old joke that the ability of the Church to survive such gross mismanagement is evidence of divine favor."
https://nitter.fdn.fr/reighleyc/status/1467727482430185472

Specifically, Satan's favor.

 

Step 1: worship something holy instead of Satan.
Result: have institutions that aren't grossly mismanaged.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

At this level you can, just, like, decide not to suck. Stop machine-gunning your own foot. Skip the albatross. Maybe keep the knife away from your nose. Forgo millstones. Just drop the shovel. It's not buried treasure down there, it's literally Hell.

Three Deadly Sins

Or rather, three virtues: courage, honesty, and fidelity. 

Christianity's [seven deadly sins] isn't strictly terrible. Envy and pride are real, serious sins. However, the corresponding virtues could not be more lame; as should be expected for a joy-negative false religion. They can tell only what not to do (disobey), because the point of the structure is to irresponsibly amplify the wills of certain corrupt dictators. If the catechism had its own inherent glory, it would conflict with the ad-hoc dictates. Can't have that.

The three deadly sins are cowardice, falsehood, and treachery. 

If you are a coward, it doesn't matter how wise and responsible you are, because you can't carry out your wise will.

If you are a fool, it doesn't matter how brave or loyal you are, because your will won't be done.

If you are a traitor, it doesn't matter how hearty or smart you are, because you will be alone and unable to hold to any consistent course. 

Cowards, fools, and traitors are never going to make it. The destination is always beyond their reach. 

Christianity's sins have a sort of rhythmic symmetry to them. That's your red flag: it's Sophistry. Rhetoric, designed to be convincing, not to reflect reality. Reality is not symmetric. (P.S. envy and pride are merely sub-categories of falsehood.)

Because the sins are independent, the virtues are not. You must wisely pick who to come to agreements with, and courageously follow through on the terms. You must courageously hold fast to your wise convictions. And.. you must commit to running away, to changing course, when fighting is no longer profitable. Asymmetry.

Courage and fidelity are subject to your intent. Falsehood is not. Asymmetry. Even if you hold the best and highest of intents, if you're incorrect, you're sinning and Gnon will punish you.

Courage and wisdom reward the behaviour directly. Fidelity does not. Asymmetry. In the short term, avoiding responsibility is always more profitable. Agree to nothing and take what's yours, right? Sure, if you enjoy hating yourself, I suppose. 

Truth and responsibility can neither conflict with each other nor with themselves. If one responsibility conflicts with another: you're wrong, it doesn't, you falsely and irresponsibly agreed to something you shouldn't have. Courage easily conflicts with itself. Asymmetry. Is it more brave to fight the enemy, or is it more brave to run away and face the opprobrium of your allies?

You can have fun doing combo virtues if you like. Justice is to courageously enforce the truth on those who would resist it. Humility is to responsibly submit to facts beyond your control. To courageously uphold your agreements when they turn on you is something like sacrifice. 

It doesn't really matter, though. 

Honour is often taken as some kind of social credit score. This is a Sophist smear campaign, because of course it is.
Because any deadly sin is deadly, there is only one distinction worth making: honourable vs. dishonourable. The dishonourable are not good enough. Defecting on the dishonourable - such as by treating them dishonourably - is neither unprofitable nor imprudent, because they cannot cooperate. Nothing is lost.
An honourable person is someone who courageously faces all their true-chosen responsibilities head-on, never flinching from openly and forthrightly doing the things they said they were going to do, and never saying they will do something they shouldn't.

Perhaps there is a fourth virtue, with no corresponding vice: creation. Creation is glorious.

Don't let the government fund your holy places, folks.

"Our Temples are under Government Control whereas Mosques & Churches are free. Congress Party with Appeasement Politics has protected Muslims/Christians to & Hindus have no Voice or Rights to protect our Religion."
https://nitter.net/chimnibai/status/1467362221697105921

You will get wrecked in 100% of cases. 

Republic Book 3, Section 2 & 3

"Socrates turns to a consideration of the physical training for the Guardians, which course in gymnastic should begin quite early in life and continue through life."

Broke: letting warriors set their own training schedule. Woke: letting Plato sit in his armchair and tell you how to exercise. Irresponsibility and classic scholar arrogance. 

That said it's hardly impossible for a scholar to know more about the training regimen than a warrior does, but it requires a lot of Aristotleanism. Have to go look at the training yourself, observing closely, and to try a few small-scale tests. Further, this will get out of date. Even if you achieve warrior+ levels of understanding, if you look away for a moment, they'll learn things you don't know.  

"The Guardians are to abstain from any form of intemperance: gluttony, drunkenness, or any form of sexual license."

Grassmonkeyism. Confusing obeisance to Satan's social dominance for piety toward the heavens. 

Insofar as this sort of thing is accurate, it's a coincidence. I'm not saying drunkenness is good, but through history we can see repeatedly that Plato-types get wildly activated about vices with performance relevance at the sub-1% level. They're not trying to make you healthy, they just want an excuse to order you around. Rule in Hell etc; do Satan proud. 

A bit of projection too. For warriors, drink is probably a straight-up good at times? It's scholars that need to avoid the sauce entirely. If you can't tell which brain cells were killed by a night on the town, you're not exploiting your brain fully yet. Train harder.

--

"Socrates proposes that the citizens be told "just one royal lie," a "needful falsehood."

Yeah bros, let's just worship Satan a little. Just a little though!
Veritas is a jealous bitch. If you cheat on her a bit she'll be a complete cunt to you.

To be fair, I'm biased. My faith in Veritas is unlimited. Fiat vox veritatis, ruat caelum. Vigeat veritas, et pereat hominis. 

If you speak the truth and it doesn't work out for you, the problem was you failing truth, not truth failing you.

"Glaucon is extremely doubtful about the efficacy of this "royal lie" and so is Socrates"

...because it's an obvious mistake.

The [American] is immunized against all dangers: one may call him a scoundrel, parasite, swindler, profiteer, boomer, journalist, it all runs off him like water off a duck's back. But call [America hierarchical] and you will be astonished at how he recoils, how injured he is, how he suddenly shrinks back: "I've been found out."

Democracy is inherently a scam. "The king said I could win if I captured all his pawns, therefore we're not playing chess anymore." While the idiot pawn is distracted, the king is putting their side in checkmate. "Oh no you took another one of my pawns whatever shall I do." "Yes, I'm winning!" Great work, you gored that cape like nobody's business.

Republic Book 3 Section 1

Plato: "Wet streets cause rain."

"We have agreed, then, that the tales we teach the young will teach them to honor the gods and their parents and to value friendship with one another."

Reality: they can figure this out for themselves. Especially if they see their parents and their parents' peers acting out this honour and seeing the profits thereby. 

By honest error or biological ineptitude, some adults will be less honourable, and the children will see that their friendships are less valuable as a result. No explicit teaching is necessary. Turns out - not that gay men are apt to notice - children have eyes. They can see on their own.

The myths are largely for entertainment. As it happens, they will have elements of honour, but it's largely because the kids like that sort of thing. The children shape the stories, rather than the reverse. 

A myth, or any form of teaching tool, largely works by drawing the child's attention to more relevant details. They learn faster if they skip all the cruft.
Plato, ultimately, is proposing propaganda. Propaganda doesn't work. It directs the child's attention to unimportant cruft, and sooner or later they reject it. In a solidly Sophist regime they won't tell you they've rejected it, but they reject it nonetheless. Propaganda wastes time. Further, if they don't explicitly reject the propaganda, it multiply interferes with learning more. Plato makes you weak.

By contrast, if you tell the children the truth, they can build on that solid foundation. The faster they learn what you know, the more time they have to learn things you don't. An honest society is a knowledgeable society, and knowledge is power. Wisdom is strength.

"Furthermore, we must teach the future Guardians tales that will praise courage and that show fear and cowardice in a bad light."

Personnel is policy. If the lawgivers are honourable and courageous, then these things will be praised regardless of what you teach the "Guardians." If they are not, then injustice will obtain. Cooperation will be disparaged; defectors and their ill-gotten gains will be defended. 

It is a law of nature that lawgivers become corrupt. There's a ratchet: once corrupt they pick corrupt successors and remain corrupt forever. Purity has to win every time, while corruption need only win once. As such, it is necessary to replace your lawgiver. 

The lawgiver himself can't be replaced without contradiction. You can replace the lawgiver if and only if you have already replaced the lawgiver with yourself, and are capable of giving a law of replacement. Regime-complete problem.

Instead, replace your society. Exit the first system of law, in favour of another, headed by a lawgiver who isn't corrupt (yet). By Gnon's mercy, the ability to Exit applies discipline to the lawgiver. For fear of losing their lawtakers, they will mightily resist corruption. The more Exit you have, the more discipline is applied, and the less you need Exit. 

Personnel is policy.
Plato hated children. It's a common symptom of the sodomite disorder.
Platonic institutions are designed to painfully maim any children they come into contact with, to express Plato's hatred.
Public school is pure Plato.

It is clear that public schoolers hate children. I don't know if they saw a kindred spirit in Plato and therefore took his ideas, or, feeling the same hatred and thus the same incentives, derived the same solution as he did. Perhaps Plato is merely used as a buttress. Moldbug believes it was indeed lifted from Plato, but the idea that children/descendants can't think for themselves is itself a suspiciously Platonic idea. On the other hand, you don't have to work very hard to convince me child-haters are mental cripples.

Consciousness is important. In fact there are no material desires; all desires are pure mind. (See also: Hume.) 

Materialists wish you to look away from their non-base desires, so you don't detect their malice. Their envy, their resentment, and their sadism.

Personnel is policy. The body is chosen; the body shapes the mind. The mind is policy. The consciousness you empower determines the results of their actions.