The Leftward Death-Spiral
The Evil League of Evil smites again. I am too delicate of constitution to repeat the details, since the writer involved, Mr. John Scalzi, is one who has treated me with respect in the past, and I would wish to return the favor if I could.
Despite this, my loyalty to the Evil League of Evil requires me to draw attention to the odd phenomenon of leftwing thinkers of reacting to public humiliation by redoubling their efforts to humiliate themselves.
There is a normal psychological mechanism, something like an inner ear, which allows someone to correct himself when his words and thoughts become imbalanced. The social cues, or the whisper of conscience or reason, tells a man he has said something too extreme or too absurd, and that his thought no longer reflect reality, and so he reverses course, modifies his position, admits of some exception, apologizes and puts himself right.
This mechanism, in those poor souls afflicted by the political neurosis of Leftwingnuttery is jammed or, worse, is set in reverse. When they discover themselves to be in an unbalanced position, instead of shifting their center of mass and returning to true, their psychological inner ear tells them their fault is that they are not tipping far enough, and so they throw themselves headlong.
You may learn the details in the words of my esteemed colleague, Sarah Hoyt. I here quote only a modicum of her superb wisdom:
I have, some years ago, identified the process by which left-leaning institutions die. Someone had asked me why an sf editor I will not name, having killed three magazines, got given yet another to kill, and why each magazine was successively more leftist. This was compared to the process by which news magazines and media when in trouble because too leftist for the general public, go hard left just before they die. (Also known as the left-leaning-death-roll.)
Because I was in a field where this (then)worked, I had to explain to the people I was talking to that this happens because in fields that are 90% or more left, this works. See, if your magazine/newspaper/tv station goes under because you’re incompetent, no one is going to give you another job. But if your magazine/newspaper/tv station goes under because you’re “too far left” then the left – aka the rest of your field. Aka those who give awards and jobs – perceive you as a hero, suffering for your convictions, and promptly give you another job. So, if you’re an incompetent idiot, and your business is failing, your best way to cover it up and assure your survival in the field, is to run as far left as fast as you can. This has been trained in at the back of the brain of most people in the media and entertainment by DECADES of this strategy working just fine.
So now that businesses (solo and corporate) in those fields are failing at record levels, everyone is racing to the left as fast as they can, oblivious to the fact that they’re all failing together and no one will be able to give them jobs. (Though frankly to be fair, they can still give them awards.)
What did you expect of Marxists? Contact with reality? If they had that, they wouldn’t be Marxists, a theory that requires you to be a blind fool who believes in wishcasting.
Read the whole thing here: http://accordingtohoyt.com/2014/06/19/the-roll-and-flail/
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
