The Way We Think

New really good article with intelligent writing on The Brussels Journal, they just keep spitting them out.

I have been having some of the same thoughs, but never analyzed to this point, nor would I be able to have put it this eloquently.

The Way We Think

Excerpt:

Little has changed since then. Except that pretending in public what most know to be untrue, or being silent about the pertinent facts because they do not fit an agreed upon fiction, has gotten a name. Synthetic truth now carries a concise tag: “PC.” The politically correct that is divorced from the facts is more than a pious lie prescribed by someone’s social creed. PC creates an artificial reality. Public policy is made to adapt to it as though its postulates would be levelheaded. In the industrialized democracies PC prevents some actions, weakens others and provokes measures that would otherwise not be taken. As an act of voluntary self delusion, PC makes people to affirm what is not and to deny whatever is but should, normatively, not be.

In case that you are inclined to confirm that the “clash of cultures” is “on,” you are easing into an issue in which PC-induced pretensions play a significant role. Every crisis – notice that their frequency and gravity is on the rise – brings examples of how the PC colored view of the world complicates dealing with our problems. The present’s cartoon controversy proves the point. Its significance is that this is the first instance in which radical Islam demands that majorities outside of the Muslim world conform to their teaching.

As insinuated, there is a relationship between PC-derived positions in the world of the industrialized countries and their ability to prevail in the conflict the Jihadists are forcing on them. Let us at the outset agree that ideas have consequences. This is, depending on where your political home is, one of the most crucial truths known to me. [Another favorite of mine is “there ain’t no free lunches.”] Therefore, a fact-denying and reality distorting idea must lead to irrational actions. Consequently, challenging PC assumptions – regardless of how comforting they might be – is essential if the challenge is to be faced. Thinking rationally will determine the issue arising out of the clash or coexistence of cultures. This outcome will primarily be a derivate of the course of action taken in our midst. Radical Islam’s main strength happens to be our weakness to value, and therefore to defend, the essentials of our civilization. Thus, what we think of pending matters will be central in determining the outcome of the unfolding process.

Read the article

PC is the Achilles Heel of the Western World.