A shift in right-wingism?
Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2022 8:14 pm
It occurred to me today on my walk that the right wing has experienced a shift in fundamental ideology. In previous years, we'd look to folks like Droopy to teach us about the free market and pies that get bigger, and the hero of that day was the entrepreneur. I suppose John Galt of Ayn Rand's fiction world personified nature's sacrosanct apex predator and if you're Christian, then you believe in what's basically John Galt but he's God's crowing creation and Christian.
But the ground has shifted underneath the right wing. The entrepreneur isn't the go-to hero, it's the exerciser of free speech. Our unhinged participants here are one thing, but we do have a sometimes-participant who is generally measured, conservative, and drove this point home to me in a way an unhinged person wouldn't have when giving Rush Limbaugh a free pass, because he was an American openly expressing his opinion, and that's our fundamental sacrosanct duty as Americans, so how can anyone say he was bad? Speaking freely and loudly is even more important as an American than even owning a gun.
There is a difference in entrepreneur worship and free-speech worship. As I recall, the most noble attribute of the entrepreneur was risk-taking. Big rewards came to those with big visions and climbed the mountain themselves. If you didn't have what it takes, then at least in theory, you got weeded out. The bull moose that looses the battle for the herd feels the pain and slinks off cold and alone to die. As an American, you have the right to start a business and carve out your living. But at least in theory, nobody owes you a success. You've got to claw your way to the top, and if you fail, tough.
Free speech, in contrast, is worshipped as sacred in itself. Whatever you say, there are no consequences, because just saying it is by default good. There's no risk, and a free American speaking loudly and controversially should be admired just for being loud and controversial, not for being right or able to show evidence. And so when ideas are rejected or persons skewered for failing to make their case, today's right-winger goes on an unhinged rant about free speech. Anyone who disagrees with them or holds them responsible for what they say is an enemy to free speech. That's the go-to rebuttal. While the critic brings facts or problems to the table, the right-winger tries less to defend the position, and more to complain about being cancelled.
The equivalent in the entrepreneur world would be John Galt's backwater cousin who designs a bridge that collapses, but there's no accountability because building and inventing are goods in themselves.
But the ground has shifted underneath the right wing. The entrepreneur isn't the go-to hero, it's the exerciser of free speech. Our unhinged participants here are one thing, but we do have a sometimes-participant who is generally measured, conservative, and drove this point home to me in a way an unhinged person wouldn't have when giving Rush Limbaugh a free pass, because he was an American openly expressing his opinion, and that's our fundamental sacrosanct duty as Americans, so how can anyone say he was bad? Speaking freely and loudly is even more important as an American than even owning a gun.
There is a difference in entrepreneur worship and free-speech worship. As I recall, the most noble attribute of the entrepreneur was risk-taking. Big rewards came to those with big visions and climbed the mountain themselves. If you didn't have what it takes, then at least in theory, you got weeded out. The bull moose that looses the battle for the herd feels the pain and slinks off cold and alone to die. As an American, you have the right to start a business and carve out your living. But at least in theory, nobody owes you a success. You've got to claw your way to the top, and if you fail, tough.
Free speech, in contrast, is worshipped as sacred in itself. Whatever you say, there are no consequences, because just saying it is by default good. There's no risk, and a free American speaking loudly and controversially should be admired just for being loud and controversial, not for being right or able to show evidence. And so when ideas are rejected or persons skewered for failing to make their case, today's right-winger goes on an unhinged rant about free speech. Anyone who disagrees with them or holds them responsible for what they say is an enemy to free speech. That's the go-to rebuttal. While the critic brings facts or problems to the table, the right-winger tries less to defend the position, and more to complain about being cancelled.
The equivalent in the entrepreneur world would be John Galt's backwater cousin who designs a bridge that collapses, but there's no accountability because building and inventing are goods in themselves.
