Peculiar underlying beliefs about government

[Cornfed]

It seems to me that most people have underlying quasi-religious beliefs about the nature of government, or at least Western regimes. These beliefs seem fairly indefensible, but appear to be unquestioningly accepted by millions. There are probably many such beliefs, but here are a couple off the top of my head.

1. Most accept that instructions coming down particular GovCorp command structures exempt those who follow them from the usual moral standards. This seems to occur even when the instructions are obviously illegal under the guvmint's own statutes. So for example, suppose an American got off a plane in some remote land and started murdering, maiming and torturing people, and when apprehended justified his actions by spouting some lame teenaged political gibberish. Most Americans would think he was a deranged psycho and should be executed. They wouldn't give him any credit for being an American. Indeed they would regard him as a disgrace to Americans. Yet the same people do not believe that US troops and mercenaries who occupied Iraq should be executed. How can such a belief be justified?

2. Most people, or at least most Americans, seem to believe there is an exact one to one correspondence between the cosmic "merit" of people and the amount of dollars GovCorp hands them. So they would assume that if someone were handed $150k by some large corporation then he must have quite a bit of "merit" in an absolute cosmic sense without even knowing what he was doing, and would assume someone handed $300k had twice as much "merit". This seems odd. Most would acknowledge the punishment/reward systems of most places throughout history and in most places today are not infallibly fair - generally quite the reverse in fact. So presumably these people believe that they just happen to live in pretty much the only infallibly fair economic system that has ever existed. And the fact that the economy and society are circling the drain is presumably just an unrelated co-incidence. Such a belief causes people to, for example, regard it as a win when their daughter becomes a corporate whore, i.e. gets paid to turn up at a corporate office wearing tight clothing and make-up, contribute to the nightclub-like ambiance of the office, inflate the egos of the resident alpha males, give out the odd blow job and f**k people at corporate retreats. Yet many of these same people would be horrified if their daughter took up with a ghetto pimp, even if she would make as much money on a more honest basis. (To be fair, some of these people would claim their daughter was not a whore. However, many would acknowledge that their daughter's college education was bullshit, that she has no practical skills to speak of, that they can't quite put their finger on what she does for the money she gets and that a middle aged man demonstrably more skilled then her in every way would likely not be hired in her position. So, come on, who are we kidding?)

It would be good if adherents of the statist religion could justify their beliefs in the way that some Christians on the forum have tried to justify theirs. Also good would be if people could think up more ideas underpinning modern statism.

[Moretorque]

Hey Cornfed I hope you are not eating the corn? it ill KILL YAA!!!!

In any event that Blackman that you called a nigger mutt that they wheel out in physics to satisfy the racial quota pundits Neil Degrasse is hosting the new Cosmos show and the first episode seemed to be on about a 10 year old level.

[gsjackson]

Number one -- obviously we're bringing peace, prosperity and democracy to the whole world, but you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet.

Number two -- our Calvinist heritage. One can never be sure he's among the pre-ordained elect, but the outward signs of God's grace -- a large salary and house, multiple vehicles, etc. -- are a pretty good indicator.

Any more questions about the American civil religion?

[Jester]

Number one -- obviously we're bringing peace, prosperity and democracy to the whole world, but you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet.

Number two -- our Calvinist heritage. One can never be sure he's among the pre-ordained elect, but the outward signs of God's grace -- a large salary and house, multiple vehicles, etc. -- are a pretty good indicator.

Any more questions about the American civil religion?

+10

[Jester]

It seems to me that most people have underlying quasi-religious beliefs about the nature of government, or at least Western regimes. These beliefs seem fairly indefensible, but appear to be unquestioningly accepted by millions. There are probably many such beliefs, but here are a couple off the top of my head.

1. Most accept that instructions coming down particular GovCorp command structures exempt those who follow them from the usual moral standards. This seems to occur even when the instructions are obviously illegal under the guvmint's own statutes. So for example, suppose an American got off a plane in some remote land and started murdering, maiming and torturing people, and when apprehended justified his actions by spouting some lame teenaged political gibberish. Most Americans would think he was a deranged psycho and should be executed. They wouldn't give him any credit for being an American. Indeed they would regard him as a disgrace to Americans. Yet the same people do not believe that US troops and mercenaries who occupied Iraq should be executed. How can such a belief be justified?

2. Most people, or at least most Americans, seem to believe there is an exact one to one correspondence between the cosmic "merit" of people and the amount of dollars GovCorp hands them. So they would assume that if someone were handed $150k by some large corporation then he must have quite a bit of "merit" in an absolute cosmic sense without even knowing what he was doing, and would assume someone handed $300k had twice as much "merit". This seems odd. Most would acknowledge the punishment/reward systems of most places throughout history and in most places today are not infallibly fair - generally quite the reverse in fact. So presumably these people believe that they just happen to live in pretty much the only infallibly fair economic system that has ever existed. And the fact that the economy and society are circling the drain is presumably just an unrelated co-incidence. Such a belief causes people to, for example, regard it as a win when their daughter becomes a corporate whore, i.e. gets paid to turn up at a corporate office wearing tight clothing and make-up, contribute to the nightclub-like ambiance of the office, inflate the egos of the resident alpha males, give out the odd blow job and f**k people at corporate retreats. Yet many of these same people would be horrified if their daughter took up with a ghetto pimp, even if she would make as much money on a more honest basis. (To be fair, some of these people would claim their daughter was not a whore. However, many would acknowledge that their daughter's college education was bullshit, that she has no practical skills to speak of, that they can't quite put their finger on what she does for the money she gets and that a middle aged man demonstrably more skilled then her in every way would likely not be hired in her position. So, come on, who are we kidding?)

It would be good if adherents of the statist religion could justify their beliefs in the way that some Christians on the forum have tried to justify theirs. Also good would be if people could think up more ideas underpinning modern statism.

Profound stuff. Did HA really ban this guy??

[Cornfed]

Number one -- obviously we're bringing peace, prosperity and democracy to the whole world, but you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet.

Some claim to see it that way, but others will acknowledge that the War on Terra is an ongoing illegal atrocity to allow large corporations to steal stuff, but still promote the goons committing the atrocity as the good guys - the "Oppose the war but support the troops" people. You don't often hear of "Oppose the Mafia but support the button men" people.

Number two -- our Calvinist heritage. One can never be sure he's among the pre-ordained elect, but the outward signs of God's grace -- a large salary and house, multiple vehicles, etc. -- are a pretty good indicator.

That would make sense. Calvinism is a very feminine religion in that way in that it rationalizes backing the winning horse on a given day, as do women, and supporters of Western regimes are mostly women and men who may as well be women. You would wonder why they don't assume God approves of all other economic systems rather than just the one they happen to be living under, but I guess religious beliefs don't need to be consistent. Presumably as well as wealth they assume God also approves of the status quo regarding power and proximity to power, which is why people figure it is an honor for their daughters to whore themselves out to corporate executives rather than mere ordinary men.

[Moretorque]

You claimed Degrasse never did anything scientifically, he has his own TV show now.