May 11, 2023
Noblesse Oblige
This from Walt Fullom
There is a long history of atheist and agnostic elitists in America trying to uplift the lower classes by imposing a civic religion on them, to replace the antiquated and obsolescent traditional Christian religions.
Appalled by the behavior and retrograde beliefs of the hoi polloi the self-appointed members of the elect have long been determined to instill virtue in the citizenry via a civic religion.
I was reminded of this while reading Spying on the South by the late Tony Horwitz, a book about the Antebellum journeys through the South taken by Frederick Law Olmstead. It was on these journeys that the atheist Olmstead began to formalize his ideas on how to improve the rowdy, uncouth, undereducated citizenry of the North by creating civic institutions and spaces that would enable the better spirits of Americans to rise up. In Olmstead’s case it manifested as the design and construction of public parks in cities after the Civil War, most notably Central Park in NYC.
Olmstead’s musings on the topic read like a speech by Barack Obama and his reference to bitter clingers or HRC and her rant about baskets of deplorables.
The difference today is that technology provides the elites with the means to institute and enforce their vision for a "better” society.
Tim adds:
The upper class has always had this sense of noblesse oblige, the concept of the "white man's burden" or whatnot, that they must pull us up to what they consider a proper civilized level whether we agree to it or not. That has been especially true since the late 18th century and the paternalism of the later Liberal movement. It dovetailed with the old aristocratic view of lower classes, and the new Middle Class jumped right into the aristocracy, only eliminating the old order and making themselves the new.
In the end it is an attitude born of hubris and conceit.
Sadly they are determined to rule over us and change us "for the better" as THEY see it in their Godless way. And we had better go along with them or they will have to take drastic action.
There is a long history of atheist and agnostic elitists in America trying to uplift the lower classes by imposing a civic religion on them, to replace the antiquated and obsolescent traditional Christian religions.
Appalled by the behavior and retrograde beliefs of the hoi polloi the self-appointed members of the elect have long been determined to instill virtue in the citizenry via a civic religion.
I was reminded of this while reading Spying on the South by the late Tony Horwitz, a book about the Antebellum journeys through the South taken by Frederick Law Olmstead. It was on these journeys that the atheist Olmstead began to formalize his ideas on how to improve the rowdy, uncouth, undereducated citizenry of the North by creating civic institutions and spaces that would enable the better spirits of Americans to rise up. In Olmstead’s case it manifested as the design and construction of public parks in cities after the Civil War, most notably Central Park in NYC.
Olmstead’s musings on the topic read like a speech by Barack Obama and his reference to bitter clingers or HRC and her rant about baskets of deplorables.
The difference today is that technology provides the elites with the means to institute and enforce their vision for a "better” society.
Tim adds:
The upper class has always had this sense of noblesse oblige, the concept of the "white man's burden" or whatnot, that they must pull us up to what they consider a proper civilized level whether we agree to it or not. That has been especially true since the late 18th century and the paternalism of the later Liberal movement. It dovetailed with the old aristocratic view of lower classes, and the new Middle Class jumped right into the aristocracy, only eliminating the old order and making themselves the new.
In the end it is an attitude born of hubris and conceit.
Sadly they are determined to rule over us and change us "for the better" as THEY see it in their Godless way. And we had better go along with them or they will have to take drastic action.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:41 AM
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