On Evil, Intrigue and the Left

By: Jay

It is often the case that detractors, opponents and skeptics will themselves latch onto a catchphrase or cliché statement about “how the world really works” in order to debunk the claims of anyone who challenges the mainstream account of events.  For them, “conspiracy theorists” will read everything as a conspiracy.  Ironically, the forebears of modern leftists were themselves the ones who asked questions about the status quo of their day, but as one learns in the study of paradigms and worldviews, the new opinions become the new dogmas.  As Foucault correctly explained, the modern world did not rid itself of hierarchy, “shepherds” and authority: it merely exchanged the old ones for a new.

Not all truths are to be told to all men, and not all people are sufficiently mature to deal with the harsh realities of realpolitik.  The fact remains that men are easily duped and fooled.  The system knows this, and thus statecraft is based largely on psychology and social engineering.  Guided by pragmatism, this idea is ancient, but Machiavelli is a great example.  For Machiavelli, statecraft was precisely the ability to manage intrigue.  And the reality is, it is much more this than ideology that guides men and nations.  In his Art of War, Machiavelli writes of the corruption of the military industrial complex of his day:

“But because military institutions have become completely corrupt and far removed from the ancient ways, these sinister opinions have arisen which make the military hated and intercourse with those who train them avoided. And I, judging, by what I have seen and read, that it is not impossible to restore its ancient ways and return some form of past virtue to it, have decided not to let this leisure time of mine pass without doing something, to write what I know of the art of war, to the satisfaction of those who are lovers of the ancient deeds. And although it requires courage to treat of those matters of which others have made a profession, none the less, I do not believe that it is a mistake to occupy a position with words, which may, with greater presumption, have been occupied with deeds; for the errors which I should make in writing can be corrected without injury to anyone, but those which are made with deeds cannot be found out except by the ruin of the Commanders.” Read more of this post