Here comes the latest from the herd dynamics: strong men create good times, good times create weak men, weak men create hard times, hard times create strong men. It is off-base because it assumes that external forces, and not our internal spirit toward heroism and virtue, are what is necessary to restore a quality civilization.
In fact, this meme is downright toxic. It essentially says that our problem was not the bad decisions that we made, but that we prospered, forgetting that it is possible — although none have done it — to choose to prosper without becoming distracted by wealth and comfort. It would require eliminating the weak from among us, probably through exile to the third world.
The meme is truth, and thus must be recognized, whether it is toxic or not. Even he recognizes that nobody has ever been able to defy it, before proposing a way to defy it which would require that the meme’s reality be recognized, and used to create a new mechanism.
If you are to act in the world to better things, you must recognize reality. Our singular goal is to preserve K until that moment when it is called upon to flourish as r is destroyed. That is the game, and that is what the meme reveals. That means we must recognize that there will be downturns, when r gains strength. If K’s try to act during these periods, be it violently or even if they just openly and publicly advocate, they are fighting a tide which all of history indicates cannot be overcome.
Now I do not advocate surrender during these periods. You draw lines that cannot be crossed, like gun control, and focus your energies there. You use the knowledge of the reality to harden your own progeny, and preserve K in them. You work subversively within society, keeping your views to yourself. You support your own where you can. But you also have to recognize that within these times, r is going to be a force that needs to be dealt with indirectly and subversively. Starting a revolution and uniting the nation behind K is simply not going to be possible, due to hard biological factors relating to epigenetics and amygdala development which you cannot overcome.
To deny that is to end up sacrificing yourself, and maybe even others, in futile efforts to fight indomitable forces of nature.
The meme also offers an insight into what you need to see happen in order to win. Going Galt is a more effective strategy than a petition drive, or a rally. Letting the system collapse when it reaches peak deterioration is better than everyone rallying and working together to prop it up and take care of the welfarites. Recognizing the reality means that you know what is coming, and what is going to happen. Collapse is inevitable, so rather than try to rally the nation to stop the cycle, you should prepare for the collapse and then let it work its magic on the weaker r-selected classes, who will never go K otherwise. Fail to do that, and K will be that much longer in returning.
Not recognizing the cycle and then trying to enact change is like futilely trying to paddle a canoe against the tide, and then declaring that the idea of a tide is toxic so you are going to deny it and continue to paddle. Understanding and accepting the meme is like waiting thirty minutes until the tide shifts, and then cruising along easily.
Personally, when it comes to destroying the left I prefer cruising along easily.
Fortunately for us, it just so happens the tide is about to shift.
Tell others about r/K Theory, because it is the easiest path to further the cause
i saw this “good times men, hard times men” based on some Victor Hugo Quote around one year ago spreading over different imageboards. Different pictures according to the cultural background of the memefag whoever made the specific version, but never fictional and the pictures were always related to events that happend along the lines of the meme. The problem with this was that it ignores the specific pathologies of the culture in question. Affluent rome breaking down is because of slightly different pathologies then the affluent arab empire breaking down. If that is not adressed, it loses all meaning. People will not understand the meaning and see it just as some idiotic formula for downfall detatched form choices these civilizations make because their individuals make them. Syria sucks because of Syrians, Russia sucks because of Russians, and we in the west suck because we in the west suck and make toxic choices at every opportunity we get and our affuent state allows us still to pay us out of consequences. The tradeoffs for toxic choices are low.
You say this, but you reference the meme in your rebuttal. “Our affluent state allows us still to pay us out of consequences. The tradeoff for toxic choices are low.” Again, easy times allow this. I think when you look back, the pathologies will all relate to men who began to stop looking at sacrifice now to produce security later, and began focusing on good times now at the expense of later. The pathologies are r-selected thought arising from a programmed shift in psychologies.
I think the meme is good, because it triggers irritation in those who would want to take the easy route, but who will fear not being seen as tough and hard in these increasingly hard times. Nobody wants to be the pansy.
Plus it is a gateway meme to r/K, which is the ultimate explanation of why people end up choosing toxic choices over the unpleasant, but healthier choices.
My point is that even the people who post this don’t adress the pathologies that can be reparationated. Its the darwinian ‘why’ of “pay us out of the consequences of what?”. How often such a meme is posted from a smartphone and the person doesn’t even realizes what this even means.
Andy, I think you should read Sir John Glubb’s “Fate of Empires” a book the historian wrote in the 1970’s that details the changes every large multi-ethnic empire goes through from birth to collapse. Glubb studied about a dozen historical superpowers and discovered many similarities between them. The book can be found online in PDF form for free. Just do a search for it.
Almost all people resist the notion of any degree of determinism; genetic or otherwise. We cling to the idea that we have full control over our actions and society’s direction. Free will uber alles. Especially K selected people, it seems to me.
I understand that, and used to be of that mindset. But your work (as well as learning more about human physiology, etc.) has helped me to accept that we are much more complicated than that, and we have to understand what we can influence and what other forces are at work, in order to best guide our own lives as well as societal direction.
And many people will fall into the false dichotomy fallacy and fail to accept and understand that it’s not either/or. Free will exists, but we are also subject to powerful forces that we still don’t fully understand.
It’s not really either or. Nor is this determinism. Hayek and Von Mises showed how order arises out of complex decision making on the part of many people who may have little in common and no knowledge of each other. But order arises nonetheless. This is why markets work. It is how we developed language and writing. And it is how societies are organized. No one person designs the whole; it is countless small decisions made by millions of people that move society.
https://www.mises.org/
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I went galt 30 some years ago, and I’m still rabbiting around. The choice is always there. That’s why all our parables and fables are r/K.
no desperation, just wait for it. 😉
As an example from popular fiction, the whole premise of the Dune books is to apply so much K-selection to successive generations as to completely breed out the tendency towards R.
The mental gymnastics that Jackson had to undertake to write that article is breathtaking. The delusion required to hold the beliefs that lead to the article is toxic – not the meme.
[…] Anonymous Conservative was kind enough to point out, this puts me and people who think like me at odds with most theories of our decline, including the […]
[…] Anonymous Conservative was kind enough to point out, this puts me and people who think like me at odds with most theories of our decline, including the […]