Diversity as Magic

There was once an intellectual class that set our cultural direction with demonstrative works of art, literature, and philosophy of the highest levels ever created. During the many centuries of this prosperous arrangement, the mob of mediocrity was quiet when the wise spoke, and people avoided looking ridiculous by arguing against wisdom. No clever negation of art had yet been attempted by claiming that the pop entertainers of the day were creating something of high quality that was close to the greatest works of civilization.

Several forces eventually united to crush the intellectual class and instill the mob in their place. Ignorant opinions rose to rule, becoming aggressively assertive and forceful to dissuade counterrevolution, criticism, and dissent from the ideology that desired to dominate all others by any means necessary.

The new ideology of revolution lacked inherently desirable characteristics, so focused strategically on destroying its opposition with soft attacks, propaganda, and maximum cultivation of crazy believers willing to open new fronts on its behalf. To prevent critical evaluation of its merits or logical incoherence, it fomented smokescreens of chaos by advocating individualism and baseless opinions so a cultural center was no longer visible and could not hold sway. To liquidate any remaining opposition, it used social force to subjugate all to its enlightened values.

The most foolish opinion no longer hesitated from concern over being wrong or mocked for its ignorance. Expressing desire for a belief to be true was sufficient to make it true. Nonsense was given the same worth as fact -- all opinions had been promoted to equal, whether they were correct or incorrect. Progress had eliminated the necessity of knowledge, freeing the masses from awareness of related ideas, their context, history, or superior alternatives.

Fine art too was overthrown. Great works were not destroyed, but abandoned as periodically dusted museum pieces from a level of artistic development no longer attainable, and in any case impossible to understand in a trivial culture of flash without substance. Complex paintings were replaced by splotches and single color canvases, which some considered clever commentary on the lack of ability and ideas in this era, though no one considered these paintings inspirational or showing artistic talent. Music evolved from creative expression articulating timeless truths to nursery rhymes for adults to chant.

Without intellectual or cultural standards, the level of public discourse dropped like a stone. Flattering ideology allured loyal supporters with promises of utopia for obedience to doctrinal positions and urged them to take over institutions to transform them into factories for this new thinking, which was really just lazy recycling of previous failed attempts, now with more ruthless marketing, willing to sacrifice many hundreds of millions for its viral victory.

Schools were updated from fertile exploration of ideas to partisan camps promoting sacrosanct tenets children had to repeat and respect to earn good grades from teachers. Degrees no longer conferred knowledge or ability, only obedience to instruction without resistance.

Just as under Communism, people knew the official ideas were a terrible lie, but obeyed because the authorities sought out dissenters to make an example of those who resisted and criticized doomed ideas supported by the system. This use of power steered students away from exploring ideas freely, effectively robbing them of an education, and indoctrinated most not by argument, but by repetitive assertion of their perfection, combined with deliberate misrepresentation and censorship of superior alternatives.

An inept dictator only has to string together a few decades before dying of old age or revolt, so never has to actually solve problems if he can effectively cast blame. After increasingly dismal results each year, a believable scapegoat for systemic failures has to be identified along with a new plan that purports the possibility of restoring previous levels of achievement and success.

After recognizing that art had been lost, music had become trivial, architecture was grotesque, education no longer informed, skilled craftsmen became rare, intellectuals had been extirpated, and thoughtful vision was lacking in all essential facets, the manipulators of public opinion needed to give a reason for this terrible situation, ascribe guilt, and propose their plan of action to restore the health of civilization.

The marketing message was decided. The people who previously created civilization were the problem. They were stingy with their capability and did not share their fruits with envious outsiders. The modern goal proposed maximizing size and ignoring quality, needing only to extract the secrets of the successful so prosperity could be created for the hopeless billions who wanted for themselves what others had created through the unconscious nature of their spirit.

After all, people were nothing more special than interchangeable zoological units, and it was only their secret methods and luck that gave them lasting success; therefore anyone using their methods would experience similar results. The land boundaries were special, not the cultivated traits of the people inside the boundaries. Leaders saw no use for the people who created high culture, bring civility anywhere they settle, seek to explore the cosmos, and use their abilities in autonomic transcendence. They were certain people were merely the creation of wise government teachings instructing their subjects how to vote and which talking points to repeat, though there was no beneficial evidence for this theory despite many tragic experiments.

The rulers posited a vibrant untapped wellspring of talent and ability in marginal cases of misfit outsiders who were not a part of the community. Salvation would be found in a novel conglomerate of unusual sexual identification, mental illness, backwards cultures, and angry bitterness towards the well constituted and harmonious.

The new doctrine said it would be possible to return to previous levels of ideas, ability, and culture by replacing the the living representations of that culture with less proficient people who were unfamiliar with the culture's works, disliked and disagreed with its core values, were utterly unorganized, uninterested, and could not maintain what others had previously created. This replacement would be equal, and better than the original.

Though previous generations fared well without soliciting help from this ragtag remnant, we were told to believe our salvation and return to excellence depended on their secret powers that had never been displayed, and had been carefully waiting or hidden in reserve until just this day when they were most needed. Therefore, we should esteem this special reserve with the highest respect and not scrutinize what our lying eyes observe of their behavior and tendencies. This narrative of superhero fantasy meeting conspiracy was waiting until the last possible moment before fatal destruction to usher in heaven on earth through its undeniable revelation.

Of course, to win this bliss required a new way of evaluating things, namely the rejection of everything ever noticed and experienced, and replacing it with its opposite. You shouldn't judge, except to judge against rational assessments. You should reject recognizable patterns as biases, and in their place should claim the opposite of what evidence substantiates. Lawyers advised clients against exposure from offending others, suggesting they stay silent and express no disagreements with official ideology or its implausible premises. These strange contortions were needed to make an ideal society, and accumulating swaths of cognitive dissonance were deemed a small price to pay for purity.

Those who sought fortune by leaving their own land of uncivilized people were to be considered completely unlike their countrymen, as if of a different lineage that hadn't proven itself through centuries of failure. The new belief was that no traits were inherent to people and moving their essence inside a different land boundary at once changes their instincts and traits that define their cultural expression, and that they would suddenly stop repeating behaviors that were plainly displayed in the standards of their nation.

With no intellectual class remaining to speak out against the obvious result of senseless actions and stop the ignorant from propagandizing foolishness, this revolution had no opposition and rolled on with the flaccid support of the majority who had been taught to autistically repeat slogans and obey the state's power.

It was not that civilization was defeated by reason, but that intellectual and culture standards had been systematically liquidated and their essential positions filled with vacant heads and rubber stamps permitting popular doctrine to run wild over sensible aims.