SMART IGNORANCE, DARK NAIVETY, Enlightened Hatred


Sorry for those who cling to the notion of “Politically Correct” like rats do, with a sinking ship. This title is probably rather discombobulating for them. I will justify it thereafter. Yes, it can be smart to ignore much. Yes, it can be cruel and vicious to be naïve. Yes, it can be enlightened, to hate.

Yet, what does the Dark Side thinks of the text “Vous n’aurez pas ma haine/You will not have my hatred”? Does it smirk? Or does it approve of the text, totally? Surely, the latter. The technique advised by Leiris, a selective shut down of one’s mental, not to say neurological, system, is a basic functionality the Dark Side needs to operate, selective attention. There are indeed, neurological reasons for it.

Leiris’ text explores, advocates and celebrates, a crucial, actually life saving, strategy. It is a neurophilosophical approach. That is a neurological approach endorsed by the most sophisticated philosophy, as I will explain presently.

One can go much beyond what La Rochefoucauld smartly observed, more than three centuries ago.

All & Any Human Behavior Can, & Should, Be Used In All The Many Ways Circumstances May Require, For The Greater Good, Of The Greatest Sentience.

All & Any Human Behavior Can, & Should, Be Used In All The Many Ways Circumstances May Require, For The Greater Good, Of The Greatest Sentience.

The key observation is that one can be of many minds, on many things. More exactly, the brain can, and has to, use different Modi Operandi, according to circumstances.

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The American People Is Too Naïve For Adult Material:

Is the preceding too ethereal, theoretical, vaporous, nothing to do with day-to-day reality? President Bush, the invader of Iraq, removed 28 pages of the official report on the 9/11 attack. Why? CIA Director John Brennan appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press”, on May 1, 2016, arguing that the 28 pages should not be released because the American people are incapable of evaluating them. Americans are incapables.

Brennan explained: “I think some people may seize upon that uncorroborated, unvetted information that was in there that was basically just a collation of this information that came out of FBI files, and to point to Saudi involvement, which I think would be very, very inaccurate.” High caste Saudis, of course had nothing to do with 9/11, as demonstrated by the fact that Bush ran several flights to allow them to flee the USA when no plane was allowed to fly, inside, or out of the US.

Brennan in his stupidity, let it slip by denying it: it is known Saudi “civil servants” seem to have help the Islamists of 9/11. That would be no surprise: the SIA and CIA activated Bin Laden, and launched him as a terrorist.

Not only naivety has a Dark Side, but it can be imposed on We The People.

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Forgetfulness Can Be A Lifesaver:

When one fights for survival, nothing should matter to the brain, but for activity conducive to said survival. Neurological concentration on the situation can become close to 100%.

What happens in ultra emergency? Time stretches, while the brain mobilizes well beyond 100% (namely neurons, including motor neurons obviously work beyond their normal maximum. Thus superhuman strength and reflexes). The brain is fully in survival mode, and has no thought considered, only strategy implemented. Even sensations not useful for survival are not felt, especially pain.

This is what Mr. Leiris advocates, on the mental level. He excludes from his mind all what is not conducive to provide his son with what the baby needs, a maximally loving environment, even in harrowing circumstances. .

Had I been exactly in Antoine Leiris’ circumstances, I would have actually embraced the same mental strategy. I know, because I have already been in similar circumstances, where my mind had to concentrate absolutely: I was caught in avalanches twice, and saved my life through action which was nothing short of incredible, and resulted from extreme mental concentration. Once, an improvised Explosive Device was thrown on me by some fascists and exploded on a gentleman just in front, who acted as an unwitting human shield. from terrorism.

Why? Because at this point the brain has become god, master of life and death. Its mission is only about survival, whether insuring that of the brain, or the termination of the survival of the adversary. How does the brain focus on survival? It decides what the universe is. And it operates with an extremely simplified version of the universe, and not just of the universe of consideration. The brain also admits only a simplified version of the universe of sensation. The universe of sensations which matters for survival. The rest plain does not exist, because it is outright not perceived.

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Naivety Is Part Of The Dark Side:

Naivety can be very useful. But naivety can also kill, has killed, and nearly got me a few times. Naivety is what enables much nefariousness to produce evil industrially. Reconsider Mr. Brennan, the CIA chief, above: why is he allowed to think We The People are a bunch of unteachable idiots, hopelessly infantile, a danger to ourselves, while keeping his job?

In “You will not have my hatred“, Mr. Leiris says that, sometimes, hatred is better left out of it. Is that a new idea? No. The idea is actually central to Christiano-Islamism.

Ironically, the Qur’an reminds us every few lines that “Allah is merciful” (however, it’s not clear we should be merciful too). That obsession, that Allah forgives all day long, was directly inherited from Christianism… Where, indeed, the faithful has to be merciful.

As there is much I dislike in Islamism and Christianism, does this mean I dislike all their concepts? Far from it. I actually love a beautiful mosque or church.

And I love mercifulness. Not just because it’s pretty, but also because it’s necessary.

I think mercifulness is totally fundamental. Mercifulness is not just wise: it’s a fundamental part of the behavior of any social animal. It’s a code to correct errors. A small human group could not function without an error correcting code. The name of that code is mercifulness.

But does that mean that hatred unworthy always? No. Far from it.

***

And what does “hatred” consists of, anyway?

Let’s suppose something that has happened before, on more than one continent: Patrice is out there, trying to terminate a cockroach infestation. Cockroaches are smart, fast and flat: they can squeeze in the smallest crack in the blink of an eye. So here I am, trying to kill lots of cockroaches, in all sizes from one millimeter to several centimeters. Am I animated by hatred? No. I am just concentrated on all the possibilities, the thinnest cracks. So, to commit mass murder, hatred is not necessary.

So what does hatred consist of? When is it called for? Why is it so bad? Well, the answers are rather surprising.

Hatred is called for, when it is needed. Hatred does not happen by accident. Hatred is, often a supplement of passion needed for an otherwise unsavory task. Faced with something objectively really bad, hatred is not called for. No need for hatred to eliminate mosquitoes. Hatred is needed when other passions are in the way, and these passions prevent the accomplishment of what is viewed, deep down, as a necessary task. For example, when common sense and decency are in the way. But not only. It could be love which is preventing the accomplishment of a needed task.

For example, the Nazis needed hatred to launch the Second World War. They needed the hatred to overwhelm decency, basic common sense, and whatever humanity they still harbored. However, as the war went on, the attitude of the top Nazis, say towards the French, changed. The Nazis did not need hatred anymore: the war was long launched, and was not going well. However, hatred was now in the way of many behaviors the Nazis needed to see deployed such as decency, mercifulness, common sense, humanity… and the more so, the more the war was turning against them. Well before the end, the top Nazis started to disobey Hitler’s orders.

In the end, even Himmler negotiated with the Swedes to save… Jews (they saved thousands!). It’s not just that Himmler was trying to save his precious skin from the cyanide pill in his mouth. It’s also that hatred was not needed anymore.

Hatred against the Islamist Pseudo State is obviously not needed. There is no love, decency, or common sense in the way, which we need to overcome, to accomplish the task at hand. Eradication will be plenty enough.

Finally, the president should tell the CIA that it is naïve, haughty and cruel,  to consider the American People too naïve, ignorant and malevolent, for the truth, while hoping that they are going to  live with that contempt and the trampling of their right to know, much longer.

Patrice Ayme’

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13 Responses to “SMART IGNORANCE, DARK NAIVETY, Enlightened Hatred”

  1. Gmax Says:

    Another major work, hard to comprehend for simple souls. So can we hate in peace? And ignore smarts, sometimes?

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  2. kevishaw Says:

    So much good wisdom in today’s article. Well said, “… the president should tell the CIA that it is naïve, haughty and cruel, to consider the American People too naïve, ignorant and malevolent, for the truth…”. When was the last time a USA president understood it is his or her duty to do so, as the final representative of the people, the so-called last person standing up, for We the People vs. Plutocracy? It is sometimes painful to watch this child-president, having the power but not the understanding (or will?) to use it.

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    • Patrice Ayme Says:

      Thanks for the appreciation, much appreciated.

      I think it’s both the will and the understanding, which are coming short. After all, in a year, he will be whatever plutocrats want him to be, and he has a whole coterie of them, who owe him everything; see the delightful Musk, or all the techno-monopolists….for example…

      The understanding always came short. I wished things would have been the other way, Clinton first (although I worked hard to make it happen! Well, errors happen…)

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  3. picard578 Says:

    Reblogged this on Defense Issues and commented:
    Political correctness is one of the greatest dangers faced by the modern humanity. Person who is afraid is not free, and being afraid of thinking (and saying) things is the ultimate denial of freedom. And if one does not fight against evil, then he is (indirectly) helping the evil to spread. Because, as J.R.R. Tolkien noted, the only thing evil needs to win is for the good people to stop fighting.

    Most basic requirement for goodness is the truth. Where truth is denied, or unknown, evil makes its lair. Yet today truth is seen as the enemy. Brainwashed by the media, on a diet of destructive “ideals” of political correctness, multiculturalism and indiscriminate tolerance, people are afraid of the truth. They are afraid of even seeking the truth, afraid of thinking, lest they be seen as “radicals”, “outliers” and threats, and supressed through ridicule, denial of right to speak, and overall implementation of politically correct totalitarianism. Totalitarianism of the mind is the most dangerous one; once people’s thoughts are being controlled, no other control is necessary. And that totalitarianism of mind is what Islam and modern politically-correct liberalism have in common.

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    • Patrice Ayme Says:

      Hi Picard, and thanks for reblogging my essay. I have been seriously busy in the last week or so, hence my initial lack of reaction.

      What you say is very true: Political Correctness has become one of the greatest dangers faced by humanity. However, there is hope, when contemplating the past. Christianism in Europe in the period 1200-1700 resembled more the Islamist pseudo-state than most of today’s states. We got out of this obscurantism, because of the courage of tens of millions to destroy the PC of that age.

      Many of the authors now venerated as classical were viewed as dangerous, poisonous, worthless, scandalous, etc., even very recently, and that’s true for painters, musicians, poets, philosophers, even physicists (Boltzmann committed suicide from lack of appreciation), or logicians (see the fate of Turing, a war hero). Many of these heroes of the mind are now celebrated, because others had the courage to appreciate and celebrate them, and their ideas and emotions, to the point of bringing over public opinion.

      The connection between today’s increasingly degenerated Islam and PC thinking is direct. A lot of PC rests on stupidity. To improve stupidity, make it stronger and more dominant, the PC crowd used veneration for Literal Islam, a religion obviously very similar, but even worse than Christianism at its terrifying apogee in the Middle Ages/Renaissance. As Christianism had been crushed in the West, it could not be revived, but great fear of Islam (Islamophobia) could be identified with… racism. That was obviously stupid: fearing a religion cannot be racism. Thus, being obviously stupid, it was perfect to make us all stupid. Stupid people can be easily manipulated.

      And the greater the crisis, the greater the need for manipulation. The planet’s biosphere is facing the greatest crisis in 65 million years.

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      • picard578 Says:

        “Hi Picard, and thanks for reblogging my essay. I have been seriously busy in the last week or so, hence my initial lack of reaction. ”

        No problem. I’m quite busy myself. I’m currently writing several articles (“Submarines in war”, another about Islam) and have other things to do as well, so I’m not exactly always quick in response either.

        “What you say is very true: Political Correctness has become one of the greatest dangers faced by humanity. However, there is hope, when contemplating the past. Christianism in Europe in the period 1200-1700 resembled more the Islamist pseudo-state than most of today’s states. We got out of this obscurantism, because of the courage of tens of millions to destroy the PC of that age.”

        And now we have other type of nearly-religious ideologies (already mentioned neoliberalism, multiculturalism, PC) which emulate all (or at least most of) the darkest sides of Christianism back then. Situation normal, all fucked up. At this point, I am very sceptical about human ability to learn and progress.

        “The connection between today’s increasingly degenerated Islam and PC thinking is direct. A lot of PC rests on stupidity. To improve stupidity, make it stronger and more dominant, the PC crowd used veneration for Literal Islam, a religion obviously very similar, but even worse than Christianism at its terrifying apogee in the Middle Ages/Renaissance. As Christianism had been crushed in the West, it could not be revived, but great fear of Islam (Islamophobia) could be identified with… racism. That was obviously stupid: fearing a religion cannot be racism. Thus, being obviously stupid, it was perfect to make us all stupid. Stupid people can be easily manipulated.”

        Agreed, with one caveat: why do you think Islam has degenerated? What I understood from reading Qur’an is that the violent Islam as practiced by ISIL, Saudi Arabia or Iran is its true face. Islam is now closest to its roots than it has been in while. Of course, this situation does result in degeneration of humanity, but Islam as Islam has not degenerated.

        And yes, political correctness requires same patterns of thinking as most religions do. In fact, not only religions, but many secular ideologies as well, are based around the fear. And to make people truly and constantly afraid, and in a way that will benefit ideology (a crucial requirement since fear can easily destroy it as well), one needs to control the way people think. Hence political correctness and similar ways of controlling thought, with the end goal of making people stupid.

        “And the greater the crisis, the greater the need for manipulation. The planet’s biosphere is facing the greatest crisis in 65 million years. ”

        Agreed. And we have a problem in that Western society did not really progress since the Roman Dominate under Diocletian. Everything done since then were marginal, horizontal improvements. But we still have imperialism, slavery, pseudo-feudalism, just the situation as back then.

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    • Patrice Ayme Says:

      The only religion worth having is truth, while remembering that love is a form of truth.

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  4. Duviel Says:

    I decided to give Patrice another try. Maybe there is something valuable I did not see before.

    I still find the articles wording and format difficult to comprehend. In communication there is a transmitter and a receiver. I am not sure if the disorder is in the message or in my inability to comprehend. Or maybe I just need to read this when I am not in a hurry.

    I do agree that in extreme situations the brain operates in a way that only what is needed for survival is processed. But, I dont think the human brain processes thoughts and emotions only as useful in every-day function. Hate and/or anger are not emotions we control to serve a purpose in everyday life. In fact it is probably more like the opposite, I believe. In my experience, conscious thought can overcome emotion and this ability can be honed and perfected. But emotion is a response humans cant generally manipulate as needed. Except in life or death type situations.

    Emotion is one of those parts of the human existence that comes pre-programmed, it is in our DNA just as instinct. Our programming allows us to override or deny emotion for short instances only and usually with damaging effects.

    Survival is our strongest instinct. We humans instinctively by-pass all other type of programming when our survival is threatened.

    The strongest human argue or instinct is survival, it is even stronger than avoidance of pain. but, all instinct can be overcome (maybe not in quick reactive action) by conscious decision.

    Love is maybe the most interesting emotion. It’s strength in our DNA is maybe even above that of survival. In fact our ability to overcome this programming through conscious thought is very limited. If I look at it as purely evolutionary I wonder what is loves usefulness that makes it so powerful and central in our existence?

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    • Patrice Ayme Says:

      Thanks Duviel, to give me another chance.

      You say:
      “I still find the articles wording and format difficult to comprehend. In communication there is a transmitter and a receiver. I am not sure if the disorder is in the message or in my inability to comprehend. Or maybe I just need to read this when I am not in a hurry.”

      The goal of this site is to gather reflections, and try to progress in understanding, on the hardest questions I feel that I have some opinions upon. As a child in Africa, I had many questions, especially when I compared to the certainties of both Africans and Euro-Americans. Certainties extended to moods and emotions. People generally feel that their own emotions are widely shared. As you say: “in the DNA”. In my experience, that is not the case. Euro-Americans and Africans can differ significantly emotionally. (A simple case are the differences between US and French citizens which are extensive, but not very obvious at fist sight, aside from the fact the French love to argue…)

      Because of the goal of these essays, which is to try to understand what is not understood, the essays can be pretty hard to understand, or, should one say, hard to stand, sometimes. I do not pretend to be always right. This is a debate site, not a pontificating one from a particular obedience, but for the search for truth.

      So good luck and tanks!

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      • Duviel Says:

        Ok, I see. Yes I guess we are mostly constructions of our environment. I dont necessarily agree in that we humans differ much emotionally. We differ much more in what we believe in what triggers certain emotions and, as you said in the certainties that are constructed.

        You might fear something different then I but the emotion is very much the same. Your expression of love may be different then mine and even what brings out said emotion might differ but the emotion is very much the same.

        Even though your experiences might add some immunity to the fear reaction (some call it fight or flight in its purest most intense form), for example. Your instinctual reaction to fear for life is very much the same as mine although what triggers it differs.

        I am very interested in knowing more about and understanding different cultures. I remember reading some of your writings regarding American culture and I disagreed mostly. But maybe it would be more interesting if I look at it as the view of American culture from an outside perspective?

        If you dont mind, please tell me more about where you come from, the environment that you were constructed in. It might help me better understand your perspective.

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    • Gmax Says:

      Patrice’s essays are not for the squeamish. As the purpose of the site makes clear, the hardest stuff is delved in. In physics and math she tackles foundations deeper than anything I have come across and still looked carefully examined.

      I remember one a physicist infuriated against her because she had said the graviton did not have to have spin 2. But I checked, and it was right. This sort of things happens a lot because she concentrates on the unusual angles and dark corners

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      • Duviel Says:

        Are you guys using some sort of translation software to translate from another language? I get the feeling maybe there is a language issue here.

        Well I know very, very little about physics. So maybe i’m not getting Patrice’s physics angle.

        I had no idea Patrice was a she. I know that should be of no concern. But it kind of is in some way. Not in a negative way, more of in a O Wow, very interesting! kind of way.

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