In the early 1930s there was a Jewish journalist living in Germany. The journalist loved cats so he had a subscription to a cat magazine. At first the magazine had articles about grooming your cat, toys for your cat, what you would expect in a magazine dedicated to cats. /2
But as the 30s went on the journalist started noticing articles appearing in the magazine about the German cat. How the nature of German cats were superior. How essential the loyalty of German cats were. Slowly some variant of this message made it into every article. /3
In the total state every aspect of life must relate back to the power of the regime. No academic discipline, piece of art, or hobby can simply exist for its own sake. It only exists to point back to the power of the regime. /4
In more formally totalitarian regimes we understand how this works. In the 3rd Reich or USSR there was an official official organ of the state in charge of coordinating propaganda. Forcing every piece of media to point back to the state. /5
That doesn’t exist in our society so we need to explain why we can still observe the same phenomenon. Our regime is governed by a decentralized network of consensus manufacturing institutions sometimes called the cathedral /6
Our ruling class don’t have their orders handed down by one official propaganda office but they do all attend one essential institution during their formative years that shapes their morality, worldview, and personal networks: The university. /7
The people who operate our key institutions and shape our culture all share the same moral system. They read the same things, attend the same parties, watch the same programs, and need to signal the same types of virtues to succeed in personal and private life /8
Oh. This is a cool idea. I particularly like the phrase “decentralized network of consensus manufacturing institutions”. It does seem to me that modern life consists, to an unpleasant degree, of competitions to establish narratives, though it seems like “consensus” is something that more often exists within narratives than something that is itself successfully manufactured.
But what I like so much about the phrase “decentralized network of consensus manufacturing institutions” is the focus on it being “decentralized”. So I wonder what you are meaning by “These are the days of the German Cat”. It could be that you are implying that there is one ruling power forcing propaganda into all media, but you could also be pointing at the notion that there is an open competition to force propaganda into all media.
If you are implying the former, I would say it is you who is out of date. As far as I can tell there was a very strong memeplex that blew through and had almost universal media saturation for a while, but pockets of holdouts became radicalized and we are now dealing with the, rather unpleasant, fallout from that.
I think On Priesthoods was a great article related to this topic.
I see no single ruling power as dominating media and discourse currently, but I do think discourse, communication, and trust networks are in a sorry state. I hope that state can be improved in the future with a combination of improved information technology and improved cultural norms.
I think your conception of how “Professionals” act is several years out of date. These are the days of the German Cat.
I’m not following your link. Could you explain what the “german cat” idea you’re quoting is about?
Excepting the relevant bit:
Oh. This is a cool idea. I particularly like the phrase “decentralized network of consensus manufacturing institutions”. It does seem to me that modern life consists, to an unpleasant degree, of competitions to establish narratives, though it seems like “consensus” is something that more often exists within narratives than something that is itself successfully manufactured.
But what I like so much about the phrase “decentralized network of consensus manufacturing institutions” is the focus on it being “decentralized”. So I wonder what you are meaning by “These are the days of the German Cat”. It could be that you are implying that there is one ruling power forcing propaganda into all media, but you could also be pointing at the notion that there is an open competition to force propaganda into all media.
If you are implying the former, I would say it is you who is out of date. As far as I can tell there was a very strong memeplex that blew through and had almost universal media saturation for a while, but pockets of holdouts became radicalized and we are now dealing with the, rather unpleasant, fallout from that.
I think On Priesthoods was a great article related to this topic.
I see no single ruling power as dominating media and discourse currently, but I do think discourse, communication, and trust networks are in a sorry state. I hope that state can be improved in the future with a combination of improved information technology and improved cultural norms.