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Jul 21, 2022Liked by The Evolved Psyche

I think I did a good job following the premises laid out in this essay, as I was gearing up to ask the same question posed at the very end; that about regime suicide. Perhaps, then, cancel culture deployment is the tactical (and logical) next move, when one is running out of moves. To my thinking, it smells of desperation and panicked sloppiness and I don’t think I’m the only Canadian who has come to that conclusion, whether that is correct, partially correct or just hopeful thinking.

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Fascinating dynamic you've uncovered here. I think the feedback loop they established with artificial negativity is probably enhanced by a parallel development: the rise of political correctness, which due to self-censoring makes it even more difficult to ascertain what the populace really thinks. Of course, that was partly (largely) due to bullying from precisely the state-affiliated groups used for artificial negativity.

Incidentally, there's a very similar dynamic on campuses, with student groups being used by administrators as the excuse to push through the reforms they wanted to make anyways.

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John, I offered a reply below that was partially intended for you. I'll just add here, interesting that you've observed the same dynamic on campus. It is of course precisely what I'd predict, dealing with a class, characterized by common values, dispositions and interests. I'd expect this dynamic to appear wherever the class feels the need to flex. So thanks for that report.

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Exactly so. The class takes a model that worked in one context, and applies it to others; so once you know what to look for, you see it everywhere.

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Jul 21, 2022Liked by The Evolved Psyche

I wonder if you see cancel culture as a sort of ill-conceived elite (managerial class) reaction to a general (ordinary folk) pushback on political correctness. I say ill-conceived because it’s hard to find anyone these days who understands cancel culture who doesn’t also connect it to big tech and government.

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I'm hoping both of you get notice of a reply in the thread, but don't know. For what it's worth, clearly cancel culture is anti-artificial negativity on steroids. It's ultimately self destructive for the regime. I wonder if the individuals who constitute our ruling class are just less intelligent than those who constituted earlier iterations, or if something objective is different about the context, that solicits different human or class responses. Or, maybe, Piccone was simply mistaken from the beginning; maybe he just misinterpreted what he was seeing, and the administrative state and managerial class simply have no other gear than straight up social engineering and control.

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Notice received, thanks! Although, it just landed in my inbox a few minutes ago. Here’s my take on your musing re: intelligence vs. context: deploying artificial negativity takes, among other things such as intelligence, a good deal of patience, which by my observation is sorely lacking these days. Thanks again for your writings, Michael; it’s enjoyable to have my thoughts provoked every now and then.

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