Rules for pro-Hamas radicals: the circle dance revisited
A number of people have suggested I read this Substack essay by Richard Pollock, a left-to-right changer who was an Alinskyite leftist radical back in the 60s and 70s. My impression on reading that one essay is that he’s something like David Horowitz, although Pollock doesn’t describe what caused his change (a story in which I’d be especially interested).
The main thrust of Pollock’s essay is to explain that today’s radical demonstrators have been trained according to the Alinskyite rules of their elders in the Movement – the Movement being leftism in general. The basic rule is that truth doesn’t matter – “truth” is a shape-shifter that requires no consistent principles other than dedication to the left and the cause. That’s why the contradiction between, for example, upholding the rights of gay people and supporting those who would throw them off roofs can be safely ignored. It simply doesn’t matter to the left.
This isn’t really news (see this post of mine from 2009), but it’s always good to remind people. That 2009 post contains a quote from Hilton Kramer (written in 1984) that I reproduce here. It speaks of “Stalinism” but it is true of radical leftism in general, including its current manifestations:
It is in the nature of Stalinism for its adherents to make a certain kind of lying—and not only to others, but first of all to themselves—a fundamental part of their lives. It is always a mistake to assume that Stalinists do not know the truth about the political reality they espouse. If they don’t know the truth (or all of it) one day, they know it the next, and it makes absolutely no difference to them politically. For their loyalty is to something other than the truth. And no historical enormity is so great, no personal humiliation or betrayal so extreme, no crime so heinous that it cannot be assimilated into the ‘ideals’ that govern the true Stalinist mind which is impervious alike to documentary evidence and moral discrimination.
No crime so heinous that can’t be assimilated into their “ideals.” That’s a perfect description of what’s happening with the pro-Hamas crowd – although these days I might take issue with the idea that they all know the actual truth about what Hamas is and what Hamas does. I think many really are “useful idiots” – or ignorant youths who have been carefully taught by many leftist mentors who feed them lies. By the time they get to the point of demonstrating for Hamas, the lies are so entrenched that “documentary evidence” to the contrary is merely brushed away as lies.
That’s why I often use the term “Orwellian reversal” to discuss the pro-Palestinian propaganda. It’s a characteristic of the left in general, and preys on the uncurious young who swallow it whole. And why are these young people so eager to believe? I think that for many it takes the place of religion or of love of family, and it gives them a feeling of structure, meaning, and community that they haven’t gotten until now.
Which leads me to offer another quote I’ve posted on this blog many times before. It’s from Milan Kundera’s Book of Laughter and Forgetting:
Circle dancing is magic. It speaks to us through the millennia from the depths of human memory. Madame Raphael had cut the picture out of the magazine and would stare at it and dream. She too longed to dance in a ring. All her life she had looked for a group of people she could hold hands with and dance with in a ring. First she looked for them in the Methodist Church (her father was a religious fanatic), then in the Communist Party, then among the Trotskyites, then in the anti-abortion movement (A child has a right to life!), then in the pro-abortion movement (A woman has a right to her body!); she looked for them among the Marxists, the psychoanalysts, and the structuralists; she looked for them in Lenin, Zen Buddhism, Mao Tse-tung, yogis, the nouveau roman, Brechtian theater, the theater of panic; and finally she hoped she could at least become one with her students, which meant she always forced them to think and say exactly what she thought and said, and together they formed a single body and a single soul, a single ring and a single dance.
The pro-Hamas demonstrators are circle dancing. Their teachers have taught them lies and they believe those lies, but even evidence of truth will not sway them from the compelling and magic and satisfying dance.
Destruction of Truth is all part of the plan. They understand better than we do, if reason prevails, they lose.
I’ll slip the formulation to:
Rules.
Game.
CircleJerk.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/389541
Israeli officials: US knew about changes to ceasefire deal – but didn’t brief Israel ‘The feeling is that Israel got played’ by the US and mediators during the latest round of negotiations, Israeli officials tell journalist Barak Ravid.
Philosophy is rare. People want to believe lies. If you want to be hated tell them the truth.
I think truth seekers drink more because the lies are more beautiful
I don’t think I’m better for loving knowledge. I was an Intel officer. My job was to know the bitter truth. That will ruin your outlook on life. Lying helps you get through life. You look fat in that dress. I don’t care. You’re still beautiful.
You iu should see the vodka bottle in trying to kill
https://twitter.com/theMRC/status/1787898440988361015
Sorry to see you this way steve
https://twitter.com/emzanotti/status/1787822605564514400
Steve:
Whatever is going on with you, please seek some sort of help – a therapist, or doctor, or pastor, or friends, or family, or 12-step, or rehab. You’ve been a valued commenter here for a long time, and it sounds like you’re going through a rough time.
I am neither a Philosopher nor a Psychologist, but my gut feeling is that the “useful idiots” as Neo labeled them are a byproduct of the advance of civilization. At least that segment of civilizational advance that relieved most humans, especially favored classes, from the drudgery of survival.
Now, they have the luxury of looking for “meaning”. Facile minds have been conditioned to find meaning in rejection of, and rebellion against, constrictive values.
Then, as Neo alluded, there are the lost souls who are desperately looking for a group to join. All the radicals need are slogans, flags/banners and a sense of belonging. Of course many of today’s radicals went through this same evolutionary process.
This makes sense to me anyway.
Last Sunday, my Pastor preached on the theme, “beware of too much comfort in your life.”
Best wishes, Steve57.
…my gut feeling is that the “useful idiots” as Neo labeled them are a byproduct of the advance of civilization. At least that segment of civilizational advance that relieved most humans, especially favored classes, from the drudgery of survival.
Oldflyer:
That’s my read too. “Check your privilege” indeed. Another case of leftist inversion.
The Big Blue Machine runs New Mexico, but NM is not going completely down the tubes like California, Illinois and Oregon. We can’t afford to.
Last Sunday, my Pastor preached on the theme, “beware of too much comfort in your life.” – Oldflyer
A message well worth listening to. I recall my parents and grandparents during the Depression. Never sure where the next dollar was coming from. Working hard, but cheerful in spite of the uncertainty in their lives. They had the character it took to stay hopeful and even optimistic in hard times. They would be amazed at the standard of living we enjoy today. They would also be very upset at the way our society has fallen on hard times morally and philosophically. Because I am part of their heritage, I feel the same.
Advice to today’s students. Learn a trade, vocation, or skill, that is useful. Work hard at it to become the best you can be. “Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.” Max Ehrmann The Desiderata.
Rather than try to tear things down, work to build something of use and value. Our time here is short and spending it in pursuit of meaning in your life is best done by being a producer of useful goods and services that benefit others. There are too many philosophers, politicians, and activists. Don’t add to the oversupply.
I may have to read Rules for Radicals. I’ve always assumed that it recommends a sort of mischievous rabble-rousing, misguided but basically benign. But if Pollock is describing it accurately it’s evil.
Neo I reached out to my brother. And my sister. I’ve never been one to ask for help but my brothers and sister are the help I need
I wish I could post pictures. Physically I’m a monster. But I realize even monsters need help.
I don’t look like I’m on my sixties. Like that’s an accomplishment. Maybte thirtiees. I thought my brother would think less of me. But he says he doesn’t.
If anyone’s wondering how to improve one’s chances of getting a prestigious teaching job at Princeton…
“Biden Iran envoy put classified documents on hacked personal email, phone: GOP lawmakers”—
https://nypost.com/2024/05/07/us-news/biden-iran-envoy-put-classified-documents-on-hacked-personal-email-phone-gop-lawmakers/
Id kill another elephant if the elephant gave me a reason. Elephants have a habit of giving you reasons. They are made of lots of meat.
An elephant will eat you out of hose and home in a night.
The elephant ui killed was a killer of persons. Elephants don’t have judeo Christian morals
They are just big and think they can get away with anything
Mostly they’re right
Any time I need some solace, I reread the Jungle Book.
Then I reread Kim.
OMMV…but Kipling is extraordinary…(as in breathtaking)…
It takes a lot to stop an elephant
I’ll m here to give you safety. Solace?. I don’t care . I will protect you
I carecso much
Neo’s spam filter seems to have quit.
I had a “should’ve said” moment that I hope will benefit some of you.
While hosting a social event last week in a public place, I introduced myself to a new arrival who was chatting with a female friend of mine. Just then she asked the newbie about his scarf. He said it was a keffiyeh.
I got that, and chose to ignore him. My hosting duties called, and I had others to greet.
Later, the encounter stuck with me. And I realized that in my pocket I had all I needed to call him out. (I’ll put the rest of this in past tense for ease of storytelling.)
“So you’re wearing this, why?” (Wait for answer.)
(Fish out the iPhone and call up the YouTube video showing 3-4 Hamas attackers dragging a young woman away from the Oct. 7 concert where many were murdered and kidnapped.)
“She was taken into captivity and raped for days on end.” (Let that sink in with my friend.)
“So: Whose side are you on?”
(Regardless of his answer, keep replaying the video.)
I may have to read Rules for Radicals. I’ve always assumed that it recommends a sort of mischievous rabble-rousing, misguided but basically benign. But if Pollock is describing it accurately it’s evil.
Mac:
Strictly speaking, Alinsky dedicated “Rules for Radicals” to his wife, Irene. However, immediately thereafter he quotes Rabbi Hillel, Thomas Paine, then Alinsky himself as introductory epigraphs to “Rules”.
________________________________________
Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history… the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer.
–Saul Alinsky
________________________________________
OK. Alinsky didn’t exactly dedicate his book to Satan, but …
–Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgnClrx8N2k
Most will have noticed that many protesters are refusing to engage questioners; responding with dismissive and formulaic if not haughty references to “official spokespersons”
Considering they are in public creating a scene and disruption, this is a rather imperious tactic of assumed privilege and superiority to take, relative to both the norms that govern interpersonal relations with, and the persons of, their ostensible “fellow” citizens who inhabit the same political space.
I do not think they quite appreciate the precipice upon which they are standing: though many of the sensitive conservative types would be quick to make excuses for their pride, ardor, and naivete, rather than to say to them, “So be it; and ….”
For a certain kind of people, the opportunity to be a Circle Dancer is even more attractive when it can be combined with acting with cruelty toward those outside the circle–and enjoying the sanction of a virtuous feeling while doing it.
See my post Conformity, Cruelty, and Political Activism:
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/70696.html
I also find conversion stories compelling. Hearing how a thinking person used their intellectual and emotional gifts to completely alter and upend their beliefs and hearing how circuitous and varied these transition journeys are always stretches my own mind. I am drawn to these stories in political as well as in faith and religion beliefs.
Long winded way of leading to a link to a podcast, Explore Purpose My Story Podcast, in which Richard Pollack discusses the shift in his thinking from progressive to conservative. (I’ve not listened yet, so I hope it’s a good link and a good story.)
https://mystorypodcast.podbean.com/e/015-richard-pollock-50-years-in-the-swamp/
Jaynie..conversion stories…one would think that political operatives would be very, very interested in such stories, but I’ve seen no sign that they are.
You may be familiar with this (relatively) “oldie but goodie”.
If not, enjoy…as it were…
“The Turn;
“When I saw the left give up everything I believe in, I changed politically….”
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/the-turn-liel-leibovitz
Yes, true, David+Foster. One would th8nk that conversion stories would be required for bedrock research purposes.
Thank you, Barry Meislin for link to ‘The Turn.’ That was a great piece.
Leibovitz description of his world in his original social standing as a leftist just so captured the unthinking, unselfaware, oh so right thinking crowd. Sounds as if he is of the group that seems to say that the left left him.
Also, what a great title, great concept, The Turn. Second only to my favorite title of a conversion story, David Mamet’s ‘Why I am No Longer a Brain Dead Liberal.’