An aspect of our increasingly ideological age is the things that used to be a part of the culture that have been removed by force or by neglect. The parts pried loose and discarded are easy to see, as they come with an angry mob of deranged lunatics there to do the damage. The bits that are just forgotten and fall out of the shared reality that is our culture are the things missed only by those who remember them.
The opening of the show today is one of those bits that has fallen out of shared reality mostly due to neglect. When I was a young person, you had to read Thoreau and Emerson, so you could learn about transcendentalism. Speaking with younger people recently it seems that stopped happening at some point. The old hippie teachers gave way to activists who have no interest in those old white men.
Transcendentalism is a peculiarity of America that not only influenced what became progressivism but also its traveling partner conservatism. You could probably draw a line from Thoreau and Emerson to the weird secular Gnosticism that emerged in the aftermath of the Cold War. Modern progressive rejects individualism, but they embrace the idea of society corrupting the natural goodness of man.
Another line you could draw is from the second wave transcendentalists, who were mostly bourgeois aesthetes, to the middle-class managerial elite of today. Rather than rejecting empiricism, like the first wave transcendentalist, the second wave embraced it but in the context of individual expression. In other words, they loved science as long as it supported their emotional claims.
As nutty as they were, the transcendentalists represented an aspect of American culture that remains with us today. There are hints of it in the parallel society movement and the trad-life stuff that is popular with some young right-wing people. The desire to break free of the corrupting aspects of modern society in order to have an authentic life is something that the transcendentalist would have understood.
For sites like this to exist, it requires people like you chipping in a few bucks a month to keep the lights on and the people fed. Five bucks a month is not a lot to ask. If you don’t want to commit to a subscription, make a one time donation via crypto. You can send money to: Z Media LLC P.O. Box 1047 Berkeley Springs, WV 25411-3047. You can also use PayPal to send a few bucks. Thank you for your support!
Promotions: Good Svffer is an online retailer partnering with several prolific content creators on the Dissident Right, both designing and producing a variety of merchandise including shirts, posters, and books. If you are looking for a way to let the world know you are one of us without letting the world know you are one one is us, then you should but a shirt with the Lagos Trading Company logo.
The Pepper Cave produces exotic peppers, pepper seeds and plants, hot sauce and seasonings. Their spice infused salts are a great add to the chili head spice armory, so if you are a griller, take you spice business to one of our guys.
Above Time Coffee Roasters are a small, dissident friendly company that roasts its own coffee and ships all over the country. They actually roast the beans themselves based on their own secret coffee magic. If you like coffee, buy it from these folks as they are great people who deserve your support.
Havamal Soap Works is the maker of natural, handmade soap and bath products. If you are looking to reduce the volume of man-made chemicals in your life, all-natural personal products are a good start.
Minter & Richter Designs makes high-quality, hand-made by one guy in Boston, titanium wedding rings for men and women and they are now offering readers a fifteen percent discount on purchases if you use this link. If you are headed to Boston, they are also offering my readers 20% off their 5-star rated Airbnb. Just email them directly to book at sa***@*********************ns.com.
This Week’s Show
Contents
- Bennett’s Phylactery (Link)
- Reality Of Rural Life
- Bourgeois Life
- It Takes a Village
- Liberty Valance Issue
- The Matrix
- The Reality of Pioneers
- Quiet Desperation
Direct Download, The iTunes, Google Play, iHeart Radio, RSS Feed
Full Show On Spreaker
Full Show On Rumble
Full Show On Odysee