Curt Doolittle

Theme: Civilization

  • “WOMEN DO EVERYTHING HERE” : THE ABSENCE OF CHIVALRY IN BYZANTINES “I cook, I cl

    “WOMEN DO EVERYTHING HERE” : THE ABSENCE OF CHIVALRY IN BYZANTINES

    “I cook, I clean, I work, and my husband sits on the couch demanding beer.” – Nikka.

    Chivalry is yet another positive western value constructed by the church. I often write how the church granted women property rights, and forbid cousin-marriage out to six or eight degrees, in order to make it more difficult for the clans to maintain consolidated property holdings and associated financial and political power, while at the same time making it easier for the church itself to acquire lands.

    But the forcible introduction of the myth and philosophy of Chivalry is as important to the development of the unique western character, in suppressing paternalism and tribalism, as the forcible implementation of property rights by the church.

    Humans have existed in excess since the advent of domestication of plants and animals. The germanic princes and their retinues were not as barbaric and predatory as secular fantasies argue. However, the militarism of the Carolingians and Vikings, and the power of the states that they constructed in western Europe were impossible for the trading states of the south, and the church to resist. So, just as the church had used its power of literacy and legitimacy to manage the Christian monarchs, they used the crusades and the myth of chivalry, to direct the energies of these professional warriors to productive ends.

    This ethic of chivalry conveyed status upon those who served christendom. It codified service of others as masculine. It could be obtained through demonstrated action, and spiritual reflection, as well as daily posturing, rather than the more expensive requirement of land holding, and was therefore more widely available to retinues. It also provided a code of conduct that the aspring classes could imitate, making the ethics pervasive.

    The need for commoners to rent land from land holders, participate as infantry, and to demonstrate their capacity for honorable hard work, before marriage and reproduction were possible, reinforced this set of chivalrous values – allowing laborers and craftsmen to also adopt the chivalrous ethic, and to demonstrate their status signals through conformity to it. THe corresponding delay of childbirth and consequential inclusion of women into the work force, as well as their possession of rudimentary property rights, worked along with suppression of the breeding of the lower classes to create the european universalist and commercial character.

    This code of chivalric conduct does not exist here in the east among the men. Service is immasculine. It violates the primary principle of manliness which is independence from external direction. Whether that external direction come from service to an employer or service to the commons – society.

    Manliness, and masculinity have not been hybridized. It is not even as mature here as it is among the peacock strutters of the mediterranean — even if it is less ignorant, brutal and barbaric than that of the Arabs, and less familial and hierarchical than that of the Asians. And while we will certainly argue that masculinity has been overly feminized in much of the west, so much so that lower class males are returning to their individualistic migratory roots, the ethic of masculinity through service remains — for now.

    There are a few lessons to be learned from this that westerners might want to remember:

    1) The church made what is unique about the west, and did so without monopoly powers of violence that are possessed by the current secular west.

    2) The west is unique for artificial reasons. it is not a natural social order. It was forcibly constructed by wit and wisdom due to the weakness of the church. Whereas the paternalistic orders in the rest of the world were forcibly constructed by violence.

    3) The west is unique because we were a small, weak, poor minority in the world who relied upon technology to compensate for our numbers, and property rights and the denial of centralized power to any and all. WE were lucky to inherit from the greeks the tool of reason which allows warriors to debate and science to develop. But it seems we are reversing our trend and denying our history.

    As for the Byzantines: without the church, I see no means of introducing chivalry into the civilization quickly, and we must hope that the commercial society eventually provides men with the incentives to build a high trust society of service like that of the west.

    Affections to all.

    Curt Doolittle

    Source date (UTC): 2012-10-11 13:55:00 UTC

  • MOSCOW Watching a movie right now. Captures the lights of downtown. I want to go

    MOSCOW

    Watching a movie right now. Captures the lights of downtown. I want to go back.

    Russians still remember what it nobility is. Art and elegance , sophistication and grace are terms that still retain their meaning, at least to some.

    Source date (UTC): 2012-09-23 01:24:00 UTC

  • SACRED – “SACREDNESS” It is very hard to build the concept of ‘sacred’ into the

    SACRED – “SACREDNESS”

    It is very hard to build the concept of ‘sacred’ into the values of a population. External threat, common strife, shared ambition, education, and indoctrination all can achieve it.

    Sacred concepts are a form of The Commons. They are a community property. And a community property, whether real land, built capital, formal institution, or cherished narrative, may be used by all, but not consumed by any.

    Conservatives invest in a large portfolio of such commons, and as such treat them as sacred. Conservatism is, by and large, a government of norms. It is intrinsically anarchic, but not intrinsically libertarian. And as such, ‘Sacredness’ is pervasive in conservative culture.

    Rothbardian Libertarians disavow the existence of a commons, other than the institution of property itself – a seeming contradiction. But the purpose of that denial is to forbid the existence of a state which must arbitrate the use of such commons.

    Hoppeian Libertarians restored the commons into libertarianism, while prohibiting any commons that consists of an organizations of human beings- thereby forbidding the existence of a state, while allowing for the existence of contractual, private government.

    Social democrats treat all property as a commons, and the means of distributing it as a commons. But they treat nothing as sacred other than the emotional predisposition to prevent harm and express care-taking. Sacredness is an act of self denial, and progressives avoid deprivation at all costs. As such, all forms of property other than the current-consensus for the purpose of reducing conflict, are absent. With that absence must also go the sacred.

    Under this analysis, Sacredness is not exclusive to conservatism. It is only that conservatism treats moral capital – forgoing opportunities, and building moral capital in the population – as

    Contrary to popular, studied, and academic belief, the debate as to whether the enormous power of fiat money eliminates the need for sacredness – forms of property we call norms which require self denial – is not over. Fiat money can be used

    Conservatism is not so much about the seen as unseen. Its pretense is a form of respect of the sacred. And the sacred consists of common property that they pay for with constant acts of self denial.

    Having paid this high price for the commons, it is no wonder why they object to the consumption of it by progressives, or the destruction of its institutions by Rothbardians.

    Source date (UTC): 2012-09-16 11:55:00 UTC

  • GREAT DIVERGENCE: CHINA “These immensely rich individuals not only failed to dev

    http://hbdchick.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/clannish-dysgenics/THE GREAT DIVERGENCE: CHINA

    “These immensely rich individuals not only failed to develop a capitalistic system; they seldom if ever acquire that acquistive and competitive spirit which is the very soul of the capitalistic system.”

    I’m a big fan of HBD_chick’s effort to explore the relationship between mating patterns, culture, political economy, and economics.

    Source date (UTC): 2012-09-12 21:05:00 UTC

  • CLANS AND WESTERN UNIVERSALISM HBD_Chick finds yet another exceptional paper on

    http://hbdchick.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/the-return-of-the-return-of-chinese-clans/CHINESE CLANS AND WESTERN UNIVERSALISM

    HBD_Chick finds yet another exceptional paper on the impact of different cultural institutions:

    “The Return Of The Return of Chinese Clans”

    “In a clan, moral obligations are stronger but are limited in scope, as they apply only toward kin. In a city, moral obligations are generalized towards all citizens irrespective of lineage, but they are weaker, as identication is more difficult in a larger and more heterogeneous group. We refer to this distinction as limited vs generalized morality.“

    “Institutional mechanisms also differ between the clan and the city: clan enforcement mainly relies on informal institutions, whereas the city relies more on formal enforcement procedures. In terms of economic effciency, these two arrangements have clear trade-offs. The clan economizes on enforcement costs, whereas the city exploits economies of scale because it sustains cooperation in a larger and more heterogeneous community.”

    Source date (UTC): 2012-09-01 01:24:00 UTC

  • @UmeshPatil @Hughman It is not racism to point out the truth. The west had the e

    http://drezner.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/08/02/mitt_romney_is_living_every_social_scientists_nightmare @UmeshPatil @Hughman It is not racism to point out the truth. The west had the extraordinary luck to have the church forbid marriage to cousins, and to award women property rights. Combined with the manorial system, which required that a man demonstrate finess in order to obtain land to work, and therefore the ability to raise a family and reproduce, the west obtained the nuclear family, the work ethic, universalism, property rights, and a near absence of corruption endemic to all other human social orders. Culture matters. India’s power failed because corruption is endemic, and corruption is endemic because of familialism. Europeans are a dying culture because it turned on itself and lost its confidence after the world wars, and because feminism decreased the breeding rate of its women to below replacement levels and governments had to resort to immigration in order to maintain it’s intergenerational redistribution programs.And if that bothers you, race matters too. Because people demonstrably prefer to be around those who look like them, and the distribution of talents does differ between the races. Races might not matter if people did not aggregate and associate by race. But they do. Status signals are the human information system. And status signals are cheaper within group than across groups. So race matters.Many scientific realities are unpleasant. It is impolitic to discuss these realities. But they are still realities none the less. Choosing not to discuss them, is quite different from disbelieving them. One is a demonstration of manners. The other is a demonstration of ignorance.

    Source date (UTC): 2012-08-03 02:01:00 UTC

  • The average European and particularly the average working class European always

    The average European and particularly the average working class European always appears on average so much better educated than his American peer. This may be a selection effect since I can only interact with those who are competent English speakers. But the test data seems to confirm it. And while it is heretical to state that the heterogeneity of the American population accounts for those scores, it remains that peers of Europeans in the USA are less literate and less numerate.

    On the other hand, the average American is extraordinarily conscious of the country’s military, political, and financial role in the world – even though the cannot choose whether to be pleased or frustrated by it.

    I am one of those Americans that tends to resent Europeans who treat us with disdain despite our expensive subsidy of their economies.

    American foreign policy is not conducted on emotive or moral grounds, but strategic grounds. Always. Good or bad.

    The world would be a better place if we withdrew from europe and forced them to bear the same burdens we do.

    Perhaps then our values would converge. It is not understood on either side of the pond that two centuries ago Americans thought precisely about Europe what Europeans think about America today.

    And people around the world congratulate themselves on their moral choices despite the fact that geography, demographics, and economic conditions are the source of their opinion, not their deliberate choice.

    The usa will be energy independent soon which will put us in strategic conflict with Europe. We will no longer have material reason nor the means to play policeman to the world.

    Maintaining a stable price of oil as well as food and currency is too much of a burden for the American people.

    So something will change here one way or another.

    And self congratulatory moral convenience will change with it.

    Source date (UTC): 2012-08-01 13:35:00 UTC

  • INFLUENCE OF GEOGRAPHY ON ECONOMY, POLITY, AND CHARACTER I argue frequently that

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/1400069831/ref=tsm_1_fb_lkTHE INFLUENCE OF GEOGRAPHY ON ECONOMY, POLITY, AND CHARACTER

    I argue frequently that everything boils down to geography, demographics and institutions. In that order.

    Kaplan’s book arrives in September. And despite sixty years of ignoring geography in our schools, he shows how geography still influences our economies, polities and characters, and how, because of geography, we can anticipate future conflicts.

    Source date (UTC): 2012-07-27 12:02:00 UTC

  • ACCIDENTAL OBSERVATIONS: THE METAPHYSICS OF REACTIONARIES: AMISH VS HASSIDIM In

    ACCIDENTAL OBSERVATIONS:

    THE METAPHYSICS OF REACTIONARIES:

    AMISH VS HASSIDIM

    In a coffee shop in Leavenworth. An Amish family, father, perhaps 60, mother about the same, and adult daughter perhaps 30, ordering iced mocha coconut coffee drinks with whipped cream. I didn’t take a photo, because I didn’t want to be rude. So description will have to do: they were dressed impeccably, and had nearly perfect, radiant, clear skin. The man was gentlemanly and spoke with a few other customers, asking about where they lived, and other friendly idle talk. The women were obviously avoiding eye contact and conversation.

    My own reaction was precognitive and involuntary: I treat these people with sacred reverence. They are the souls of the germanic peoples. Certainly more so than priests, public intellectuals, or politicians. Probably because there is no question as to the honesty of there commitment and no political art of persuasion we must defend ourselves from. They are a statement of truth, purely by their actions.

    Most of us with northern european heritage long for our medieval, agrarian, communal, and familial past, even as we celebrate our longer lives, greater health, lack of hunger, freedom from brutal physical labor, and insulation from violence. These people are the embodiment of the idea of our past, perhaps more so than the actuality of it.

    I suppose the Jews may think of their Hassidic sect with the same reverence. (Although as I understand it, opinions about the hassidim – particularly their overbreeding and communist dependence upon redistribution in Israel – like most opinions in the Jewish community, vary pretty widely.)

    Because I simply haven’t spent time thinking about this topic before, it’s pretty obvious that both reactionary sects represent the different world views of Germanic and Hebrew peoples: social actions and individual responsibility versus individual thoughts, and collectivism. Action versus mysticism, both wrapped in religious ritual and insular pacifism that protects their alternate reality from competition with the chaos of the modern world. This difference can be reduced to: the people of the land and action versus the people of the mind and words.

    Source date (UTC): 2012-07-25 14:31:00 UTC

  • FROM QUORA: Is Iraq an unofficial “vassal” of Iran?Edit Answer by: Curt Doolittl

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clash_of_Civilizations#Core_state_and_fault_line_conflictsQUESTION FROM QUORA: Is Iraq an unofficial “vassal” of Iran?Edit

    Answer by: Curt Doolittle, The Propertarian Institute.

    All civilizations have a ‘core state’ (see link below) except islam, which last relied upon the Turks as the core state. Iran wants to become the core state of islamic civilization, control middle eastern oil, capture the profits from it, and build a military strong enough to ensure it’s centrality, with those profits. If possible, the strategic route to making this come about is to create an alliance, dependency, or at least lack of opposition with Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, where Pakistan and Iran hold nuclear weapons.

    That is the Iranian strategic objective.

    Whether or not Iraq is a Vassal of Iran is an improper use of language. Iraq is no longer capable of opposing Iranian strategic initiatives, and is subject to iranian political pressure. So it is perhaps better to categorize Iraq as successfully within the sphere of influence of Iran, and therefore contributing to the potential of Iran to become the Core State of Islamic civilization — against the wishes of the southern states.

    We must understand that this is not an unwise strategic objective for the Iranians. And it is possibly achievable if they can accomplish it without inciting the USA to remove them as a potential power in the region.

    Source date (UTC): 2012-07-15 14:45:00 UTC