My thoughts exactly. European scientific inquiry and rationalism is why we can have ice in all our drinks and a minor injury or disease doesn't ruin one's life.
I am *this close* to unsubscribing to Tucker, who for some reason is going all-in on superstitious bullshit and medical quackery. This is going to encourage other, otherwise rational gents to start hanging feathers over their front doors to ward off evil spirits, or diagnose their illnesses by a so-called doctor declaring their "humors are out of balance". All to own Neocons or the CDC.
I once met a person who was obsessed with the story of U.S. Special Forces fighting giants in Afghanistan. When I told him no one in the military believes that story, he got upset and accused me of being part of the cover up. Even with the preternatural, critical thinking is needed.
Ironically your thinking is logically flawed. It assumes the bad things third worlders do is purely because they're "irrational" (apparently defined here as not philosophically materialist) and not because they're stupid. The two aren't synonymous.
Definitions are very important when discussing philosophical concepts, and rationalism is a distinct philosophical concept that doesn't necessarily mean "right."
Also, to get more pedantic, I think the term Scott Greer is looking for here is "empiricism" anyway.
As Michael pointed out, this is a tedious comment. It seems you didn't comprehend the article. It's clearly indicated they believe in these things because they're stupid and stupid people tend to believe in irrational things. People try to separate their irrational idolization by claiming that when they believe in UFOs and witchcraft, it's smart. But when Africans do, it's dumb.
The article notes smart people who longed for irrationalism, but also takes into account that when it's translated into the real world, it's the Crichton Leprechaun. Hence, irrationalism in practice--outside of art--is usually very dumb and primitive.
It's not that stupid people tend to believe in irrational things. It's that white Europeans have tended to believe in rational things for the past two hundred some years thanks to the Enlightenment, which is a historical anomaly. From a historical perspective, "irrationality" is the natural state of humanity, and the wider abandonment of Enlightenment ideas has led to a regression to the historical mean. Before 1800 a smart person believing in irrational things was the norm; take Isaac Newton downing mercury in his pursuit of alchemy or Pythagoras worshiping geometry.
I agree with the premise that being irrational does not necessarily mean something is smarter or more correct than something based on Enlightenment rationalism, but dismissing all irrational thinking as "dumb and primitive" is pure recency bias.
You’re trapped inside the very rational, egalitarian frame you claim you want to replace. The Left’s mythic brand is “facts and logic,” and by fighting on that ground you’re already playing their game. But it’s rigged — their “facts and logic” aren’t rational at all, they’re a priestly myth backed by institutional power. That’s why we’ve had the facts on our side for 75 years and still lost.
The West didn’t conquer the world through sterile rationalism. It conquered because it was enchanted — because a priestly class disciplined belief, modulated myth, and directed it into wonders: the cathedrals, the crusades, the Renaissance. America itself was born as a faith-driven mythic project — “a new order of the ages” under Providence. Even Silicon Valley began in the Stanford Radiolab, guided by men formed in Protestant households, who believed they were serving a higher mission than profit. Faith and myth create wonders; rationalism only consumes what it inherits.
That’s the missing piece: we need our own priestly class to modulate a counter-mythic narrative that the people can inhabit. Not because the masses will be persuaded by syllogisms, but because they will live inside a life-giving myth that inspires them to fight, build, and believe again.
The west conquered the world because it was racially and technologically superior, by a colossal margin at the high tide of the age of imperialism. The machines that made the partition of Africa a cakewalk emerged from rational observations of natural law.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc. Western civilization reached its zenith because it was pushed into its highest intelligence due to the selective pressures of the Plague and the Little Ice Age, not because of the scientific method.
Scientific empiricism and modern war machines were both invented by very smart people but the cause preceded them both by several hundred years. And considering how both of those inventions are now in the process of destroying western civilization, it might be time to take stock.
Yes, technology is rational and very useful, but rationalism is a tool, not a foundation. Rifles can be built from observation, but only faith and myth inspire men to risk their lives, build nations, and endure. At the extremes, reason breaks down and that’s where the supernatural takes over.
It’s not an all or nothing dichotomy, the European civilization of the late nineteenth century, the greatest mankind had ever (perhaps has ever) known was still Christian, but devoid of medievalism. The medievalism of Asia, save Japan, made it completely impotent to resist western aggression. What you’re suggesting brings to mind the Chinese boxers who believed that supernatural forces favoring them had made them impervious to the white man’s bullets.
One of the unforeseen consequences of the 2016 Trump revolution. The loss of the college educated upper middle class to libtards allowed for most of this to happen. Like it or not this hard pivot towards conspiracy insanity didn’t happen under the Bush’s. Populism unfortunately has many bad side effects.
Depends on the state. States like Texas and Idaho the college upper middle class votes Republican. The college upper middle class that raced towards Democrats was in the industrial Midwest swing states and places like some suburban areas near Kansas City. Trump focused on trade protectionism which the college educated upper middle class even in the Midwest do not care about. In the end it probably was the decisive factor in his 2016 and 2024 victories. Trump winning issues in 2024 were inflation, immigration, and crime according to Pew. However, he could not have won unless he convinced the industrial Midwest working class voters that he is not a corporate whore like Romney. Trump basically traded Romney voters in those swing states for working class voters that have historically been Democratic voters. 2028 will also hinge on the industrial Midwest, working class voters, and populism. Everything will change in 2032 because of the 2030 census that will take decisive power away from the industrial Midwest states.
Western culture has been wrestling with this problem in large measure since sometime in the 19th century: to what thumos do we turn now that no one believes in god? (at least, not a god who works observable miracles)
Ofc I agree with you that rationality and skepticism is essential to progress - and if the West were to abandon it, we would quickly be conquered by those who haven’t - but that leaves unanswered the essential problem. I think it likely that many, perhaps most people, require some irration in their lives. Maybe best that it’s not nephilim nor UFOs, but it must be something. The Left has History’s Inevitable March Forward Towards Justice (always barely out of reach!) - what does the Right have?
Sounds reasonable. But, you miss the point. Reason is nothing but a mask of power. Pick any scientific discipline. What you’ll easily find is fraud, biases, substandard methodologies, false conclusions, etc. Why is this the nature of empirical study? Because, just like Hume asserted, Man is a slave to his passions. Man acts then rationalises. Power doesn’t follow evidence. Evidence follows power. Personally, I have just as much contempt for the ‘experts’ as you do for the yokels you decry. Sorry, no amount of ‘scientific evidence’ will ever convince me that a man is in fact a woman.
Science is a human endeavor like anything else. So is religion. It can and has been corrupted a million different ways. The nice thing about Science, when it works right and isn't subverted, is that it makes our lives so much better. I am willing to suffer a period of ideological capture as long as we pull out of it and resume revealing God's mysteries.
I think you have it backward. The transgender craze was an example of people in power trying to force something irrational on the public. There is no scientific evidence that a man is in fact a woman but the people who run the government and the media used their power to try and get people to accept it anyway. Their dedication to this irrationality cost them dearly.
A few years ago, a popular right-aligned X account spoke of a woman at a local town hall who claimed 5G was spreading COVID. Clearly false, but this X account said he couldn't blame her for thinking that because the experts have so discredited themselves.
No, we can blame her because it's a batshit stupid idea and he's batshit stupid for saying she was justified in believing nonsense. I'm convinced many on the Right are mentally ill also and are looking for excuses to believe batshit stupid things.
Maybe it’s more a function of a globalized attention economy and an open internet.
On the demand side, you have a lot of young and dumb folks in India, Pakistan, the Arab world, really everywhere now, and they’re online and into this stuff. And then on the supply side, all you really see are engagement stats on X or YouTube, and a click is a click. So the content creators are going where the interest is. They’re maybe akin to the third world scammer or beggar; in a competitive market it pays to be increasingly ostentatious with their pleas for attention.
This might explain why all that alpha male and incel stuff took off. Where you had a growing, increasingly plugged in population of young men who previously would have taken their well deserved inferiority complexes out on the women in their immediate lives - via slut shaming and whatnot - but now they can connect with a global population of the same, and exercise it with them, online. There’s def going to be some bleed over with guys here picking it up, no different than fringe dudes taking up anime or hard core gaming culture. But it’s still fundamentally alien, an import.
Maybe there’s another analogue in the film industry. Remember about a decade ago, when studios were cranking out action slop that featured ChiAmerican casts and plots? Real lowest common denominator stuff, with some good guesses about global demand backing it up. In this case with digital, it might not even be conscious especially if a click is a click. Maybe sometimes it is intentional though - with some of the anti Zionist and pro Hindu stuff being designed with these markets in mind?
Maybe there’ll be a partial solution with internet nationalization, similar to how China locks theirs and has “the great firewall”. If immigration restriction, H1B cuts, general anti-India/Russia/China animus intensifies maybe this could be on the table. And then I bet you’d see a supply side response analogous to what the studios did - instead of ChiAmerican casting/programming they went to fan service slop and super hero retreads. So maybe the future of Carlson and Musk and others - in a less globalized market - is just doing spins on the same story, over and over and over again. Would also be dumb, but less dumb than the demon and gender war stuff.
I think you should’ve leaned harder on the African superstition angle. Though many irrationalism’s are self proclaimed Christians, it’s often reminiscent of the bastardized pseudo Christian cults of remot Africa.
My thoughts exactly. European scientific inquiry and rationalism is why we can have ice in all our drinks and a minor injury or disease doesn't ruin one's life.
I am *this close* to unsubscribing to Tucker, who for some reason is going all-in on superstitious bullshit and medical quackery. This is going to encourage other, otherwise rational gents to start hanging feathers over their front doors to ward off evil spirits, or diagnose their illnesses by a so-called doctor declaring their "humors are out of balance". All to own Neocons or the CDC.
I wanna kno where da gold @
gib me da gold, I want da gold
I once met a person who was obsessed with the story of U.S. Special Forces fighting giants in Afghanistan. When I told him no one in the military believes that story, he got upset and accused me of being part of the cover up. Even with the preternatural, critical thinking is needed.
Ironically your thinking is logically flawed. It assumes the bad things third worlders do is purely because they're "irrational" (apparently defined here as not philosophically materialist) and not because they're stupid. The two aren't synonymous.
This is a tedious comment
Definitions are very important when discussing philosophical concepts, and rationalism is a distinct philosophical concept that doesn't necessarily mean "right."
Also, to get more pedantic, I think the term Scott Greer is looking for here is "empiricism" anyway.
As Michael pointed out, this is a tedious comment. It seems you didn't comprehend the article. It's clearly indicated they believe in these things because they're stupid and stupid people tend to believe in irrational things. People try to separate their irrational idolization by claiming that when they believe in UFOs and witchcraft, it's smart. But when Africans do, it's dumb.
The article notes smart people who longed for irrationalism, but also takes into account that when it's translated into the real world, it's the Crichton Leprechaun. Hence, irrationalism in practice--outside of art--is usually very dumb and primitive.
It's not that stupid people tend to believe in irrational things. It's that white Europeans have tended to believe in rational things for the past two hundred some years thanks to the Enlightenment, which is a historical anomaly. From a historical perspective, "irrationality" is the natural state of humanity, and the wider abandonment of Enlightenment ideas has led to a regression to the historical mean. Before 1800 a smart person believing in irrational things was the norm; take Isaac Newton downing mercury in his pursuit of alchemy or Pythagoras worshiping geometry.
I agree with the premise that being irrational does not necessarily mean something is smarter or more correct than something based on Enlightenment rationalism, but dismissing all irrational thinking as "dumb and primitive" is pure recency bias.
You’re trapped inside the very rational, egalitarian frame you claim you want to replace. The Left’s mythic brand is “facts and logic,” and by fighting on that ground you’re already playing their game. But it’s rigged — their “facts and logic” aren’t rational at all, they’re a priestly myth backed by institutional power. That’s why we’ve had the facts on our side for 75 years and still lost.
The West didn’t conquer the world through sterile rationalism. It conquered because it was enchanted — because a priestly class disciplined belief, modulated myth, and directed it into wonders: the cathedrals, the crusades, the Renaissance. America itself was born as a faith-driven mythic project — “a new order of the ages” under Providence. Even Silicon Valley began in the Stanford Radiolab, guided by men formed in Protestant households, who believed they were serving a higher mission than profit. Faith and myth create wonders; rationalism only consumes what it inherits.
That’s the missing piece: we need our own priestly class to modulate a counter-mythic narrative that the people can inhabit. Not because the masses will be persuaded by syllogisms, but because they will live inside a life-giving myth that inspires them to fight, build, and believe again.
The west conquered the world because it was racially and technologically superior, by a colossal margin at the high tide of the age of imperialism. The machines that made the partition of Africa a cakewalk emerged from rational observations of natural law.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc. Western civilization reached its zenith because it was pushed into its highest intelligence due to the selective pressures of the Plague and the Little Ice Age, not because of the scientific method.
Scientific empiricism and modern war machines were both invented by very smart people but the cause preceded them both by several hundred years. And considering how both of those inventions are now in the process of destroying western civilization, it might be time to take stock.
Yes, technology is rational and very useful, but rationalism is a tool, not a foundation. Rifles can be built from observation, but only faith and myth inspire men to risk their lives, build nations, and endure. At the extremes, reason breaks down and that’s where the supernatural takes over.
It’s not an all or nothing dichotomy, the European civilization of the late nineteenth century, the greatest mankind had ever (perhaps has ever) known was still Christian, but devoid of medievalism. The medievalism of Asia, save Japan, made it completely impotent to resist western aggression. What you’re suggesting brings to mind the Chinese boxers who believed that supernatural forces favoring them had made them impervious to the white man’s bullets.
One of the unforeseen consequences of the 2016 Trump revolution. The loss of the college educated upper middle class to libtards allowed for most of this to happen. Like it or not this hard pivot towards conspiracy insanity didn’t happen under the Bush’s. Populism unfortunately has many bad side effects.
Depends on the state. States like Texas and Idaho the college upper middle class votes Republican. The college upper middle class that raced towards Democrats was in the industrial Midwest swing states and places like some suburban areas near Kansas City. Trump focused on trade protectionism which the college educated upper middle class even in the Midwest do not care about. In the end it probably was the decisive factor in his 2016 and 2024 victories. Trump winning issues in 2024 were inflation, immigration, and crime according to Pew. However, he could not have won unless he convinced the industrial Midwest working class voters that he is not a corporate whore like Romney. Trump basically traded Romney voters in those swing states for working class voters that have historically been Democratic voters. 2028 will also hinge on the industrial Midwest, working class voters, and populism. Everything will change in 2032 because of the 2030 census that will take decisive power away from the industrial Midwest states.
Western culture has been wrestling with this problem in large measure since sometime in the 19th century: to what thumos do we turn now that no one believes in god? (at least, not a god who works observable miracles)
Ofc I agree with you that rationality and skepticism is essential to progress - and if the West were to abandon it, we would quickly be conquered by those who haven’t - but that leaves unanswered the essential problem. I think it likely that many, perhaps most people, require some irration in their lives. Maybe best that it’s not nephilim nor UFOs, but it must be something. The Left has History’s Inevitable March Forward Towards Justice (always barely out of reach!) - what does the Right have?
Sounds reasonable. But, you miss the point. Reason is nothing but a mask of power. Pick any scientific discipline. What you’ll easily find is fraud, biases, substandard methodologies, false conclusions, etc. Why is this the nature of empirical study? Because, just like Hume asserted, Man is a slave to his passions. Man acts then rationalises. Power doesn’t follow evidence. Evidence follows power. Personally, I have just as much contempt for the ‘experts’ as you do for the yokels you decry. Sorry, no amount of ‘scientific evidence’ will ever convince me that a man is in fact a woman.
Science is a human endeavor like anything else. So is religion. It can and has been corrupted a million different ways. The nice thing about Science, when it works right and isn't subverted, is that it makes our lives so much better. I am willing to suffer a period of ideological capture as long as we pull out of it and resume revealing God's mysteries.
“Science, when it works right.”
Works right for whom?
/ourguys/
I think you have it backward. The transgender craze was an example of people in power trying to force something irrational on the public. There is no scientific evidence that a man is in fact a woman but the people who run the government and the media used their power to try and get people to accept it anyway. Their dedication to this irrationality cost them dearly.
If you believe the trans craze is over, you’re delusional. Because it isn’t. Far from it.
A few years ago, a popular right-aligned X account spoke of a woman at a local town hall who claimed 5G was spreading COVID. Clearly false, but this X account said he couldn't blame her for thinking that because the experts have so discredited themselves.
No, we can blame her because it's a batshit stupid idea and he's batshit stupid for saying she was justified in believing nonsense. I'm convinced many on the Right are mentally ill also and are looking for excuses to believe batshit stupid things.
Maybe it’s more a function of a globalized attention economy and an open internet.
On the demand side, you have a lot of young and dumb folks in India, Pakistan, the Arab world, really everywhere now, and they’re online and into this stuff. And then on the supply side, all you really see are engagement stats on X or YouTube, and a click is a click. So the content creators are going where the interest is. They’re maybe akin to the third world scammer or beggar; in a competitive market it pays to be increasingly ostentatious with their pleas for attention.
This might explain why all that alpha male and incel stuff took off. Where you had a growing, increasingly plugged in population of young men who previously would have taken their well deserved inferiority complexes out on the women in their immediate lives - via slut shaming and whatnot - but now they can connect with a global population of the same, and exercise it with them, online. There’s def going to be some bleed over with guys here picking it up, no different than fringe dudes taking up anime or hard core gaming culture. But it’s still fundamentally alien, an import.
Maybe there’s another analogue in the film industry. Remember about a decade ago, when studios were cranking out action slop that featured ChiAmerican casts and plots? Real lowest common denominator stuff, with some good guesses about global demand backing it up. In this case with digital, it might not even be conscious especially if a click is a click. Maybe sometimes it is intentional though - with some of the anti Zionist and pro Hindu stuff being designed with these markets in mind?
Maybe there’ll be a partial solution with internet nationalization, similar to how China locks theirs and has “the great firewall”. If immigration restriction, H1B cuts, general anti-India/Russia/China animus intensifies maybe this could be on the table. And then I bet you’d see a supply side response analogous to what the studios did - instead of ChiAmerican casting/programming they went to fan service slop and super hero retreads. So maybe the future of Carlson and Musk and others - in a less globalized market - is just doing spins on the same story, over and over and over again. Would also be dumb, but less dumb than the demon and gender war stuff.
I think you should’ve leaned harder on the African superstition angle. Though many irrationalism’s are self proclaimed Christians, it’s often reminiscent of the bastardized pseudo Christian cults of remot Africa.
Tucker.