While reading RFK Jr's book "The Real Anthony Fauci", it struck me that his views are very much leftist in the old-school sense. Considering he's from one of the best known Democratic families in the country and has spent much of his life as an environmental advocate, he's certainly got leftist credentials. The fact that many on the left are lumping him in with the right wing shows just how extreme the purity politics of the left have become. Just ten years ago, such a book that investigated government corruption and corporate influence, warned of tyranny and abuse of power, and advocated for human rights would have been considered solidly left wing and compared to writers like Noam Chomsky.
With his book having made the bestseller lists, it's clear that RFK Jr has become one of the most prominent people fighting against the mainstream narrative. Yet, he's also still a staunch believer in progress, the tone of his words throughout the book makes that clear. He just doesn't believe the current establishment is leading to Progress. It's made me reconsider some thoughts I've had about the future of Progress. I've been observing throughout the COVID situation how deeply intertwined the religion of Progress has become with the COVID narrative, especially the vaccine narrative. The foundation was put in place pre-COVID with the "trust the science" mantra and vilification of anyone who questions anything about any vaccine.
Until I read RFK Jr's book, I thought that a collapse of the COVID narrative would necessarily entail a significant collapse of the religion of Progress. Now I'm not so sure. RFK Jr. has possibly placed himself into a role similar to Martin Luther, exposing the abuse of power by the clergy of Progress while not rejecting the entire faith. I think there's a lot of people out there questioning the narrative but not about to question the religion of Progress as a whole, so we could be seeing a splintering of the faith like Christianity had with the reformation. If RFK Jr. doesn't play that role then there are others that possibly could. This is good news to me because RFK Jr's sect of progress strikes me as a whole lot more sane then the sect that has the power in the world right now, even if neither is able to cope with the long-term issues that face our civilization. Only a small percentage of people are willing to have the conversations that we're having on this forum. We need allies, so if a sect of Progress forms that are also allies in stopping tyranny, I'd see it as very good news.
In the long run, I do expect the religion of Progress to steadily decline along with our civilization, but I doubt it will collapse suddenly. Splintering into different factions seems more likely in that people wouldn't have to give up their core beliefs.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
The Decline of the Religion of Progress - Will We See a Modern-Day Martin Luther?
Date: 2022-01-18 11:34 pm (UTC)With his book having made the bestseller lists, it's clear that RFK Jr has become one of the most prominent people fighting against the mainstream narrative. Yet, he's also still a staunch believer in progress, the tone of his words throughout the book makes that clear. He just doesn't believe the current establishment is leading to Progress. It's made me reconsider some thoughts I've had about the future of Progress. I've been observing throughout the COVID situation how deeply intertwined the religion of Progress has become with the COVID narrative, especially the vaccine narrative. The foundation was put in place pre-COVID with the "trust the science" mantra and vilification of anyone who questions anything about any vaccine.
Until I read RFK Jr's book, I thought that a collapse of the COVID narrative would necessarily entail a significant collapse of the religion of Progress. Now I'm not so sure. RFK Jr. has possibly placed himself into a role similar to Martin Luther, exposing the abuse of power by the clergy of Progress while not rejecting the entire faith. I think there's a lot of people out there questioning the narrative but not about to question the religion of Progress as a whole, so we could be seeing a splintering of the faith like Christianity had with the reformation. If RFK Jr. doesn't play that role then there are others that possibly could. This is good news to me because RFK Jr's sect of progress strikes me as a whole lot more sane then the sect that has the power in the world right now, even if neither is able to cope with the long-term issues that face our civilization. Only a small percentage of people are willing to have the conversations that we're having on this forum. We need allies, so if a sect of Progress forms that are also allies in stopping tyranny, I'd see it as very good news.
In the long run, I do expect the religion of Progress to steadily decline along with our civilization, but I doubt it will collapse suddenly. Splintering into different factions seems more likely in that people wouldn't have to give up their core beliefs.