My family came from a rough background. I can't even trace it more than a few generations back because my great great grandpa was a philanderer with multiple wives and multiple families and as far as I can tell multiple names. But I can't just reject that because it is where I am from and will always be some part of who I am. Rejecting it is worse than looking at it face to face. No one hates the white working class like someone who has risen above it and joined the PMC and moved to Los Angeles or New York City. But I have lived and worked in the down and out places and know now what C.S. Lewis means when he says no man can be a Christian who is not a pagan first. I think he said that. Anyway it's bastardized Nietzsche at the least. We must see what in means to be human in all the ugliness of it to find God and being human means expelling the homogenized person unit of the Technocratic Administrative State and being honest with ourselves. A credit score is not a measure of prudence but an alienated proxie thereof, for instance. I dunno where we go from here. Except more Flannery O'Conner and less Dorothy Allison, I guess.
The "Screw You, I got Mine" mentality is so very prevalent in people in the "center" (actually left) and left. For example: My Dutch in-laws. Firmly upper-middle class. Live in Arnhem, a city which, in the (ever-growing) poor parts, has been overrun by "refugees" and is falling into a state of disrepair and crime.
No problem. They live in the high-class subdivision away from it all. Their other daughter moved to a very wealthy town that sees very little of the influx of "New Nederlanders". Very "undiverse".
So they have the luxury of claiming moral superiority by exclaiming how the "New Netherlander" is "just as Dutch as I am" because the explosive devices and the knifings and the rapes aren't happening in their neighborhood. Increased taxes and stringent "carbon" regulations that affect mostly small businesses aren't a problem because they can afford it. It's easy to lend support to social policies that ruin neighborhoods when it's not your neighborhood being ruined. The working class Dutch living there just have to put up with it, those racist, stupid, intolerant bastards.
This type of snobbery is all-too-common in our opponents in the form of the Champagne Socialist, and it appears that it's mirrored on our side too.
Sometimes, at big events, I look around at the masses and become disgusted. Yet, you see signs of hope. The dad with his kid. The young couple. All the smiling faces. That’s why I stand up for them. They don’t deserve to be mistreated. They’re just innocent. Even when getting naked on OF, they know not what they do, and they remain innocent.
You know, I was going to write a comment, then realized what I had to say would probably be long enough to fill an essay. So, Mr. Prudentialist, thank you for your inspiration. I couldn't agree more. As someone coming back from the pit of atheism, looking around, starting to understand the concept of transcendence and God and feeling somewhat lost in the sea of opinions, this was refreshing. It's easy to let wrath go and go full Crusade on the non-pure and the downtrodden. At the same time, the "anything goes" neo-Christianity sickens me. There's another way, and guys like you seem to have been able to walk this line of mercy vs discipline and devotion.
Funny how we still have Samaritans among us. Every culture has someone they look down on with pity, indignation, disgust or all of the above. Love my neighbor as myself enough to meet them where they are without necessarily affirming what they are doing. Takes a bit of wisdom sometimes. It’s way easier to sit on my back porch and read substack or Herodotus or ...
I see a lot of the younger right fighting windmills and playing dress-up Trad rather than going about the business of living and building. I also think that a lot of wonderfully smart and articulate reactionaries and dissidents have yet to work a crappy job or live in a situation where they are ground down constantly the way that many people are in small dying towns. I'm not saying that it would change their views, but it might give them a bit of humility and appreciation for other peoples' struggles.
I love the talks about Aquinas and Italian Elite Theory and the esoteric stuff as much as anyone, but it really has a danger of turning into a circle- ... well, a ... ugh ... knitting circle. Thanks for this, Prudentialist. Love your channel and Substack. Hope to contribute more when I have a few more shekels in my pocket to part with.
Our whole society is sick, and the sickest among us end up the poorest.
Hopefully we get a new FDR (a DeSantis + Musk ticket?) who repairs the system. But just as realistic, and what might be better in the end, is for the regime to fall completely, a period of chaos to ensue, and a Caesar fill the void. This happened in post-communist Russia and China after its own cultural revolution.
Putin and Qi may have their faults, but are they really worse than our current regime?
The question will be which Caesar do you want, not whether there will (or should) be one. Because if Ukraine and C19 are any indication, our regime is dangerously incompetent and insane and probably won’t last long.
As someone who grew up amongst the trailer parks of the south, i agree wholeheartedly that these people need to be protected and defended. Often they are good and decent folks, only in their situation because of the poor decision of an older relative.
But many are fully capable people who manage to get themselves out of poverty and back on track with a little guidance and support from others. The people who manage to advance themselves are often quite clever, responsible, and reliable. In short they become a very competent future elite if we could ever organize enough institutions to sponsor and cultivate them into positions of power
This was brilliant. Really speaks to my own journey, that of returning to my Christian faith after a very long time consuming “DR” content and the tension that can bring when confronted with issues like this. Would like to hear more of your thoughts on this in future.
What would a world without an underclass look like?
So long as there are very low IQ, highly impulsive, highly aggressive people, there will be trailer parks and their inner-city equivalents. I agree with you that there is no benefit in mocking the weak, poor, and listless classes. Yet having a healthy contempt for them free of malice may be the right attitude for those of us who are trying to build the new elite.
Only once we have power can we begin to help them at scale.
My family came from a rough background. I can't even trace it more than a few generations back because my great great grandpa was a philanderer with multiple wives and multiple families and as far as I can tell multiple names. But I can't just reject that because it is where I am from and will always be some part of who I am. Rejecting it is worse than looking at it face to face. No one hates the white working class like someone who has risen above it and joined the PMC and moved to Los Angeles or New York City. But I have lived and worked in the down and out places and know now what C.S. Lewis means when he says no man can be a Christian who is not a pagan first. I think he said that. Anyway it's bastardized Nietzsche at the least. We must see what in means to be human in all the ugliness of it to find God and being human means expelling the homogenized person unit of the Technocratic Administrative State and being honest with ourselves. A credit score is not a measure of prudence but an alienated proxie thereof, for instance. I dunno where we go from here. Except more Flannery O'Conner and less Dorothy Allison, I guess.
The "Screw You, I got Mine" mentality is so very prevalent in people in the "center" (actually left) and left. For example: My Dutch in-laws. Firmly upper-middle class. Live in Arnhem, a city which, in the (ever-growing) poor parts, has been overrun by "refugees" and is falling into a state of disrepair and crime.
No problem. They live in the high-class subdivision away from it all. Their other daughter moved to a very wealthy town that sees very little of the influx of "New Nederlanders". Very "undiverse".
So they have the luxury of claiming moral superiority by exclaiming how the "New Netherlander" is "just as Dutch as I am" because the explosive devices and the knifings and the rapes aren't happening in their neighborhood. Increased taxes and stringent "carbon" regulations that affect mostly small businesses aren't a problem because they can afford it. It's easy to lend support to social policies that ruin neighborhoods when it's not your neighborhood being ruined. The working class Dutch living there just have to put up with it, those racist, stupid, intolerant bastards.
This type of snobbery is all-too-common in our opponents in the form of the Champagne Socialist, and it appears that it's mirrored on our side too.
Sometimes, at big events, I look around at the masses and become disgusted. Yet, you see signs of hope. The dad with his kid. The young couple. All the smiling faces. That’s why I stand up for them. They don’t deserve to be mistreated. They’re just innocent. Even when getting naked on OF, they know not what they do, and they remain innocent.
You know, I was going to write a comment, then realized what I had to say would probably be long enough to fill an essay. So, Mr. Prudentialist, thank you for your inspiration. I couldn't agree more. As someone coming back from the pit of atheism, looking around, starting to understand the concept of transcendence and God and feeling somewhat lost in the sea of opinions, this was refreshing. It's easy to let wrath go and go full Crusade on the non-pure and the downtrodden. At the same time, the "anything goes" neo-Christianity sickens me. There's another way, and guys like you seem to have been able to walk this line of mercy vs discipline and devotion.
Great work
Here's my thoughts on the Prudentialist's thoughts on Kruptos' thoughts, if anyone's interested
https://williammaize.substack.com/p/the-right-hand-path
Funny how we still have Samaritans among us. Every culture has someone they look down on with pity, indignation, disgust or all of the above. Love my neighbor as myself enough to meet them where they are without necessarily affirming what they are doing. Takes a bit of wisdom sometimes. It’s way easier to sit on my back porch and read substack or Herodotus or ...
I see a lot of the younger right fighting windmills and playing dress-up Trad rather than going about the business of living and building. I also think that a lot of wonderfully smart and articulate reactionaries and dissidents have yet to work a crappy job or live in a situation where they are ground down constantly the way that many people are in small dying towns. I'm not saying that it would change their views, but it might give them a bit of humility and appreciation for other peoples' struggles.
I love the talks about Aquinas and Italian Elite Theory and the esoteric stuff as much as anyone, but it really has a danger of turning into a circle- ... well, a ... ugh ... knitting circle. Thanks for this, Prudentialist. Love your channel and Substack. Hope to contribute more when I have a few more shekels in my pocket to part with.
Our whole society is sick, and the sickest among us end up the poorest.
Hopefully we get a new FDR (a DeSantis + Musk ticket?) who repairs the system. But just as realistic, and what might be better in the end, is for the regime to fall completely, a period of chaos to ensue, and a Caesar fill the void. This happened in post-communist Russia and China after its own cultural revolution.
Putin and Qi may have their faults, but are they really worse than our current regime?
The question will be which Caesar do you want, not whether there will (or should) be one. Because if Ukraine and C19 are any indication, our regime is dangerously incompetent and insane and probably won’t last long.
As someone who grew up amongst the trailer parks of the south, i agree wholeheartedly that these people need to be protected and defended. Often they are good and decent folks, only in their situation because of the poor decision of an older relative.
But many are fully capable people who manage to get themselves out of poverty and back on track with a little guidance and support from others. The people who manage to advance themselves are often quite clever, responsible, and reliable. In short they become a very competent future elite if we could ever organize enough institutions to sponsor and cultivate them into positions of power
This was brilliant. Really speaks to my own journey, that of returning to my Christian faith after a very long time consuming “DR” content and the tension that can bring when confronted with issues like this. Would like to hear more of your thoughts on this in future.
Outstanding essay.
Great article prude, like a full length essay version of boniface option’s dune tweet.
What would a world without an underclass look like?
So long as there are very low IQ, highly impulsive, highly aggressive people, there will be trailer parks and their inner-city equivalents. I agree with you that there is no benefit in mocking the weak, poor, and listless classes. Yet having a healthy contempt for them free of malice may be the right attitude for those of us who are trying to build the new elite.
Only once we have power can we begin to help them at scale.