{"id":5544,"date":"2012-02-16T22:05:57","date_gmt":"2012-02-17T06:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jerrypournelle.com\/chaosmanor\/?p=5544"},"modified":"2012-02-17T13:44:38","modified_gmt":"2012-02-17T21:44:38","slug":"gnostics-and-good-intentions-the-school-lunch-legend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jerrypournelle.com\/chaosmanor\/gnostics-and-good-intentions-the-school-lunch-legend\/","title":{"rendered":"Gnostics and good intentions; the school lunch legend"},"content":{"rendered":"

View 713 Thursday, February 16, 2012<\/p>\n

Liberalism and neo-conservatism share some key elements; in particular, while their specific beliefs differ, each is convinced that they have the gnosis<\/i>, the key knowledge that allows them to manipulate society to their benign ends, They also share the notion that when they do take action they ought to be judged on their intentions, not on the outcome. When things don\u2019t work as planned \u2013 and usually they don\u2019t \u2013 there are always good reasons.<\/p>\n

I was reminded of this by a short article by Gene Callahan in the February issue of The American Conservative magazine. Entitled \u201cKnow Your Gnostics\u201d, it is a short exposition on the concept of modern Gnosticism, with emphasis on the work of Eric Vogelin.<\/p>\n

Back in my professor days I assigned Eric Vogelin\u2019s New Science of Politics as one of the books to be read by my senior political philosophy students. Vogelin thought the world threatened by modern Gnostics, and predicted much from that analysis. As for example, when an economic policy, such as TARP, or the Keynesian economic stimulus program doesn\u2019t work; or when the invasion of Iraq freed the people from Saddam Hussein but did not build the stable democracy of free men, there are always good reasons, and the blame must not fall on those whose honorable intentions failed in their noble missions. These are the men of action, who march in step with the flywheel of history. They are the midwives of the new and beautiful world \u2013 and when their actions fail, they must not be blamed. They meant well, and the world didn\u2019t cooperate.<\/p>\n

Of course there is another view: that we don\u2019t understand the world all that well, and that our social sciences are mostly voodoo<\/a> rituals. Neoconservatism grew out the Trotsky interpretation of Marxism, and modern Liberalism has deep roots in Fabian Socialism which was once known as Marxism with a human face \u2013 but which was able to overlook many of the horrors of the Soviet campaign to build a great society to transform the human condition. Young people now don\u2019t remember that at one time communism was the hope of the world. Marx truly understood the world, and that knowledge was available to guide the actions of the Party as it sought to make a more beautiful world.<\/p>\n

And when things didn\u2019t work, there were always good reasons.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe gap between intended and real effect will be imputed not to the Gnostic immortality of ignoring the structure of reality but to the immorality of some other person or society that does not behave as it should according to the dream conception of cause and effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eric Vogelin, The New Science of Politics<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Of course Vogelin himself was the first to say we did not have a true science of politics. Gnosticism is alluring, but no one has ever discovered the gnosis; and many of those who, like Lenin and Mussolini thought they had, produced results they would not have chosen. <\/p>\n

If you want more examples, you can find them among the architects of our current economic policies; or among those who sent the Legions to Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

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Many have called my attention to this story:<\/p>\n

Why are the food police inspecting school lunches?<\/p>\n

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It makes a great story – or at least a great headline:<\/font><\/p>\n