Lots of people seem to agree with this analysis. There's all sorts of different theories on the nature of this elite. Some people even think it's the Illuminati or the Knights Templar or something like that.
My guess is that it's no single identifiable group, that it's simply a transnational elite who have common sympathies.
Alarmingly, many people seem to think that this elite is almost omniscient and omnipotent; that any apparent reverses it endures (Brexit, for instance) is simply a part of the Grand Plan; and that any apparent opposition to it (Jordan Peterson, for instance) is actually Controlled Opposition.
This theory seems unfalsifiable to me. The concept of the all-powerful, all-seeing elite is so flexible that it could wrap itself around any facts.
It also seems to fly in the face of experience. I've said that the propaganda of this elite is constant. What amazed me is how crude it is, as well.
Time and again we have seen that propaganda backfire. To take the example of Brexit again, "Project Fear" was so crude and alarmist that it couldn't be taken seriously.
Similarly, the sort of ideological propaganda that we're all subject to every day reaches such levels of overkill that it seems impossible that it wouldn't backfire.
I've heard some people argue that this is all a part of the plan. The reaction against it is also part of the plan. That just seems unlikely to me.
Another reason I think the elites can't be infallible is because human beings are too unpredictable. It regularly happens that somebody who's just too rich, too powerful, or too successful for the elites to silence breaks ranks and utters some heresy. Again, I'm sure you can think of many examples.
I don't think fatalism is a healthy attitude, and I don't think it's justified when it comes to this subject.
Karl
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I will say is that in my very limited experience of political and academic elites is that they do seem to view what they call the 'masses' with utter contempt and disdain, so the idea of a Global jet-setting elite is almost unarguable to me. In fact, I know someone who worked as a legal 'fixer' for them and he told me some tales. (Sorry for earlier name comment above.)
ReplyDeleteYes, I don't really think there's much (or any) question of its actual existence. Its nature is another thing.
Deleteno one is all seeing or all powerful. the important thing, to make any sense of it, is the recognition that this is part of a spiritual war. (i was going to say something about using the word 'elites' to describe parasites, but i know we have very different views on the degeneration of language, though this too is part of the spiritual war. it's like referring to the devil as a saint).
ReplyDeleteLaeth
I absolutely agree that it's a spiritual war. As for "elites", I would argue that it's a purely descriptive term. Somebody with far more money and power than the vast majority of people is a member of an elite, however they came to that position.
Deletemy linguistic quibble boils down to this: since Jesus used the term, although in another form (the elect), i think it is a spiritual trap to use it for his enemies.
DeleteLaeth
@M - I think that the way the Establishment works must take into account that the participants have all the common faults of evil-intending people; which means that their plans are often subverted by selfish short-termism leading to conflicts (often very severe) among its members - including a lot of corruption by bribery and blackmail.
ReplyDeleteThere are also various interests being fought over - for instance between power blocs.
So there is not a single stable policy being pursued across time - as well as normal fallibility due to incompetence (a lot of that) and inability to predict complex situations over the future.
But we also should avoid setting up a straw man of all or nothing; and I believe that behind the human beings are demonic powers - which is why, across decades, there is an overall direction to strategy, despite the squabbles and short attention spans of human beings.
On the other hand, it is wrong to underestimate "Their" power. For instance, the Brexit referendum victory seems to have been due to a miscalculation among those of the Establishment who allowed the vote - they thought they would get the Remain vote they wanted, but were mistaken.
Yet the Establishment utterly sabotaged Brexit - which (if anything substantive actually happened, of which I see no sign) did not just fail in its core aim of stopping mass immigration - but this intention was actually reversed, so that mass immigration is still increasing.
Because the government is hiding the numbers, nobody knows how massive this is - even officially it is 1.5 million immigrants within the past two years of data; and I have seen a credible source say more than five million in the past six or so years - i.e. as much or more than the whole population of Eire.
So whatever happened in the Brexit *vote*, the Establishment was able to ignore it - and have continued their plan of UK national destruction as if the Leave vote never happened - or worse!
Those are good points about Brexit. I suppose I hold to a hope that, even if its promise has not been fulfilled, it does make it more possible for a future populist administration (like Reform) to take action.
ReplyDeleteAs for the demonic, as a Christian I believe that demons are always at work. I'm more tentative about seeing them behind any particular trend or movement. I sometimes wonder if there's not an internal "logic" to progressivism which moves of its own accord, so to speak. But you might well be right, too.
"Another reason I think the elites can't be infallible is because human beings are too unpredictable."
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree. There are many people in this world who would very much like to have more power and more control. And if they can't actually have complete control, they would like people to think they do.
A related topic is projections about the future. As the saying goes, "making predictions is difficult, especially about the future". By and large, people don't actually know what is going to happen. If you aren't some kind of prophet, then it takes a lot of thinking and learning to understand things well enough to predict what may happen. But these supposed predictors aren't actually trying to do that, they are just trying to get people to buy into whatever it is that they are promoting.
Whether the future predicted is utopian or dystopian or something between the two, it's just an attempt at manipulation. "Do what I say to avoid this" or "do what I say to get this".
The supposed predictors don't actually know, (and this is especially relevant with regards to technological predictions, where people always seem inclined to believe them), they really don't.
Chesterton mentioned the Irishman who said he preferred to make predictions after the event! (Approvingly.)
DeleteOcasionally I come across an impressively fulfilled prediction, such as David Bowie saying the internet was going to change everything for both better and worse. (Although now I listen to it, it's pretty vague.)
https://youtu.be/8tCC9yxUIdw?si=j4otySEwaX6TJ_fF