Try expressing so much as a scintilla of doubt about global warming, or even about the precise number of people killed in the Holocaust, and see how fast the “doubt is good” masks come off!
@Wm - It is signifiant that these things which cannot be doubted are, in fact, thengs that cannot be known - in other words, that must be accepted on say-so. And that's the real meaning of mainstream 'certainty'. It is the modern version of obedience to authority; pretending to moral authority based on objective knowledge - but in a world where morality, authority, objectivity and knowledge are all supposed to be obsolete and repressive.
21 February 2020 at 17:43
I have noticed that there is an anti-Christian dog-whistle sounding when people rail against Certainty - and advocate doubt and permanent seeking as a higher path.
As usual, there is a grain of truth and insight that enables the evil to thrive.
That grain is our innate and spontaneous desire for a life of 'ing' rather than stasis. Aside from a small minority of intellectual mystics (who crave one-ess, stasis beyond time, ego-annihilation etc); most people's idea of the Good Life and of paradise is dynamic and rooted in personal relationships.
Therefore a life of doubting and seeking sounds more alive, more real, than static certainty.
Another (different) partial truth in the criticism of certainty is that certainty leads to motivation, and when people are motivated they are capable of great courage and hard work - and courage and hard work may be used to accomplish great evil.
A group of people who are certain usually have strong cohesion, amplifying the possibilities of accomplishment - including the accomplishment of nasty things.
(Thus the National Socialist Workers Party of Germany - Nazis - were highly certain of their rightness - and they were motivated, coherent and very hard working in the evils they accomplished (as well as the good). and they are unique paradigms of evil to the modern 'mind': therefore (so it goes) Certainty must be evil... Or, at least, Certainty must be evil when it is anti-communist, because the zeal of communist fanatics is admired - whether covertly or often explicitly.)
Therefore it is plausible to rail against certainty on moral grounds - and advocate in favour of perpetual doubt and open-ended exploring - so long at people do not think any further about the matter.
And of course, very few people nowadays are capable or willing of thinking more than one, or at most two step along an argument. So they don't notice that in vilifying Certainty they are advocating powerlessness, paralysis, demotivation, nihilism and despair...
Now, for the powers of evil this is a feature, not a bug: it is precisely why evil has been so insistent that Certainty is A Bad Thing. Because, as always with mainstream modern leftism - principles are unilaterally applied. In particular, certainty is regarded as A Bad Thing for Christians.
When mainstream modern people slam certainty, they are slamming their usual (usually covert) target of 'fundamentalist' Christians - i.e. they are vilifying real Christians, those whose faith dominates their lives and thought.
They are not attacking the certainties of The Left. The Left are absolutely 100% certain of the goodness and univeral applicability of Equality, Feminism, Abortion, Affirmative Action, the Sexual Revolution, Human Rights and many other topics.
(Just try opening a conversation on the comparative pros and cons of slavery in the United States - and you will see Certainty in Action.)
Leftist principles Must Be regarded with unexamined and unqualified approval. They must Not be doubted ever, nor even discussed in any analytic fashion. Anyone who does - who makes any remark (no matter how brief or contextual) other than unqualified and uncritical total acceptance - is vilified without restraint and (if possible) their lives will be destroyed.
The covert message is: Un-certainty is necessary for You; but as for me and mine, we know we are true...
The attack on certainty is a part of the spiritual war between God and the powers of evil; and in this war, servants and dupes of the powers of evil dominate the Global Establishment and the leadership of all large and powerful Institutions - including the mass media.
So, while there is some partial truth in criticising Certainty (else such criticism would not be effective); its true status is as a dishonest rhetorical weapon, to be strategically deployed to undermine Christianity specifically - and flowing from that to undermine any commitment to things of which the left disapproves such as monogamous marriage and the family.
The Establishment are on 'relativists' when it comes to their enemies - and absolutists among themselves. When it comes to their own principles and policies; they are dogmatic, uncritical, blind, blinkered and one-sided. They are certain, and They insist upon certainty in others.
Thus about half of the activity of the mass media (especially its entertainment branch) consists in seeding and encouraging 'doubts' about Christianity and the Family; in advocating that such people (and only such people) be Not certain ('dogmatic', 'blinkered'); but instead be 'open', and 'progressive'.
Not to be open and progressive about leftism is to be blinded by ignorant zeal or consumed by evil intent...
Happy endings come to those who are certain of the virtues of Leftism; while those who are dogmatic about Christianity and Christian morality have bad outcomes...
By such means They intend to disempower and demoralise the forces on the side of God and the Good.
"On Certainty"
2 Comments -
Try expressing so much as a scintilla of doubt about global warming, or even about the precise number of people killed in the Holocaust, and see how fast the “doubt is good” masks come off!
21 February 2020 at 15:27
@Wm - It is signifiant that these things which cannot be doubted are, in fact, thengs that cannot be known - in other words, that must be accepted on say-so. And that's the real meaning of mainstream 'certainty'. It is the modern version of obedience to authority; pretending to moral authority based on objective knowledge - but in a world where morality, authority, objectivity and knowledge are all supposed to be obsolete and repressive.
21 February 2020 at 17:43