For the Greater Good and Hubris

The Most Chilling Phrase in the English Language

To me, the most chilling phrase in the English language is "for the greater good", often used by Hillary Clinton. You can use it to justify anything. The academic set have enough intelligence to convince themselves of what they want to believe, they need to be better at recognizing that that is what they are doing. They tend to think that, being the most intelligent, (which is debatable), that they are immune to propaganda, thereby making them more susceptible to it's charms. Many are quite arrogant and since the price of arrogance is foolishness, they tend to slouch into hubris. You don't need to be in the intellectual elite to suffer from hubris, but it helps. It's hard to understand, but many brilliant people, scientists even, have succumbed to wokeness.

I contend that wokeness, and most leftist thought, often proposing grand designs to restructure society to create a utopia, are forms of hubris. In fact, all of us should be on our guard lest the infection creep in and turn us into would be tyrants. Numerous sources and folk wisdom warn us of this, such as “pride cometh before a fall.” Pride is one of the seven deadly sins for a reason, and anyone who tosses off the phrase "for the greater good" is probably guilty.

During the raising of children the little monsters should be instructed in the dangers of pride, arrogance and hubris. Traditionally a child's parents would do much of this, church and Sunday School would help, and society in general might promote values of this sort. Even comedians would mock the powerful and pretentious. Military training would be helpful in that the following of orders part is predicated on the assumption that you must defer to those who have experience and training, and that's not you. (It's also a good course in maintaining your cool under stress.)

During the Covid lock-downs there were many who said that those who refused the experimental treatment should be treated harshly; not be allowed medical treatment, put into camps and generally made into second class citizens. Many people knew of old friends and acquaintances who were dead within two weeks after receiving the treatment. The aunt of a friend of my daughter took the second shot and died right then and there, so it should surprise no one that many avoided the treatment. (It was not a vaccine.) That the many “woke” would be be so full of pride that they could simply discount all of that based only on what they were expected by their tribe to believe was shocking. This is why I contend that wokeness, hubris and the use of "for the greater good" are all of a piece, and construct a road to hell while paving it with good intentions.

Consider Hubris; from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: “English picked up both the concept of hubris and the term for that particular brand of cockiness from the ancient Greeks, who considered hubris a dangerous character flaw capable of provoking the wrath of the gods. In classical Greek tragedy, hubris was often a fatal shortcoming that brought about the fall of the tragic hero. Typically, overconfidence led the hero to attempt to overstep the boundaries of human limitations and assume a godlike status, and the gods inevitably humbled the offender with a sharp reminder of their mortality.”

Merely uttering the phrase “for the greater good” in support of your position would seem to convict one of hubris. Who are you or I to think ourselves capable of deciding what is or is not for the greater good? Is modern wokeness not a form of hubris? Implicit in the idea of hubris is that of making decisions that only a God should be allowed to make, which would be corrected by the Gods putting the miscreant painfully in his place. (Where is Zeus with his lightening bolts when you need him?)

But how much damage can “for the greater good” do? Below is a table showing mass governmental killings in the twentieth century, produced by the U. of Hawaii democide project.

Their website is found here: https://hawaii.edu/powerkills/welcome.html.

If you think you've seen this table in one of my earlier essays it's because you have.

My point is that most of the people killed were done so by government officials doing what was ostensibly for the greater good. (Democide is a more general term than genocide, which is the targeting of a particular ethnic group.) Many died recently by being denied unapproved medications for Covid infections. Who could possibly have the temerity to deny doctors the right to treat their patients in any way that they think might work?

Related to the above is that many of the elite set have the belief that it is their duty to eliminate the majority of the worlds population; hubris of the highest order. That is truly a decision that only a God should be allowed to make, yet there they are. And what is so elite about them? Would you hire one to fix your car?

People tend to fall into various mindsets, or perhaps emotional states would be a better term. From the website Jews for the Preservation of Firearms ownership,

https://jpfo.org/

Gus Cotey, Jr. has written an article on the seven types of people who support gun control:

https://jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/jp_seven.htm

Since, at least in his view, these are the sames types who will lead us into tyranny and democide if we let them, I think the article is relevant. He presents seven types of personalities:

Elitists

Authoritarians

Criminals

The Fearful

Ideological Chameleons

Security Monopolists

The Dysfunctionally Unworldly

Universities tend to be full of elitists, fearful, the dysfunctionally unworldly, and it's hard not to be an ideological chameleon in such a place, or have your brain surgically washed. Criminals and security monopolists will do what is in their interest. Believing oneself to be intellectually superior can turn one into an authoritarian and an elitist. Governments are certainly full of the first two on the list, and are the very definition of Security Monopolists. (And don't think criminals don't go into government, power not only corrupts, it attract the corruptible.)

We can all help fight the epidemic of hubris by making woke jokes. “A woke guy walks into a bar...”, use your imagination. Blonde jokes may be repurposed for this, such as this actual blonde joke example; “Three woke guys walked into a building. You would think one of them would have noticed.” Anything you can do to ridicule modern wokeness will help.

Call me a pollyana, but I believe that there is a moral order to the universe, and the equivalent of Zeus and his lightening bolts awaits those infected with the dread disease of hubris, orchestrated in the realms of heaven. But that doesn't mean we should be complacent.