Prometheus In An Unholy Land
December 19, 2019
By NZB3
It’s an enduring theme in Western Culture to think about what we do with people who are excellent.
The oldest telling I know is Prometheus’ story from Greek myth. The God who brought mankind the technology of fire and was repaid with torment. Then there’s Adam and Eve who eat from the Tree of Knowledge in Eden and are cast out and cursed for it. In New Zealand it’s called Tall Poppy Syndrome.
“A popular piece of wisdom holds that “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”…The reality in a Slave Culture such as our own is different. In a culture as blind as ours, anyone who can see clearly will be blinded….In today’s society, anyone who claims to possess any spiritual knowledge whatsoever is considered psychotic.”- In The Land Of The Blind, The One-Eyed Man Will Be Blinded; Dan McGlashan, VJM
I’m glad McGlashan brought this up in another one of his great pieces of writing. He has placed emphasis on spiritual knowledge which is met with particular hostility in these Concrete Culture times¹. I’m especially glad the author singled out our current mainstream culture, Slave Culture, as the holder of this punishing point of view. It’s easy to get Black Pilled and think everyone has this attitude. It seems like that sometimes, as if the entire world just wants Prometheus, Adam, Eve, and the One-Eyed Man to hurt because they are good. The Theory of Moral Cultures liberates us from that depression and resentment.
Standing Upright Here
The tale of being attacked for being excellent is a major theme in the works of Ayn Rand. There’s also a classic New Zealand poem from Allen Curnow comparing the Kiwi school kid to the hunched bones of the museum moa…
“Thousands of years ago the first man discovered how to make fire. He was probably burnt at the stake he’d taught his brothers to light, but he left them a gift they had not conceived and he lifted darkness from the face of the Earth.”- Ayn Rand
“Not I, some child, born in a marvellous year,
Will learn the trick of standing upright here.”– Curnow
Not all Moral Cultures are in agreement when it comes to their attitudes toward what to do with Tall Poppies. Slave Culture and Honour Culture both look at the world in a very Concrete way. Leadership or proficiency in one area is mistaken for a sort of moral superiority because their mind lacks nuance. They see the other person as showing off, as issuing a challenge. A proficiency in someone else is automatically perceived as an ego-attack on one’s own position- a statement that you are deficient. The response will be to retaliate.
Victimhood and Dignity Cultures embrace and celebrate individual differences. VC pays great lip service to all the difference genders and ethnicities and physical and mental disabilities and races and religions it can get its hands on. Diversity is a watchword, so is Intersectionalism. However, when the rubber hits the road VC actually psychotically adamant that absolutely everybody needs to think and be and act the same way: Politically Correct and Socially Just. Homogenised.
“…but in a Victimhood era the special kids are an offence to the equality god and must be weeded out….the r-selected Victimhood Culture chop’o-matic propaganda ‘Algar Exercise’….” – “If Someone doesn’t understand privilege, show them this”; NZB3
In some marvellous year a New Zealander will learn the trick of standing upright here. What would help, what would really guide the way and provide a supportive environment, would be for that year to be within a Dignity Culture Era. These are places and times where it’s not only OK to be excellent and specialised at something but actually supported and celebrated. Even philosophers! Rather than try to poke your eye out, we would value and reward people for what they do. If you had an extra eye…why, you would be a king!
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1 The Concrete Moral Cultures are Slave Culture and Honour Culture. By my count SC is in Summer and Honour Culture in Spring at the moment so there isn’t much space in the mainstream discourse for abstract ideas!
Image ref. Prometheus tortured by the eagle; Christian Griepenkerl
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