The Poison of Consequentialist Historiography

https://web.archive.org/web/20180615140225/https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/right-wing-celebrities-play-fast-and-loose-with-history/

In keeping with the Establishment, DNC and media's shift to the Right (on certain issues) the once discredited pariah and pseudo-historian Jonah Goldberg is now mainstream and frequently appears on NPR. His 'liberal fascism' narrative continues to tickle Right-wing ears and though prima facie false, it is conveniently ignored by the Democrats and media who have at this point in time all but embraced the ideology of the Neo-Conservatives and their foreign policy.

Dinesh D'Souza is a patent fraud, a living absurdity that produces material that can only be described as deceitful and childish rubbish - which is in keeping with his own life and professed morality. And yet he remains very popular within the Right and especially the Christian Right. I was appalled at his popularity during the Obama period. In reality it was but a harbinger for what was to come.

And it must be said that it's a pretty sad commentary when these figures have to be taken to task by a Libertarian such as Paul Gottfried. Let's just say that not a few within that camp are known to twist the historical record in order for it to fit their own larger socio-economic paradigm.

I continue to be amazed at the popularity of Dennis Prager, though as I've said before his success is in keeping with the dominant zeitgeist. His followers think they're informed because they've watched a bunch of five-minute videos. Maybe someday they'll realize that Prager is just a huckster, a snake-oil salesman seeking to manipulate his audience. And why, oh why would Evangelicals be interested in anything this unbeliever has to say about the Bible? I suppose when they think the Biblical position is to support the Likud genocide in Gaza, then anything is possible.

As the article aptly demonstrates, the prevailing narratives of these 'experts' takes all of a few minutes to completely dismantle. They're banking on the fact that their audience is ignorant - to a greater degree than they are. I did laugh out loud about Goldberg's attempt to turn de Maistre into a Left-wing extremist.

But none of this matters to these folks. They're not trying to be historians. They produce this stuff to make money. If the money flows in, then all is permitted. That's their ethic. That's why they're deceived and under judgment - and they are judgment on those who follow them. They also play roles within the scope of a larger political movement. Victory is all that matters. Its victory that brings them more opportunities to seek fame and fortune - more absurd books, more interviews on the FOX, Blaze, and Newsmax channels. The movement has now made an extreme version of these men into its messiah - and he sits in the Oval Office. It doesn't matter that he's a deranged buffoon, rapist, or a criminal. The empire is in crisis - but even as it falls there are opportunities to cash in. The end justifies the means. That is the guiding ethic of their historiography - which is why the end product is not history but disinformation meant to stoke fear and anger. Their movement has figured out how to capitalize off these emotions. They have channels, books, and whole subcultures built on this. And because of the myriad false teachers who sit atop the Evangelical movement, it is now deeply entrenched in the Church.

This should upset you. This should agitate you. These are people of the lie. We need to understand what is happening and how people we care about are being affected by this. I think of this every time I walk into some old lady's house and see a Glenn Beck or Bill O'Reilly book on the end table, or see FOX on the television, or hear the Evangelical radio station coming out of the kitchen. In addition to all the other deceptions, the tragedy is everyone has been forced into the false binary - if you're not with the D'Souzas, Becks, Carlsons, and the like then you must be a pro-abortion, pro-sodomy, Marxist Democrat.

This is a false dichotomy. We absolutely condemn both camps that dominate the social and political spectrum in the United States and the larger West. They're both from the pit, but only one has been able to deeply entrench itself within the viable Church - I do not count modernist mainline churches as being anything other than Samaritan or Enlightenment representations of pseudo-Christianity. But remember in Old Covenant times there were two 'internal' errors or corrupting forces. There was the syncretism of the Northern Kingdom which was patently apostate, but in Judah, apart from a couple of epochs - error reigned. They took God's name on their lips, had the Temple and the priesthood, but swore falsely by God's name, committed sacrilege and idolatry, and became 'as Sodom' to God in their pride and covetousness. The error so many make when reading these passages is that they think (again) in terms of the false cultural and political dichotomy - the wayward people and apostates are the liberals and democrats of today. No, in terms of an analogy they would be the Philistines and Edomites, the people that are unbelievers, outside the covenant of God. They too are condemned by the prophets but not according to the dictates of the covenant. That condemnation is reserved for the unfaithful apostates who had Jehovah's name on their lips and offered sacrifices at the Temple but taught and lived in such a way that testified to their worldliness - to their idolatry and unbelief. It is no different today. If Jeremiah appeared in 21st century America it is the Evangelicals that would call the loudest for his death - for he would condemn them. He wrote about them. The same spirit of error lives on and is ever with us.