1) Preamble:
“Insanity in individuals is rare, but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule.” -Nietzsche
In every society there is an Overton Window; a limited range of ideas that are acceptable to hold and express.
Ideas inside the Overton Window are politically correct, ideas outside the Overton Window are politically incorrect.
In any society, the expression of politically incorrect ideas leads to one being punished.
What varies from one society to another is not the existence of an Overton Window (in every society, some ideas are considered acceptable to express while others are unacceptable to express), but rather which ideas are inside the Overton Window and which ideas are outside the Overton Window.
What is considered politically correct in one society may be politically incorrect in another, and vice versa.
Societies also vary in how harshly they punish those who express ideas they consider politically incorrect.
Many Rightwing Americans bemoan the existence of political correctness, and think it is a Leftwing phenomenon unique to modern America (1990 – 2020), but this false. Political correctness is a phenomenon as old as time; in every human society some ideas are inside the Overton Window and others are outside the Overton Window.
In every society there is a dominant ideology, and this dominant ideology will restrict the bounds of that society’s Overton Window. Ideas that corroborate the tenets of the dominant ideology are inside the Overton Window, while ideas that contradict the tenets of the dominant ideology are outside the Overton Window.
In 2020 Saudi Arabia, the dominant ideology is Islam; there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet. Any person in the country who says something that goes against this dominant ideology (for example, someone who says “There is no god; the atheists are correct”) will be at risk of imprisonment and execution.
In 1950 Russia, the dominant ideology was Communism; the notion that a command economy run by the government was the best way of running society. Any person in the country who spoke against this ideology, or who simply criticized the way the current government was running the economy, would be thrown into a gulag.
In 1950 America, the dominant ideology was Christianity; there is a god living in the sky with a son named Jesus. Anyone who spoke against this ideology was at risk of being socially ostracized, and perhaps denied job opportunities.
In 1990 – 2020 America, the dominant ideology among Leftwing Americans has thus far been Blank Slate Theory Egalitarianism (sometimes called ‘Cultural Marxism’). Among Rightwing Americans, Christianity is still popular.
2) Blank Slate Theory Egalitarianism:
The tenets of Blank Slate Theory Egalitarianism are detailed below:
2A) Gender:
Gender is a social construct.
All psychological differences between men and women are the result of cultural training, never biology or genetics.
There are no significant differences between men and women beyond how they conceive children.
The only explanation for why men do better than women in certain domains is that women are discriminated against; it is impossible that men are on average better at certain activities while women are on average better at others.
2B) Race:
Race is a social construct.
The only meaningful difference between racial groups is skin color.
There are no psychological differences between racial groups, and even if there are, they are certainly the result of cultural training, not biology or genetics.
The only explanation for why some racial groups attain higher status in macro dominance hierarchies than others is racism. The only possible explanation for why whites have higher incomes than blacks on average is racial discrimination.
2C) Intelligence Isn’t Real, Everyone Is Equally
Competent:
Every individual is equally intelligent.
IQ isn’t real. Nobody is smarter than anyone else.
Even if we admit IQ is real, there certainly are not racial disparities in IQ, or a gender difference.
2D) Reality Check:
Of course, each of the tenets listed above is precisely the opposite of reality. In reality, men and women have profound psychological differences and many of these differences are the result of men and women facing different evolutionary pressures.
Biology and genetics do drive psychological differences between men and women, to some significant degree.
In reality there are differences between racial/ethnic groups beyond skin color, and many of these differences are driven by evolutionary pressures and genetics, not cultural training.
In reality, intelligence is real and some individuals have more of it than others. IQ tests do a good job of measuring intelligence.
IQ differences between individuals are the result of genetics, not just the environment.
There are racial/ethnic disparities in IQ, and these are the result of genetics, not just the environment.
There is a gender difference in IQ; male IQ is more variable than female IQ (most geniuses are men, and most idiots are men). This is almost certainly due to the fact that there is greater variability in what a Y-chromosome holds than in what an X-chromosome holds.
3) Sheep, Martyrs, Undercover Red Pillers:
In any society, people will relate to the dominant ideology in one of 3 ways; they will be Sheep, Martyrs, or Undercover Red Pillers.
A) Sheep:
“The people will believe whatever the media tells them.” –George Orwell
Most people are sheep; they will accept the dominant ideology of their society without question.
B) Martyrs:
“No one is hated more than he who speaks the truth.” -Plato
Martyrs are people who are intelligent enough to be capable of recognizing the parts of the dominant ideology of their society that are false, or if the entirety of the ideology that is currently dominant is false, they will reject it in its entirety.
Not only do they inwardly reject it, but they also publicly speak out against it.
Martyrs living in modern Saudi Arabia would be those who publicly point out that believing there is a god in the sky named Allah is as insane as believing in Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy.
Martyrs living in modern America would be those who publicly point out that gender is not just a social construct; that there are psychological differences between men and women driven by genetics, not just cultural training.
Regardless of what society they live in, Martyrs are invariably punished.
In some societies, the punishment is as gentle as social ostracism or perhaps being fired from one’s job (see modern America). In others, the punishment could be as harsh as imprisonment or execution (see modern Saudi Arabia).
C) Undercover Red Pillers:
Undercover Red Pillers are those who recognize the falsehoods contained within the dominant ideology of the society they are living in, and who inwardly reject it.
However, in public they pay lip service to the tenets of the dominant ideology, in order to avoid punishment.
Inwardly they match the martyrs, while outwardly they match the sheep.
These are essentially people who effectively apply Law 38 (Think As You Like But Behave Like Others).
An Undercover Red Piller living in 2020 Saudi Arabia would be an atheist in private, but a Muslim in public, or at least not actively say anything against Islam.
4) Overton Shift:
The Overton Window is rarely static; it’s usually moving, if only slowly.
The goalposts of political correctness are always moving; what is politically correct today may be politically incorrect next week, and what is politically incorrect today may be politically correct next week.
Paying lip service to what is politically correct is easy; it is a minor inconvenience.
The difficult part is keeping track of what is currently politically correct.
5) Punishments for Political Incorrectness:
‘Free Speech’ does not exist, it never did, and sadly it probably never will; in every human society people must self censor and filter what they say in order to avoid punishment.
Societies do vary in how harshly they punish speech outside the current Overton Window, but the existence of punishment for the expression of certain ideas is something universal across all societies.
6) Gender Differences With Overton Windows:
“It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers-out of unorthodoxy.” -George Orwell, 1984
Women tend towards submitting to the dominant ideology of the society they live in far more intensely than men do.
In 2020 America, you will find that women in Leftwing communities submit to Blank Slate Theory Egalitarianism more intensely than the men, and you will find that women in Rightwing communities submit to Christianity more intensely than the men.
The evolutionary reason for this is straightforward; women tend towards agreement with the group consensus as a means of avoiding ostracism.
For a man in a hunter gatherer tribe, ostracism would have damaged his odds of survival, but he could conceivably survive on his own for some period of time, at least long enough to find a new tribe.
A woman on the other hand would have no hope of surviving without the aid of her tribe for any significant amount of time, particularly if she was burdened by pregnancy.
For a man ostracism was bad but survivable, whereas for a woman it would have been a death sentence. As such women evolved to be more concerned with avoiding ostracism, and by extension more submissive to whatever ideology was currently dominant.
Not only do women submit themselves to the dominant ideology of their society, but they also desire that others submit. Women tend to police the speech and thinking of others far more intensely than men do; women are more likely than men to desire that those who express ideas outside the current Overton Window (ideas that are politically incorrect) be punished.
Being a zealous supporter of the Thought Police is a female dominated activity.
ThoughtCrime is the holding of ideas outside the current Overton Window and SpeechCrime is the public expression of such ideas.
Men are far more likely than women to commit ThoughtCrime and SpeechCrime.
Women are far more likely than men to desire that those who engage in ThoughtCrime and SpeechCrime be punished.
It also seems to be the case that women are on average better than men at keeping track of what is currently politically correct; keeping track of where the bounds of the current Overton Window are.
7) Autists Are Martyrs:
Autistic men represent an extreme among men. Not only do they instinctively say what they actually think (StraightTalk) rather than pay lip service to what is currently politically correct (PowerTalk), they seem completely incapable of keeping track of what is and is not politically correct.
Autists are incapable of keeping track of where the current Overton Window is.
You will find that almost 100% of women are Sheep and 90% of men are Sheep. 9% of men are Undercover Red Pillers. 1% of men or less are Martyrs.
Autistic men are disproportionately likely to be Martyrs.
8) Public Opinion is an Effect, not a Cause:
“…all states are ruled by elites who subdue their subjects with illusions…Public opinion is an effect, not a cause. Told the same story, most people will have the same opinion. Story drives opinion; opinion drives action. -Curtis Yarvin, The ClearPill
There is of course the matter of how an ideology becomes dominant within a society, and how it maintains its dominance.
In most societies, the mainstream media and education system (academia) are nothing more than mass distribution networks for propaganda. They are used to distribute propaganda that persuades the masses to buy into the ideology that the controllers of the media and academia want to sell.
The purpose of the mainstream media (or any media outlet) is not to tell the truth, but rather to manipulate public opinion as the controllers of the media see fit. The news is not reported; it is manufactured. To any competent machiavellian this sounds obvious, yet you will find that most people walking around the streets of any given society don’t realize it.
In any given society it is impossible to overestimate the ubiquity of its dominant ideology; the dominant ideology will be ubiquitous within the media, education system, and even in the country’s laws.
9) Ubiquity, Blank Slate Theory Egalitarianism:
In modern America Blank Slate Theory Egalitarianism has infected every corner of society, including Academia.
There are scientists who have to go out of their way to avoid publishing data that shows psychological differences between men and women, or psychological differences between racial/ethnic groups, that are likely driven by genetics.
If they were to publish such data, they would be at risk of being called ‘sexist’ or ‘racist’ and fired.
It is true to say that factual correctness and political correctness are mutually exclusive. It is politically correct to say that IQ isn’t real; everyone is equally smart. It is factually correct to say that IQ is real; some people are smarter than others, and genetics plays a significant role in it.
10) Forbidden Ideas Are Often True:
“Reality is not politically correct.” -Illimitable Man
It is often always the case that the truth lays outside the current Overton Window.
Sadly, few people are capable of real critical thinking; exploring ideas that lay outside the Overton Window of the society they were born into.
In 2020 Saudi Arabia, it is politically correct to say there is a god living in the sky named Allah. The truth is that Allah is as real as Santa Clause.
In 2020 America, it is politically correct to say gender is a social construct; that all psychological differences between men and women are the result of cultural training, and not at all genetics. The truth is that there are many psychological differences between men and women that are the result of biology/genetics, not merely cultural training.
There is a 100% chance that you were born into a society where there is a dominant ideology, and there is a 100% chance that the dominant ideology is wrong, at least in some ways. Many of the things you were taught are true from the day you were born, you will find are false.
At as young an age as possible, take note of what the dominant ideology of your society is, and figure out what lies it is telling. Perhaps it’s 100% lies, perhaps it’s only partially false.
For the rest of your life, apply Law 38: outwardly pay lip service to the dominant ideology, while inwardly being aware of the truth.
What are the ideas that you are required to believe, and that you would be punished if you criticized? There is a very high probability that those ideas are lies.
What are the questions you would be punished for asking? There is a very high probability that those questions will lead you to the truth.
11) Intellectual Discourse, Constrained By Political Correctness:
Politicians, journalists, and academics can never engage in real intellectual discourse because if they say anything outside the current Overton Window they will be at risk of getting fired.
The only time people have real ‘free speech’ is when they are anonymous.
Whenever someone speaks without the shield of anonymity, they must self censor and filter what they say to avoid expressing any unpopular ideas that would result in reputational damage, ostracism, job loss, imprisonment, execution, or some other form of punishment.
12) Law 38, Don’t Be A Martyr:
Finding the truth is irreversible.
Once you see the truth you can never unsee it, even if you want to.
If you find any truths that are politically incorrect in the time and place where you live, never express them publicly, lest you be punished.
Be an Undercover Red Piller, not a Martyr.
Apply Law 38 like your life depends on it; it does.
You will need to apply Law 38 even when in conversation only with close friends and family members; it’s very possible one of those close to you would reveal to the public or those in power that you have politically incorrect beliefs, and thereby bring harm upon you.
Most people in the general population are Sheep brainwashed by whatever ideology is currently dominant; odds are, your close friends and family members will not be exceptions to this.
Law 4 + Law 38 works like a charm; say nothing and most people will automatically assume you hold the same opinions they do, or at least that your opinions are politically correct.
Avoid talking about controversial topics.
If someone else brings up a controversial topic, say nothing.
If you are pressed for your opinion, say something politically correct, or that implies you agree with the opinion of the other person. A neutral comment that will be politically correct for almost any controversial topic is this; “It’s an unfortunate state of affairs.”
13) Relevant Reading:
Critical Thinking and Citations Needed Fallacy (Illimitable Man)
What You Can’t Say (Paul Graham)
Novelty and Heresy (Paul Graham)
Law 38 (The 48 Laws of Power)
Forbidden Knowledge (Sam Harris, Charles Murray)
Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber (James Damore)
14) Further Reflections:
14A) Critical Thinkers Are Rare:
Most people do not think for themselves, should not think for themselves, and cannot be expected to think for themselves.
Public opinion is determined by whoever controls the mainstream media.
People who automatically accept the dominant ideology of the society they are living in are common. People who engage in real critical thinking are rare.
14B) Mainstream Is Always Wrong:
One thing is certain: the mainstream always lies, the masses are always wrong.
If what you actually believe is something that the masses would agree with, you are certainly wrong.
If the masses disagree with your actual beliefs, then perhaps you are right, and perhaps you are wrong. Further investigation is needed.
14C) Facts vs Narratives:
When the facts contradict the narrative those in power are trying to push, the facts will be dismissed, and whoever dares to present them will be hit with an ad hominem attack.
It is the purview of the monied elite to control public opinion, to control the Overton Window, and ensure that their interests are secured.
In 2020 America, the mainstream narrative is that the reason whites have higher incomes than blacks is because of racial discrimination and white supremacy.
An inconvenient fact is that whites on average have higher IQs than blacks, and if you adjust for IQ you find that white men and black men have equal incomes over the course of a lifetime. Anyone who publicly presents this fact will be called a ‘Racist’ and dismissed. See the fate of Charles Murray (author of The Bell Curve).
‘Racist’ is an ad hominem used against those who tell the truth about racial disparities in IQ (and that racial disparities in IQ explain racial disparities in income).
‘Sexist’ is an ad hominem used against those who tell the truth about behavioral and psychological differences between men and women, and the degree to which these differences are driven by biology/genetics rather than cultural training.
14D) Science Denialism, Leftwing and Rightwing
Individuals and entire societies will deny scientific facts if those facts contradict their ideology.
Leftwing Americans deny the scientific facts surrounding IQ, male IQ being more variable than female IQ, and racial disparities in IQ, because these facts contradict their ideology of Blank Slate Theory Egalitarianism.
Rightwing Americans deny the scientific facts surrounding Climate Change because these facts contradict their desire to believe that burning fossil fuels isn’t a problem.
14E) Leftwing DoubleThink:
Leftwing Americans of 2020 have the following form of doublethink:
1: Evolution is real. Natural selection is what drives evolution. We should teach evolution in school. Christian Creationists are ridiculous.
2: There are no psychological differences between men and women driven by evolution. There are no psychological differences between different racial/ethnic groups driven by evolution, besides skin color.
Essentially, Leftwing Americans would have us believe that evolution stops at the neck; that evolution has no impacts on psychology.
14F) Winning Streak, American Leftwing:
From 1860 – 2020, the American Leftwing has had a 160 year long winning streak.
The Overton Window of America has been shifting Leftward for at least 160 years.
When you walk onto a university campus in America, you will witness what the Overton Window will look like in America 20 years in the future; universities tend to be more left leaning than the general population.
The Overton Winow found on an American university campus in 2000, is the same as the Overton Window of America as an entire country in the year 2020.
‘Political Correctness’ is a euphemism for ‘Speech Control’.
15) Illimitable Man’s Reflections:
15A) Critical Thinking, Citations Needed Fallacy:
“Ideological frameworks are belief systems that fill the vacuum left by an absence of religiosity, for whether one wishes to believe in God or not, humans have a propensity to seek a single unifying framework with which to make sense of the world. And so if one is to abandon religion due to a loss of faith, they will invariably act to fill their answerless identitarian void by adopting a completely new ideological system altogether.
In devoutly religious societies, the ruling religion embeds its ideological hegemony into the very essence of the nation by codifying its values into the architecture of its institutions: academia, the media, and law being the most prominent. In Saudi Arabia, this ideology would be Wahhabi Islam, under the Third Reich it was Nazism, and in the contemporary west, its the oppression Olympics more commonly known as political correctness but more accurately termed cultural Marxism.
As was stated in Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power, humans have an insatiable need to believe in something, and that something can be anything, but they have to believe in something, and it need not even be positive – only concretised as a suitable explanation for everything in the mind of the adherent. And although the word ‘belief’ has an overwhelmingly positive connotation attached to it, even a nihilist believes. The nihilist may believe “everything is pointless because it is the product of randomness rather than purposefulness”, and yet this is a belief nonetheless.
The intelligent have a propensity to self-develop hybrid systems of belief consisting of aspects from many different ideologies, religions and philosophies, whereas the masses adopt pre-existing ideology wholesale, leaving vast
opportunity to mislead and control them via brainwashing, groupthink and social engineering…”
15B) Womanly Duplicity and Its Constituent Parts:
“Where men adopt their own principles, women adopt the principles of the most powerful people in their lives.
Where men fight enemy tribes and die in war, women fall in love with their captors using their innate capacity for cunning to completely remould themselves and even thrive – a feat even the most objectively talented man would be hard pressed to perform.”
15C) Twitter:
“In countries with no freedom of press, the authoritarian government controls the media arm, and pushes narratives which promote national unity to make effective governance easier.
In democracies, they’re a cluster fuck of competing special interest groups vying for profit & power.
The primary goal and purpose of the media is not to inform the public, but to influence the population’s perspective on a wide range of issues to facilitate the political and economic interests of the media controllers.
Informing the public is always a loose secondary objective.
“It’s about winning hearts and minds”.
Literally, and I mean quite literally no one, cares about facts or truth once the narrative popularises & reaches a widely agreed upon consensus.
At this point, you’re post-truth and the big lie has prevailed.
These are the times we live in.
Never put it beyond a propagandist to fabricate, smear, gaslight, deny, spin or otherwise outright make bullshit up.
Remember, they don’t care about the truth, all they care about is achieving their aims.
It’s an information war, and your mind is the battleground.
Know when you’re being manipulated. Don’t be a pawn in someone else’s game
A good propaganda campaign highlights supporting evidence, and neglects, dismisses or outright ignores variables which impair its message.
It cannot be fair and balanced in its weighing of truth, for to do so would be to reduce its persuasiveness – undermining the intended goal.
Truth is the first casualty in the creation of narrative, when you need to ignore inconvenient facts to make it work, or cherry pick your gripes to form a skewed perception.”
“Feelings don’t care about your facts. Which is why they are to be manipulated, not reasoned with.”
“Most men are afraid to say what they really think about things around women, and so tone down, filter and censor themselves around them as not to upset them.”
“Women rarely go against crowd consensus. Men do this shit all the time. There are evolutionary reasons for this, but I cannot be bothered to explain them right now.”
16) Roosh:
“Discovering a lie is almost always the tip of an iceberg that there have been additional lies which—at the minimum—relate to the initial lie.” -Roosh
17) Noam Chomsky:
“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum – even encourage the more critical and dissident views.
That gives people the sense that there’s free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.”