“Those are my principles, and if you don't like them...well, I have others.” -- Groucho Marx
Actually, Leftists do have principles, they're just very bad principles:
Power above all else
Might makes right
Truth is relative
Perception is reality
The end justifies the means
The reason the Left's position appears to be referential from their POV and rapidly moving from everyone else's point of view is because their principles aren't based on facts about reality or human behavior, they're based on goals.
They could care less about what is right or wrong, or objective truths about the universe... they only care about achieving a specific ends, and if something works in favor of achieving that end, it's by definition "good". Everyone and everything is just a means to achieving an end, and their desired end is inherently good by virtue of who they are, so it follows that anything that helps them achieve that end is naturally good as well.
That's exactly what I mean by a philosophy of War.
It's why I quoted Clausewitz. War's only point is to dominate the will of your opponent. Even the state objectives of belligerents in war are usually irrelevant compared to the domination of your enemy's will.
That is the entire premise of the Left.
Now, like I said, Clausewitz is NOT describing war as a philosophy, because it isn't a philosophy. Leftism is inherently self-destructive because War can't be made into a philosophy. It is simply an action an action.
Even the idea of self-worship is merely just one more rationalizaiton onto the pile. That happens to be Leftism's currentwestern form. It will be discarded in due time when it becomes less tactically useful.
I think this Philosophy of War you mention aligns well with what I believe is the the root driving motivation of the Left: a hatred for existence itself.
This idea began to coalesce for me after hearing a talk by Jordan Peterson:
“They get angry at existence—which is what happened to Cain, as we saw in the Cain and Abel story. And then, the next step is to start taking revenge against existence. That cascades until it’s revenge against—well, I think the best way of thinking about it is revenge against God, for the crime of Being—which is, I think, the deepest sort of hatred that you can entertain.” - Jordan Peterson, “Biblical Series XIII: Jacob’s Ladder”
Of course, I don’t think most Leftists consciously walk around hating everything that exists, but it’s true that everyone has an intuitive moral framework that forms their initial thoughts and beliefs about things (see: Jonathan Haidt), and I think people on the Left have a moral intuition that tells them existence is unfair and filled with suffering, therefore it’s worthy of destruction and thus worthy of waging war against, ideally to recreate it in their image in the end.
People who are motivated primarily by this hatred would think tearing down everything that is true — and therefore worth preserving in our eyes — would actually be a good thing. They would be on the war path against everything real, which pretty much perfectly describes the Left at this point.
The hatred of the world is both the rationalization for why you adopt a Philosophy of War and why you maintain it.
If you feel some great slight against the world, and you feel the only way forward is by taking what you want, then you adopt a philosophy of War.
If, on the other hand, you already have a philosophy of War, then you are putting the entire world as your enemy, within the friend enemy distinction. At that point, there no difference between raging against existence, and declaring everyone to be your enemy.
My only criticism of your analysis is this:
People who are motivated primarily by this hatred
It's a subtle difference, but I think they are primarily motivated by resentment rather than hatred.
Leftism reminds me of a quote:
Actually, Leftists do have principles, they're just very bad principles:
The reason the Left's position appears to be referential from their POV and rapidly moving from everyone else's point of view is because their principles aren't based on facts about reality or human behavior, they're based on goals.
They could care less about what is right or wrong, or objective truths about the universe... they only care about achieving a specific ends, and if something works in favor of achieving that end, it's by definition "good". Everyone and everything is just a means to achieving an end, and their desired end is inherently good by virtue of who they are, so it follows that anything that helps them achieve that end is naturally good as well.
It's the ultimate manifestation of self-worship.
EDIT: Added some more.
That's exactly what I mean by a philosophy of War.
It's why I quoted Clausewitz. War's only point is to dominate the will of your opponent. Even the state objectives of belligerents in war are usually irrelevant compared to the domination of your enemy's will.
That is the entire premise of the Left.
Now, like I said, Clausewitz is NOT describing war as a philosophy, because it isn't a philosophy. Leftism is inherently self-destructive because War can't be made into a philosophy. It is simply an action an action.
Even the idea of self-worship is merely just one more rationalizaiton onto the pile. That happens to be Leftism's current western form. It will be discarded in due time when it becomes less tactically useful.
I think this Philosophy of War you mention aligns well with what I believe is the the root driving motivation of the Left: a hatred for existence itself.
This idea began to coalesce for me after hearing a talk by Jordan Peterson:
Of course, I don’t think most Leftists consciously walk around hating everything that exists, but it’s true that everyone has an intuitive moral framework that forms their initial thoughts and beliefs about things (see: Jonathan Haidt), and I think people on the Left have a moral intuition that tells them existence is unfair and filled with suffering, therefore it’s worthy of destruction and thus worthy of waging war against, ideally to recreate it in their image in the end.
People who are motivated primarily by this hatred would think tearing down everything that is true — and therefore worth preserving in our eyes — would actually be a good thing. They would be on the war path against everything real, which pretty much perfectly describes the Left at this point.
The hatred of the world is both the rationalization for why you adopt a Philosophy of War and why you maintain it.
If you feel some great slight against the world, and you feel the only way forward is by taking what you want, then you adopt a philosophy of War.
If, on the other hand, you already have a philosophy of War, then you are putting the entire world as your enemy, within the friend enemy distinction. At that point, there no difference between raging against existence, and declaring everyone to be your enemy.
My only criticism of your analysis is this:
It's a subtle difference, but I think they are primarily motivated by resentment rather than hatred.
cuckservatives: yes, but imagine if our side said the same thing but with the race reversed 🤯