Well, here it is, at long last.
The blog I’ve been promising.
Why in the world did I delete my Facebook account?
Am I a brash and fickle kid who is seeking attention and hopes to drum up a little drama among his friends? Maybe get my way by throwing a temper tantrum or two? Perhaps, maybe, if I delete my profile, people will take me seriously?
No, no, no!
The ironic fact of the matter is, I’m one of those pitiful souls who takes all this “Kinism” rhetoric seriously.
My dad is kicking himself right now. He hates the fact that he fed me a diet of Lewis and Tolkien (with side-dishes of Frank and Joe Hardy). Who would have thought that I’d take all that seriously? No one else does.
Contemporary society teaches people about right and wrong and then later, how to not-apply that particular knowledge.
Who takes Tolkien seriously, after all?
Well, damn it all, I do!
You know who else I take seriously? The Southern Agrarians. The British Distributists. Richard Weaver! John Ruskin, Edward Burke, and Chateaubriand!
Do the self-proclaimed “Kinists” take their own rhetoric seriously?
I don’t know, but if I had to guess, I’d say, “probably not” or else their violent acts would make national news.
“Democracy,” afterall, has become a cuss-word among our ilk (we kinists.)
And yet, when disagreements arise among us, what do we do? We vote on it!
Really????
Yes, really.
We’re democrats to the core, all of us…we’re all rationalists. We damn ourselves.
Well, I can’t do it anymore. I can’t preach one thing and practice another.
If I’m to be a consistent “agrarian” “kinist” and all the other “isms” and “ists” that I’m to be… then so help me, I’ll be them.
I’ll be a knight and by God my armor will be shiny… (even though I have my doubts that there are any women out there looking for knights in shining armor. Do you know what it’s like for a knight to be ridiculed by the lady he’s come to rescue? It’s a nightmare.)
I’m not angry at my Kinist brethren, not at all.
I love you guys. Any of you reading this, please know, I love you…I do. And, I miss you.
But, our association and friendship through “Facebook” is a charade! A facade! It’s not real.
How can you know someone over a distance? You cannot! There are subtleties to a person that are missed in internet relationships! Small twists of the corners of one’s mouth, arched eyebrows, and slight changes in tones of voice. A person’s physique is, unfortunately for many, a part of who the person is and a striking physical appearance plays a role in how we respond to and interact with another person.
God made us that way! He made us with bodies…and we shouldn’t so callously abandon them, taking up an abstracted form of communication in their place!
Sorcerers and Satanists of old (among whom I count the alchemists) believed that they could reduce everything to some base-form of information. For the sorcerers, they believed everything could be reduced to complex combinations of vibrations. Utter the right vibration (IE: magic word) and you could manipulate reality.
In its modern form, this mindset is known as “industrialism.”
Everything is being reduced to mathematical information. Ones and Zeroes! Everything, even our food, is being “industrialized!.”
It’s being reduced to its most basic “information” so that it can be easily assembled and manipulated.
That damnable jew Zuckerberg (who invented Facebook) isn’t creative in and of himself. He merely had the foresight to apply his worldview of industrialization to society.
In Facebook now, you can form different “groups” where you sift and sort your friends into categories so that you can better keep up with different groups of them.
How disgusting!
We’re “industrializing” our friendships!
Of course, this is happening more and more with our sexual relationships as well. I remember growing up, if you engaged in an internet relationship with some girl, you did your best to hide the fact. You were considered a huge dork if your internet relationship was found out.
Not these days. In fact, more and more (women especially) are turning to websites like E-harmony, to find their dates.
Imagine that, you program in a few particulars and preferences and big-business finds you a husband!
We’re abstracting ourselves out of our own humanity!
We are the society of moon-men that Lewis wrote about in “That Hideous Strength.”
Nature is becoming obsolete.
I’ll not sift and sort my friends, sorry. I either know you in real life, or I do not. I’ll not participate in some abstract network.
Why?
In my particular “kinist” network on Facebook, there were some truly incredible individuals.
However, there was one very contentious female. (She knows who she is.)
Every chance she got, she defied me, usually in very un-lady-like manners. If we had known each other in real life, she wouldn’t ever dare to be as contentious or cruel as she was on Facebook. I’ve met women like her (and silenced them) multiple times, but due to the artificial environment in which we were associating, she was able to ramble on and continue in her contentiousness.
Not in real life. It wouldn’t have happened.
So, one by one, I went down my list, deleting those who I have come to love.
I hovered my mouse over CM, a guy in Canada whom I’ve come to appreciate and respect. But do I really know CM? Really? What does he sound like in real life? What sort of person is he really? What would it be like to go drinking at a pub on Saturday night with him?
I have no clue.
How about E or Ms. MN? Do I know them either? It was very, very hard to click on their names and hit the “remove friend” button. How can I remove dear M? Such a stalwart friend and confidant? I wouldn’t have learned about the novel “The Mouse that Roared” if not for her. Such a benefit to my life she’s been.
Nevertheless, do I really know her? Am I cheapening my relationship with M and E and Ms. L by not knowing them in real life, as God has created them?
To answer that rhetorical question, yes…I would be cheapening it.
It was G.K. Chesterton who brought all this to my attention. Even in his day, men were tempted to industrialize their friendships, and he rightly saw through the attempt.
“We can see this change, for instance, in the modern transformation of the thing called a club. When London was smaller, and the parts of London more self-contained and parochial, the club was what it still is in villages, the opposite of what it is now in great cities. Then the club was valued as a place where a man could be sociable. Now the club is valued as a place where a man can be unsociable. The more the enlargement and elaboration of our civilization goes on the more the club ceases to be a place where a man can have a noisy argument, and becomes more and more a place where a man can have what is somewhat fantastically called a quiet chop. Its aim is to make a man comfortable, and to make a man comfortable is to make him the opposite of sociable. Sociability, like all good things, is full of discomforts, dangers and renunciations. The club tends to produce the most degraded of all combinations — the luxurious anchorite, the man who combines the self-indulgence of the Lucullus with the insane loneliness of St. Simeon Stylites.”
I encourage everyone to read Chapter 14 of Chesterton’s “Heretics.”
He argues that we should associate with our families and neighbors as opposed to seeking out ideological compatriots in a “social club” (which is a wonderful analogy to today’s “Facebook.”)
We’ll become artificial, brittle ideologues.
The “Scott” known on Facebook wasn’t the real “Scott.” Now that the real Scott has divested himself of Facebook (and all its artificial relationships) he’s becoming so much more productive in his actual life.
“Kinism” is seeping into his daily associations, where before, it was confined to his Facebook.
In short, I’m describing a pragmatic benefit to axing my account: I’m focusing more on my life and as a result, I’m much more productive.
I’ll reiterate that I love all my kinist friends and cherish our online conversations. I miss you all terribly, even now.
But I have to face reality and live my life in the context God has placed me in.
I have a very small Facebook account as of now. It consists only of those people I’ve met in real life and have formed friendships with.
I think John Ruskin and Chesterton would approve of Facebook in that capacity.
I hope to meet you, dear friends, one day…
Wow Scott…food for thought! I’m glad to be able to keep up with you via SBS. Keep posting younger brother!
You need to fly up to north Idaho and hang with us. We have a guest room that has your name on it.
1) What of all the great men who only dialogued with other great men via postal mail throughout history? Would they not carry a discussion with them, due to the fact that they had not met face to face?
2) As to the Democracy bit… Do you believe that managing a small social group should require the same management approach as running a nationstate?
I have to say that my interactions with other kinists on facebook were great overall. Sure, there were disagreements now and then, but overall it was very good. With that said, there is that part about being merely a name on the screen without flesh and blood interaction that I didn’t really like either. Facebook is in many ways the platform of modern superficiality. Important arguments are buried in mere days (or even hours) beneath an avalanche of posts. My interactions with other Christians on facebook were very problematic and that was one of the parts that I hated the most because truth be told, I don’t think that I ever convinced anyone of anything despite spending hours debating them. This is not to mention the fact that having a big corporation monitoring and controlling such a vital means of communication is scary to put it in the least. If used properly, one can use it well as a news source (which was one of my favorite parts of it) and one can at times make real world acquaintances (in the area) on it. Knowledge transfer is the fancy word for it I believe (which is to some degree the same reason that we blog our views on different subjects). If you expect it to replace genuine flesh and blood friends, that is incorrect. If you expect it to not suck your time out of you, that is also incorrect.
While I’m sure that my facebook buddies and I would hit it off excellently and we believe the same things, I place value upon my real world friends despite their horrible theology and practical beliefs at times. Of course, if you bring up some moderate kinist viewpoints, a gloom and doom person might be very surprised how most people react to them. Of course, one can take the time that one spends online and invest it in improving ones mind, relationships, and who knows, maybe even write a several hundred page novel.
When I was on facebook, I made an effort to be genuine. The only differences are that in real life I rarely can pull off a joke successfully and I am not a great orator.
(btw, the violent rhetoric is a bad idea to express online. Given the violence of the current system in many ways, it is understandable, but unhelpful. Education and relationships help, AR-15s don’t.)
Joshua K.
Scott, Kinism is now seeping into my life away from fb, or any other place where posts are placed because of my introduction into it on fb. If not for those folks on fb I wouldn’t be integrating the focus that Kinism sees thru.
I have also met another face to face at a eformed conference & that particular gal said “I feel like I know you.” I responded, “You do know me.” It’s that simple.
One of the younger Kinist brothers went on a drive thru several states on what is now known as the Kinistpalooza & spent time as well as overnight stays with several of the very same folks that you ask, “how can we really know”. We can & we do, you know ?
-tkbk-.
I understand your reasons for leaving, and yet, I miss you, brother.
Well, Scott, some of us poor souls like me and Laurel are trapped in wasteland alone and are trying to not to be driven mad by the Fools, Orcs and Skrælings. God Bless.
But being more productive is always good. I have me lathe running and doing best to learn it’s usage, played with it for some time this evening.
We will all meet someday, Scott. If not on this earth, then in Heaven. But yes, I agree with you. You don’t really know people over facebook.
And as Faust knows, I did the same thing with cutting down my friends list as well, shortly after you did. And yes, it was hard to delete people I had grown to respect and love like a brother/sister, and I do miss everyone.
Sorry, but I am one of those people that don’t want to keep up with some of my ‘friends’ (I know in real life) on facebook. Even some of my family I would not friend if they weren’t my family. So I do categorize my friends list.
And though these are not the reasons I want to quit facebook, they do hold a valid point and I hope someone will take your words in consideration.
Scott, stop being a big wussy and come on the Dec 5 podcast to talk about this stuff.
I’ll tell you all where I want to go…
Where beards are thick
and the beer, it flows!
I’ll follow my heart where ‘ere it goes,
Till I’m at rest in Idaho!
Chad, there’s a certain mystique about the north-west and I can’t wait to visit you guys (especially after all that “Radio Idaho” business. )
I’ve always thought of you guys as the perfect Kinist community.
We have something like it down here in the Knoxville area (complete with a succession movement: Frankland! T-Shirts are available online!)
There’s a strong group of friends here (many ex-military) who are racially self-conscious and of a seperatist mindset. The problem is, we’re not religiously unified like you guys are. (Unfortunately.)
I might show up on your doorstep one day! And I extend the same hospitality to you guys… if any of you are in the mood for a vacation at the Outer Banks of NC, let me know.
As for your questions, I’ll answer (1) here and (2) in a blog (since it touches on themes I was writing about anyway.)
Concerning (1): I’m not at all against long-distance relationships or correspondence. I don’t know of any famous couples who have kept in touch that way, but I’m sure there were many. It certainly helps expand our understanding of the world.
I’m against creating artificial “societies” such as the social-clubs Chesterton discussed in my citation. I think there’s a difference between correspondence and artificial society.
If nothing else, emails are more personal and written-letters even more-so.
@ JK…
I was wondering where you had gotten off to! I’m very glad to see you again and, as always, appreciate your contributions.
About the violence… ______
@ MaryBeth…
You do me a great service in supposing I’ll be in Heaven.. lol. God bless you.
@ Faust…
You’re in the context God wants you to be in and for better or worse you’ll have to make the best of it. Who knows but that you were put there for just such a time as this?
It’s not ours to question or complain…but merely to act! That’s my attitude, anyway.
@ ToeKnee…
I’ve met people in RL from the net (even from the KDF) as well. To claim we know them is to do them a disservice, in my humble opinion. We know a pretense, maybe. We know a caricature. But in some cases, it’ll take an entire lifetime to get to know a person.
That’s a joy that our friends deserve. A job we owe them to undertake.
Thank you all for the kind words and encouragement.
Scott, Thinking of how to act is often the problem, but I know I need to do more. Yes, the Outer Banks of NC would be great to see. I think I shall write new blog perhaps called “Wondering the Wasteland” and try to cover some of the same ground you did in your last two blogs.
Some thoughts…
http://pilgrimagetomonsalvat.blogspot.com/2011/11/wondering-wasteland.html
BRAVO! I left FB for one simple reason, much like yours. Someone else put it best, in this pithy sentence: “FB is like a high school reunion… that never ends.”
People who I considered friends 30 years ago, turned out to be the most vituperative, cantankerous, ‘grouchy’ (and bitchy, in the case of one gay queen I used to know) group of misfits it has ever been my contention to meet. People become the sinners they are as they age, or they become the saints they are predestined to be. Nothing could be truer, or plainer…
I argued to my ‘FB friends’ to no avail, when we had a ‘clash of opinions’ – but you are SO correct. Some people who cowered in my presence (I am a very tall, imposing figure) in the flesh, and would tacitly agree to my elevated intellect (ahem!) dismissed (and dissed) me on FB, with impunity, as if I were a jerk. Their true natures came out, and they were vile to behold. I, otoh, was merely a ‘harmless fuzzball…’
When I began to read that Zuckerberg (the Jew) was selling FB data for commercial purposes, and that BUSINESSES were trolling ‘personal information’ sites for prospective JOB seekers, to determine their political, racial, and religious beliefs, (how does THAT influence a job- unless the PTB want ’1984 conformity’ at all levels…..) I saw the writing on the wall.
The only people I was glad to see were an old girlfriend, a former colleague and trad RC friend, and one group I joined that promised much, but never got beyond ten members…. precisely because one cannot pray over the internet, if you get my meaning.
If ever you are up Minnesota way, I’d go for a beer with you… as long as food is included. And my wit and verbal repartee, along with my animated facial features are wicked and make the ‘heaviest points’ light and laughable; and I’m sure we could have a good time. You are correct- the Christian God is the GOD of Incarnation.
And thanks be to God, (and Christ) that HE is… and all God’s people said, ‘You BETCHA!’
-Fr, John