A few months back while rereading Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil I encountered a passage in the book that seemed especially relevant to the current situation of the world today. I do not recall it catching my eye my first time through it over five years ago, but what makes Nietzche the greatest modern philosopher to me is his ability to diagnose the problems of Western European culture and the challenges and issues it would face in his day and ours.
In the first part of the quote, Nietzche describes the "philosophers of the future"that are destined to be the true free spirits that clear away the facets of civilization that are destructive to humanity:
"Need I still say expressly after all this that they too, will be free, very free spirits, these philosophers of the future—though just as certainly they will not be merely free spirits but something more, higher, greater, and thoroughly different that does not want to be misunderstood and mistaken for something else. But saying this I feel an obligation—almost as much to them as to ourselves who are their heralds and precursors, we free spirits—to sweep away a stupid old prejudice and misunderstanding about the lot of us: all too long it has clouded the concept of ‘free spirit’ like a fog."
The second part of the quote deals with the levelers: a group who carries the pretense of being more enlightened than any other because of their 'progressive' views and see any dissenting voices as enemies. These levelers are contrasted to the true free spirits:
“In all the countries of Europe, and in America, too, there now is something that abuses this name: a very narrow, imprisoned, chained type of spirits who want just about the opposite of what accords with our intentions and instincts—not to speak the fact that regarding the new philosophers who are coming up they must assuredly be closed windows and bolted doors. They belong, briefly and sadly, among the levelers—these falsely so-called ‘free spirits’ – being eloquent and prolifically scribbling slaves of the democratic taste and its ‘modern ideas’; they are all human beings without solitude, clumsy good fellows whom one should not deny either courage or respectable decency—only they are unfree and ridiculously superficial, above all in their basic inclination to find in the forms of the old society as it has existed so far just about the cause of all human misery and failure—which is a way of standing truth unhappily upon her head! What they would like to strive for with all their powers is the universal green-pasture happiness of the herd, with security, lack of danger, comfort, and an easier life for everyone; the two songs and doctrines which they repeat most often are ‘equality of rights’ and ‘sympathy for all sufferers’—and suffering itself they take for something that must be abolished.”
As soon as I absorbed these words I thought, "He's talking about the social justice warriors of his day!" The SJW's of our times are narrow-minded (any that disagree with them are enemies and must be silenced), chained to their ideology (cannot vary from their group's views in any way), thus cannot be individuals or free-spirits, they want closed doors and windows (anti free speech and assembly), they wish to drop or raise everyone artificially to the same level, they claim to represent democratic ideals and equal rights, they blame all individuals and institutions of the past and present for the suffering and inequality that exists in the world (implicit bias), and they believe that all our problems can and must be solved through governmental action (like communists).
Nietzche was able to recognize this threat to free society back in the 1880's, but in the century plus since, these kinds of people have only grown in number and influence. They are obstacles to real change and improvement in the world. Those of us that do believe in freedom and liberty must take up Nietzche's mantle and stand up to these types, exposing the absurdity of their beliefs and arguments. Unless the lifestyle of domesticated animal appeals to you of course. I prefer to be a wild animal and true free-spirit.
Thanks for reading! Light and Love y'all~
Excellent reading! Articles like these energize my day. Thank you for sharing @daodesam.
It's funny that we can draw a parallel between the levelers and the SJW. I also like this passage from Twilight of the Idols:
Thanks, @chhaylin! I think it just shows this destructive ideology that is the enemy of humanity has always been around, under different names and in different forms. Your posts always make me think and inspire me to want to write more! I am very appreciative of your support.
Very insightful. I haven't read Nietzche but I might have to add him to the reading list. The whole SJW movement and groups like AntiFa are a real concern for freedom lovers worldwide, but radical socialism is not a new idea. Karl Marx and Nietzche were from the same era.
Very true. What is really disconcerting is the left now defending these hate-filled groups as their champions against racism and legitamizing their violence.
I came upon this post rather late, but really interesting. I'm a fan of Nietzsche and studied some of his works and it has very much helped me to channel my own thoughts and beliefs.
The way I have interpreted Nietzsche, his Ubermensch and Will to Power, is that in essence if you believe what Nietzsche believes, then you are basically the herd and not the better man. The ubermensch ideal is in essence a form of 'Being the best you that you can be' and letting nothing and nobody get in the way of that. This framework is immensely wide however. Whereas Nietzsche, from his personal beliefs, may have looked down upon certain ideas and 'the ways of men', I feel like a true Ubermensch would not at all care for what Nietzsche thinks of him or her. As such, perhaps it is up to the individual to determine and 'own' it's own will to power. Following that logic, aren't Social Justice warriors merely exerting their Will to Power? Changing narratives and worldviews, this is a rather large way of exerting Will to Power I would say. I am not so sure if every Ubermensch would be the anarchistic Conan the Barbarian that Nietzsche admires - because there are many people whose intrinsic disposition in the world is entirely different. Some people are inherently charitable, and even though Nietzsche views charity as despicable, I would argue that if one truly feels like being charitable, the best way of adhering to the ubermensch ideal would be to be charitable. Similarly, Social Justice warriors could be (personal opinion: likely not) acting out of their own true Will to Power. It's hard to tell. An Ubermensch is not morally constrained by outside morals, but this does not mean that an Ubermensch has no Will to Power to change the world. In fact, one could perhaps argue that SJW exert a great deal of Will to Power, as they are actively 'fighting' instead of pacifying.
I think Nietzsche, in the piece that you referenced, was aiming more towards the general tendency of society to soften it's members. I've felt that a lot of Nietzsche's personal opinion shines through in his texts. I also always thought that the way to Nietzsche is to not read what he writes but to try and understand what he means. He's often talking in metaphors, because the paradigm shift required for his way of thinking doesn't allow an explanation in the traditional paradigm and way of thinking.
My personal view is that a true Ubermensch can be anybody. Both Ghandi and Hitler could possibly qualify. It's impossible to tell without analyzing their deepest thoughts and motivations.
Thanks for the great comment! I agree almost completely. The super or superior humans are the ones that aren't defined by anyone else's dogma, find their own meaning, and have the discipline and power to make it happen.
Theoretically, I guess an ubermench could have the same goals as the SJW movement and that would be the purpose of their will to power, but their goal to me seems to be imposing their ideologies upon others and forcing them to take that message as their meaning so they would be against the freedom for others they enjoyed to develop themselves. It's all very confusing and I agree you have to try to get the essence of what Nietzche is saying rather than rely on the translated words.
In this particular instance though, Nietzche says the leveler types know no solitutude and are unfree, even if possessing courage and decency, so they can't stand on their own. I think most social justice warriors also become a part of the movement so they can transfer part of their responsibility, identity, and guilt onto a group identity they perceive as benevolent, more like Hoffer's true believers than the new philosophers. So, while it's possible an ultrahuman (my favorite translation) could have those goals, the mindset seems opposed to becoming one to me. Thanks again, @pandorasbox!
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read a fair amount of this book in college... nothing like a good used book with a sticker for a few bucks taped to it, those were the days
Agree, it's from a now-closed used bookstore from my home town, so I kept the sticker on it. After a couple reads, almost every page is dog-earred or has passges underlined. I read hard! Thanks for reading and the comment. Following you.
Very nice write-up. Curiously Nietzsche was also seized upon by the very people he was criticizing and his work used to legitimize their efforts. Here I am thinking of On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense which was (perhaps) misappropriated by the later Critical Theorists, at least as I read it. I really like the comparison with contemporary SJWs as well, good catch!
That is interesting and has a parallel today where these kinds of people try to jump on anything popular and coopt it. I'm thinking about Game of Thrones in particular where people will say it's all about feminism and that women are better rulers than men while overlooking the nuance and the fact that there are female characters that are terrible people too. Thanks a lot for your support!
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That's awesome! Thank you so much for your vote, @cupidzero! Let me know if I can do anything to help you in the future. I'll keep trying to put out quality, thought-provoking content. Light and Love, everyone
Strange, I don't see the buildawhale link to the curation in your replies, here it is: Buildawhale Curation Digest 7. Thanks for the offer of help, if I need any I will let you know. You might want to use @buildawhale occassionally and help their curation efforts by voting for someone's post as I did yours, pay it forward ;). I'm not part of their project, but they are doing some good stuff.
I will do that. I love the project. I got the link before. Thanks again
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“To those human beings who are of any concern to me I wish suffering, desolation, sickness, ill-treatment, indignities—I wish that they should not remain unfamiliar with profound self-contempt, the torture of self-mistrust, the wretchedness of the vanquished: I have no pity for them, because I wish them the only thing that can prove today whether one is worth anything or not—that one endures.” Nietzsche knows what's up. It's through personal suffering and struggle that one (hopefully) eventually learns the truth: that you control your own experience of life at all times.
Truth, my love. You can only grow through struggling and learning from experience.
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Thanks Ellie!
Great connection! And the SJW mindset is made even more dangerous when people want to use the government to make their will be done.
I think the two are inseprable. You can't police people's thoughts and speech if you don't have an authority to enforce it.
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