{"id":22533,"date":"2023-03-02T07:54:24","date_gmt":"2023-03-02T12:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=22533"},"modified":"2023-03-02T07:54:24","modified_gmt":"2023-03-02T12:54:24","slug":"witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/","title":{"rendered":"Witness to a Friendly Quarrel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back on Monday the 27th<\/sup> of February I found a link in my mailbox to Curtis Yarvin\u2019s substack, the Gray Mirror, with his latest post<\/a>.\u00a0 It was a critique of Ron DeSantis\u2019s efforts to replace the woke management of a small state college in Florida (called prosaically, New College of Florida) by replacing the board of trustees with conservatives.\u00a0 DeSantis put Chris Rufo and some other conservatives on the board and told them to excise the cancer of wokeism.<\/p>\n

Yarvin tells a parable about how a drunken man chops down the mighty oak that shades the town square in some mythical Lithuanian town and the townspeople decide to replant the rootless trunk.\u00a0 But the wise man goes and scoops up acorns and plants them around the fallen tree\u2019s stump.<\/p>\n

Further on Yarvin explains that DeSantis and Rufo trying to reform Florida colleges is the town trying to replant a dead tree in the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fallacy of replanting the tree is to believe that the past is something we can just have back. It isn\u2019t. We can be inspired by the past. We can want a beautiful oak tree in our town square. But we live in the present and we have no oak tree, just raw lumber. We can build the future under the inspiration of the past\u2014but it is not the past. And we have to be patient enough to wait for it, or we are just losers. Press F to pay regrets.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

But the wise man (according to Yarvin) is anyone who tries to build a new culture from the ground up by supporting coffeehouse artists in New York City that somehow aren\u2019t woke.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you want to win? Or do you want to wring your hands? Where did wokeness start? Among the cool kids. In the Village arts scene. To hear the story the world will be telling itself in 50 years, always listen to New York now. The future always starts at the center and at the top.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

So that\u2019s one side.\u00a0 Today I read a rebuttal by Rufo<\/a>.\u00a0 He calls Yarvin\u2019s take \u201cright-wing doomerism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYavin’s basic theme is that the progressive-managerial state, or Cathedral, is so powerful, that any action to challenge it will end up reinforcing its power. This is right-wing doomerism\u2014if the beast is all-powerful, better to adopt the position of a prey animal and do nothing. <\/strong><\/p>\n

But I’m more optimistic than this. The takeover of New College has already changed the dynamics in higher education. We have a strong new president who has a mandate to change the administrative and academic trajectory of the institution. You’ll see changes in the next 120 days. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

I believe in an uncompromising new conservatism that attempts to restore the authority of the people over their government\u2014and lay waste to woke institutional capture. The Republic is not yet dead. We have a duty to do whatever we can to save it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’m ready to fight\u2014and win.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Okay, so there is definitely a lot of rah-rah stuff here.\u00a0 Rufo is cheerleading the efforts his people are making in Florida and anticipating victories and gains that won\u2019t happen for years, or maybe decades.<\/p>\n

But, so what?\u00a0 The progressives worked at this poison for over a hundred years.\u00a0 They worked away diligently and steadily.\u00a0 And the results have been astonishing.\u00a0 Horrifying, yes, but astonishing.\u00a0 So why should we expect that our results won\u2019t be slow and incremental.\u00a0 As TomD said back a week ago or so in a comment<\/a> \u201cOne step at a time is how we collectively got here and hopefully how we will get out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sure, in my more pessimistic moments I fear that Yarvin is right.\u00a0 The Elites control everything and they have all the money.\u00a0 We can\u2019t possibly win.\u00a0 But then I think, \u201cThen what have we got to lose by trying to win?\u201d\u00a0 So, I\u2019ll take Rufo\u2019s side in this cordial quarrel.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s making his play.\u00a0 Let him finish it before we start declaring him the loser.\u00a0 I hear DeSantis plans to roll out the same idea at other Florida state colleges.\u00a0 They\u2019re talking about eliminating things like gender studies and DEI and even affirmative action.\u00a0 For all I know DeSantis is the next Pericles and Florida is the Athens of the new world.\u00a0 It\u2019s certainly no stranger than the original Athens having happened.<\/p>\n

How in the world do you get the Plato, Aristotle and Thucydides from a bunch of bronze age barbarians like the Dorians toppling Aegean civilization and celebrating it in epic poetry?\u00a0 Truly, the Afghanis aren\u2019t that far removed in culture and lifestyle from the 9th<\/sup> century Dorian invaders.\u00a0 Predicting the Parthenon from them seems a bloody miracle.<\/p>\n

Maybe we\u2019ll get a miracle too.\u00a0 Our enemies aren\u2019t geniuses they\u2019re just better organized and better funded.\u00a0 There is such a thing as luck.\u00a0 And luck rewards persistence and intelligence.\u00a0 It\u2019s like the old saying, \u201cGod helps those who help themselves.\u201d\u00a0 If you\u2019re just willing to lay down and die then you\u2019ve already decided your fate.\u00a0 Luck isn\u2019t going to pull you off the ground, put your sword back in your hand and strike down your enemy.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got to try.\u00a0 So, let\u2019s give DeSantis and Rufo the benefit of the doubt and all the help we can think of.\u00a0 Let\u2019s cheer them on and provide all the rah-rah we can muster.<\/p>\n

If DeSantis can turn around the Florida state colleges it\u2019ll make guys like Abbott in Texas envious and might start a movement to clean up all the Red-State state-colleges.\u00a0 And after that maybe it\u2019ll spread to the grammar and high schools.\u00a0 See what I mean?\u00a0 Rah-rah is easy.\u00a0 And it\u2019s cheap.\u00a0 What\u2019s a few electrons rattling around in my computer?<\/p>\n

Anyway, I\u2019ll bet on DeSantis and Rufo in this quarrel.\u00a0 Right wing doomerism just isn\u2019t my cup of tea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back on Monday the 27th of February I found a link in my mailbox to Curtis Yarvin\u2019s substack, the Gray Mirror, with his latest post.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3918,2062,3203,3875],"class_list":["post-22533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","tag-christopher-rufo","tag-curtis-yarvin","tag-ron-desantis","tag-woke-colleges"],"yoast_head":"\nWitness to a Friendly Quarrel - Orion's Cold Fire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Witness to a Friendly Quarrel - Orion's Cold Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Back on Monday the 27th of February I found a link in my mailbox to Curtis Yarvin\u2019s substack, the Gray Mirror, with his latest post.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Orion's Cold Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-02T12:54:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"photog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@orionscoldfire\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@orionscoldfire\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"photog\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"photog\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3\"},\"headline\":\"Witness to a Friendly Quarrel\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-02T12:54:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-02T12:54:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/\"},\"wordCount\":1011,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Christopher Rufo\",\"Curtis Yarvin\",\"Ron DeSantis\",\"woke colleges\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Current Events\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/\",\"name\":\"Witness to a Friendly Quarrel - Orion's Cold Fire\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-02T12:54:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-02T12:54:24+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Witness to a Friendly Quarrel\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\",\"name\":\"Orion's Cold Fire\",\"description\":\"All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Orion's Cold Fire\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg\",\"width\":4022,\"height\":1419,\"caption\":\"Orion's Cold Fire\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/orionscoldfire\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3\",\"name\":\"photog\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg\",\"caption\":\"photog\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/author\/photog\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Witness to a Friendly Quarrel - Orion's Cold Fire","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Witness to a Friendly Quarrel - Orion's Cold Fire","og_description":"Back on Monday the 27th of February I found a link in my mailbox to Curtis Yarvin\u2019s substack, the Gray Mirror, with his latest post.\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/","og_site_name":"Orion's Cold Fire","article_published_time":"2023-03-02T12:54:24+00:00","author":"photog","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@orionscoldfire","twitter_site":"@orionscoldfire","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"photog","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/"},"author":{"name":"photog","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3"},"headline":"Witness to a Friendly Quarrel","datePublished":"2023-03-02T12:54:24+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-02T12:54:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/"},"wordCount":1011,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["Christopher Rufo","Curtis Yarvin","Ron DeSantis","woke colleges"],"articleSection":["Current Events"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/","name":"Witness to a Friendly Quarrel - Orion's Cold Fire","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-03-02T12:54:24+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-02T12:54:24+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/02\/witness-to-a-friendly-quarrel\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Witness to a Friendly Quarrel"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/","name":"Orion's Cold Fire","description":"All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization","name":"Orion's Cold Fire","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg","width":4022,"height":1419,"caption":"Orion's Cold Fire"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/orionscoldfire"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3","name":"photog","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg","caption":"photog"},"url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/author\/photog\/"}]}},"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22533"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22534,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22533\/revisions\/22534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}