[REWIND] On Controlled Definitions

Morning Thoughts #44

(Originally posted on May 1, 2023, but I felt it worth re-proclaiming!) - BWM

Today's misrepresentation of what constitutes real progress has caused many of its natural proponents to look backward for alternatives. As a result, countless visionaries and potential founders of new movements have been convinced to retrace old steps because fake progress, at its most insidious, can seem to taint all paths forward. Their error lies in uncritically adopting terminology gone stale. Just because we are told that certain ideas or movements embody "progress" doesn't mean they actually do.

The first phase of our movement will be the most rigorous and meticulous, consisting of carefully defining (and redefining!) terms. No label articulated by today's cultural institutions, both popular and hallowed, can be accepted without question. The reach of the regime's bullhorn today has never been greater, and time is of the absolute essence. Words are mutating as the pollution spreads. We must define our own terms! Our enemies have created labels for us, like nametags supplied at conventions or new school orientations. If we merely react and do not attempt to also create during these critical moments of pushback, we risk losing much and starting at a deficit by accepting their words and the categories they reserve for us.

Knowing this, I propose that we seek to become squatters on heroic terms - terms that have been abandoned and fallen into disuse. There must be many such examples! (Why do you think I just began to reread The Iliad?) Let us choose our words carefully even before we define them and then camp out within those where we find the space to do so. Let us work to restore and transform these definitions into valuable ideal estates, for so many words, values, and traits that once signified a nobility of soul now remain only as abandoned buildings, long since vacated by those seeking newer construction and the latest fashions.

But, aha, the land itself is still valuable! Let us squat proudly and restore these abandoned sites, like a wave of millennials moving back to city centers in the past decade. All these once and future ideals need is a little upkeep, and we will be their devoted keepers from this point forward. Soon, we will possess newly self-articulated labels, more accurate than those we have discarded. Classical architecture in all its glory can be made anew! Who says the best castles have already been built? People speak of controlled opposition, but here I speak of controlled definitions. To some extent, you will always be a pawn of someone else until you can clearly define for yourself.

Alas, the word "progress" is not abandoned but instead is currently being used as a kind of linguistic crackhouse and is certainly not safe for our squatting purposes. Let's pass it by, my friends! Luckily, there are many other words, phrases, and ideals that have fallen into modern disuse that we can reclaim, repair, and then proclaim! We do not oppose progress; we simply oppose those who pass its counterfeit notes! We are those who will soon preach progress by another name but yet believe in progress all the same!