Now, when making this point, it’s always tempting to engage in an attack on this blindness and hypocrisy, but at the same time, we are lucky that they exist. An actual disappearance of loyalty, authority, and sanctity in the moral calculus of people would mean literally the end of organized society, so we’re certainly much better off if they’re negated only in a false and hypocritical way than if they were truly absent.
Please keep in mind that what allows much of the hypocrisy and denial in this area is that alternate “definitions” or “variants” of loyalty and authority that are closer to the liberal rather than conservative mindset (“liberal sancity” is at least called out sometimes, like below) are so poorly explored and accepted at this time. And yes, that’s the liberal theorists’ job.
For example, we’ve got some practical evidence that decentralized “authority” systems built on rational respect, voluntary trust or affection can work, overcoming challenges—from anarcho-syndicalist experiments to today’s crowdsourcing projects. Yet most societies still stick to the old farmer-type ways in this regard, and still the very word carries the connotations of “conservatism”, “inflexibility”, “tradition”, (I’m not saying those are automatically bad, just one-sided) while the term should really be accepted for any such social function that’s any good for maintaining peace and sustainability. The same goes for other value categories.
Please keep in mind that what allows much of the hypocrisy and denial in this area is that alternate “definitions” or “variants” of loyalty and authority that are closer to the liberal rather than conservative mindset (“liberal sancity” is at least called out sometimes, like below) are so poorly explored and accepted at this time. And yes, that’s the liberal theorists’ job.
For example, we’ve got some practical evidence that decentralized “authority” systems built on rational respect, voluntary trust or affection can work, overcoming challenges—from anarcho-syndicalist experiments to today’s crowdsourcing projects. Yet most societies still stick to the old farmer-type ways in this regard, and still the very word carries the connotations of “conservatism”, “inflexibility”, “tradition”, (I’m not saying those are automatically bad, just one-sided) while the term should really be accepted for any such social function that’s any good for maintaining peace and sustainability. The same goes for other value categories.