If we take the Javert = Moldbug metaphor seriously, how should we interpret Javert’s later conclusion that his earlier philosophy contains a hopeless conflict between authority-for-its-own-sake and helping people live happier lives?
Well, the story is set up to favor Universalism. If Moldbug had written it, probably it would have ended with Valjean concluding that his earlier philosophy contained a hopeless conflict between rejecting authority and helping people live happier lives.
I’m smirking at the idea of a Moldbuggian story of the uprising of 1832. Revolutionists Get What They Deserve or some-such. :)
But I don’t think that story has room for the complex characters of Hugo’s story, narratively speaking. There’s no room at all for Valjean, and Javert becomes simply the protagonist to the evil antagonist Enjolras.
Ultimately, you asked if canon!Javert embodies Moldbug. As I suggested above, I think the answer is no. He’s a tragic figure—even Hugo would admit that > 75% of the time, the king’s law point toward a just outcome. But Javert was blind to the fact that the king’s law contained deep flaws.
I don’t know if the passage survives the standard abridgements, but Javert writes a note to his superiors listing several minor injustices in the local prison system, immediately before killing himself. Even after conversion, Javert fails to realize that he was the only person who both (1) knew about the issues, and (2) cared about the injustice. That episode, and Javert as a character, are deeply tragic in my opinion.
And I can’t imagine Moldbug caring about those issues at all. Obviously, Moldbug’s choices would be different—but I don’t get the impression Moldbug would think the minor injustices were even worth his attention if he were in Javert’s situation.
I’m smirking at the idea of a Moldbuggian story of the uprising of 1832. Revolutionists Get What They Deserve or some-such. :)
Yes, in addition to the musical!Javert quote I included, I was going to include “Crush those little schoolboys!”—but tried searching it and found I was misremembering a different line.
But I don’t think that story has room for the complex characters of Hugo’s story, narratively speaking. There’s no room at all for Valjean, and Javert becomes simply the protagonist to the evil antagonist Enjolras.
You are certainly right that Javert is a more complex and tragic character than a pure Inflexible Authoritarian Law archetype. I could shift a bit my statement and say that the bare essence of Javert is that archetype, and that Hugo gives him that depth because of the direction he wants to take the story and the ideology it embodies.
From Moldbug’s viewpoint LesMiz might be described as an Universalist tract that stacks the deck by showing Valjean as saintlike instead of naive, and setting up Javert’s character and storyline to end in a forced alternative between conversion and suicide, rather than the triumph he “deserves”. (Like Chick tracts, or to pick examples with more quality Chesterton’s and Lewis’ fictions, stack the deck against the skeptic.) But I agree that such a description by Moldbug would be too “reductionist’ (to Moldbug’s own ideology) and unfair to the literary qualities of the work.
Moldbug is not beyond commenting recent events or culture, we may yet hear his take on at least the movie if not the book itself. Also I’ll do a search if he perhaps hasn’t already mentioned the book in a offhanded fashion.
It’s a lesson about happens when you combine the virtuous with a pernicious system of virtue. The liberal backlash against strong authoritarianism/belief in the rule of law is one way of reacting to such a world. “The laws are evil, therefore their enforcers are evil.” The other side of this is people who believe the laws are good and anyone who enforces them is good. Both views are lacking nuance. Javert is someone who has spent his life believing that he is good because he enforces the laws, which are good. He can’t live with the idea that he has been “bad” all along.
If we take the Javert = Moldbug metaphor seriously, how should we interpret Javert’s later conclusion that his earlier philosophy contains a hopeless conflict between authority-for-its-own-sake and helping people live happier lives?
Well, the story is set up to favor Universalism. If Moldbug had written it, probably it would have ended with Valjean concluding that his earlier philosophy contained a hopeless conflict between rejecting authority and helping people live happier lives.
I’m smirking at the idea of a Moldbuggian story of the uprising of 1832. Revolutionists Get What They Deserve or some-such. :)
But I don’t think that story has room for the complex characters of Hugo’s story, narratively speaking. There’s no room at all for Valjean, and Javert becomes simply the protagonist to the evil antagonist Enjolras.
Ultimately, you asked if canon!Javert embodies Moldbug. As I suggested above, I think the answer is no. He’s a tragic figure—even Hugo would admit that > 75% of the time, the king’s law point toward a just outcome. But Javert was blind to the fact that the king’s law contained deep flaws.
I don’t know if the passage survives the standard abridgements, but Javert writes a note to his superiors listing several minor injustices in the local prison system, immediately before killing himself. Even after conversion, Javert fails to realize that he was the only person who both (1) knew about the issues, and (2) cared about the injustice. That episode, and Javert as a character, are deeply tragic in my opinion.
And I can’t imagine Moldbug caring about those issues at all. Obviously, Moldbug’s choices would be different—but I don’t get the impression Moldbug would think the minor injustices were even worth his attention if he were in Javert’s situation.
Yes, in addition to the musical!Javert quote I included, I was going to include “Crush those little schoolboys!”—but tried searching it and found I was misremembering a different line.
You are certainly right that Javert is a more complex and tragic character than a pure Inflexible Authoritarian Law archetype. I could shift a bit my statement and say that the bare essence of Javert is that archetype, and that Hugo gives him that depth because of the direction he wants to take the story and the ideology it embodies.
From Moldbug’s viewpoint LesMiz might be described as an Universalist tract that stacks the deck by showing Valjean as saintlike instead of naive, and setting up Javert’s character and storyline to end in a forced alternative between conversion and suicide, rather than the triumph he “deserves”. (Like Chick tracts, or to pick examples with more quality Chesterton’s and Lewis’ fictions, stack the deck against the skeptic.) But I agree that such a description by Moldbug would be too “reductionist’ (to Moldbug’s own ideology) and unfair to the literary qualities of the work.
Moldbug is not beyond commenting recent events or culture, we may yet hear his take on at least the movie if not the book itself. Also I’ll do a search if he perhaps hasn’t already mentioned the book in a offhanded fashion.
It’s a lesson about happens when you combine the virtuous with a pernicious system of virtue. The liberal backlash against strong authoritarianism/belief in the rule of law is one way of reacting to such a world. “The laws are evil, therefore their enforcers are evil.” The other side of this is people who believe the laws are good and anyone who enforces them is good. Both views are lacking nuance. Javert is someone who has spent his life believing that he is good because he enforces the laws, which are good. He can’t live with the idea that he has been “bad” all along.