,
10 tweets,
2 min read
Read on Twitter
The individual engaged in ‘dissident’ thought is essentially building his own context in order to depart from ‘common sense’. He does this by building a canon of important books (along with his commentary), associating with like-minded people (or close enough), etc.
Departing from ‘common sense’ is a process of stacking up blocks which you then climb on top of, building up presuppositions that let you think increasingly ‘uncommon’ thoughts. It’s easy to do alone (easier the more alone), possible in small groups, but it’s VERY hard to scale.
When a group gets to a certain size you have to think about organization - division of labor, administration, etc - and this requires setting clear goals. For a business this is easy: the goals come from without - you’re a service - and you get plenty of feedback on execution.
Almost every organization in society is a ‘service organization’, in the sense that it provides some sort of service to other parts of society. These kinds of organization cannot easily depart from ‘common sense’. They are always, necessarily, captured.
This is why organizations of any size, regardless of intent, will tend towards the status quo. To be organizations at all, they need goals, they need to interact with society, and they will inevitably fall into a ‘service’ role and lose their dissident qualities as they scale.
If you want to scale a ‘dissident’ organization you need a different way of interacting with society-at-large, you need a defensive interface, rather than a service interface. You have to establish a kind of ‘hermeneutic boundary’ between your members and wider society.
Religions, cults, and revolutionary political parties have this sort of ‘hermeneutic boundary’. What’s the stereotypical interaction between a cult leader and a member? The member asks about some aspect of society, the leader interprets it for him in terms of the cult’s beliefs.
The guru pontificating on every aspect of society raised to his attention by his followers is the cultic equivalent of ‘customer feedback’ for a business. Whereas the business wants to be of service to society, the guru wants to maintain a hermeneutic boundary AGAINST society.
Yet the dissident organization must also find a way to thrive in society. Religions, cults, and revolutionary political parties usually rely on donations by members, but this often not enough. You must square the circle of maintaining the boundary AND providing a service.
This is why I want you all to start cults. Starting a cult is the obvious next step in your life’s journey as an anonymous internet weirdo. It’s how you SCALE.
