As I understand it there's been something of a boom in people pursuing the "trad" mindset, whatever that means - a knowing pursuit of more traditional ways of thinking and ways of being, as opposed to an embrace of the various pathologies of modernity.
Bernard Williams wrote somewhere that certain virtues of character can only be fully realized by people who are completely self-aware, and others only by people who are completely free of self-awareness. I think the trad impulse comes from a (valid) sense of loss at the unavailability of the second set of virtues. But as Freddie says, there's not much you can do about it without choosing self-delusion.
I just opened the "First Things" website to see if I could find something snarky to say here about R.R. Reno. He's clearly insane, his wife is Jewish, and he seems like the perfect illustration of how so much trad is really cosplay.
I found something better, so good that "First Things" shouldn't have printed it. This is a book review by someone who defends motivated belief in astrology, not motivated belief in Catholicism. But it's still a little too on the nose:
Sometimes I wonder if Trump's apparent ability to say lies that aren't even consistent with themselves is actually a super power, this super power being able to choose self-delusion. Like the ending of Memento...but the guy is in politics instead of trying to solve murder mysteries.
Setting aside the "choosing" of a religion, which seems like sort of a special case, I must respectfully but vehemently disagree with you that a "traditional" way of living necessitates the absence of introspection. Can you not *choose* to learn how to fix things, to be comfortable around firearms, to train in combat sports? These are all in the bucket of what I would call "traditional masculinity," but they don't just happen spontaneously to all the proles outside of Twitter. They require choice and discipline, and have since the days of the Greek & Roman philosophers. Isn't the discipline of mastering one's surroundings, overcoming pain and fear, sort of at the core of what people think being a "traditional" man is?
The idea that people were once *not* in the position of seeing themselves through the lens of the perceptions of others, that people were once *not* introspective seems like just another meta-narrative to me.
Embracing the Catholic faith does not, happily, demand a premodern mindset. Doesn’t rule it out, either.
This is lovely.
Bernard Williams wrote somewhere that certain virtues of character can only be fully realized by people who are completely self-aware, and others only by people who are completely free of self-awareness. I think the trad impulse comes from a (valid) sense of loss at the unavailability of the second set of virtues. But as Freddie says, there's not much you can do about it without choosing self-delusion.
I just opened the "First Things" website to see if I could find something snarky to say here about R.R. Reno. He's clearly insane, his wife is Jewish, and he seems like the perfect illustration of how so much trad is really cosplay.
I found something better, so good that "First Things" shouldn't have printed it. This is a book review by someone who defends motivated belief in astrology, not motivated belief in Catholicism. But it's still a little too on the nose:
https://www.firstthings.com/article/2021/10/how-to-believe-in-astrology
Sometimes I wonder if Trump's apparent ability to say lies that aren't even consistent with themselves is actually a super power, this super power being able to choose self-delusion. Like the ending of Memento...but the guy is in politics instead of trying to solve murder mysteries.
This is a very under-appreciated piece.
Setting aside the "choosing" of a religion, which seems like sort of a special case, I must respectfully but vehemently disagree with you that a "traditional" way of living necessitates the absence of introspection. Can you not *choose* to learn how to fix things, to be comfortable around firearms, to train in combat sports? These are all in the bucket of what I would call "traditional masculinity," but they don't just happen spontaneously to all the proles outside of Twitter. They require choice and discipline, and have since the days of the Greek & Roman philosophers. Isn't the discipline of mastering one's surroundings, overcoming pain and fear, sort of at the core of what people think being a "traditional" man is?
The idea that people were once *not* in the position of seeing themselves through the lens of the perceptions of others, that people were once *not* introspective seems like just another meta-narrative to me.