Two Modes Of Society
Unselfish Or Selfish
From 2 Kinds Of People (21-Nov-24)

Waxing when unselfish — Waning when selfish

Either Selfish Or Unselfish
Clarification of the theory of Matrism/Patrism reveals that societies and individuals both have an understanding that can be classified as selfish or unselfish. This is further confirmed by considering the way understanding functions and how this gives rise to the two different types: selfish and unselfish. With the society's type being merely a reflection of that of the majority of its citizens.

The Values Of The Minority Type Despised
The adoption of selfish or unselfish values by the society is reinforced by the resentment the two types feel towards each other. For just as the honest despise the dishonest, the dishonest despise the honest; so the selfish will stigmatize the unselfish just as the unselfish will stigmatize the selfish.

Differing Impact
The differing impact of the selfish as opposed to the unselfish dominated society can best be understood by consideration of a police force.

Hypothetical Example Of A Police Force
To be an effective enforcer of the law, the individual officer must place duty ahead of self-interest; he must constantly ignore bribes while regularly placing life and limb in jeopardy. The reward for officers is modest pay with occasional public recognition of bravery, with the most capable winning promotion. This fills the senior echelons of the service with experienced and dedicated staff, who enhance the efficiency of the force. And this supplies justice by rightly inflicting penalty upon those citizens who clearly break the law. And though all the police will not be dedicated and brave, those who are not will be despised and persecuted.

A Selfish Police Force
Whereas when selfishness dominates, the opposite must apply. Most officers will place themselves ahead of the demands of duty and always be ready to accept the easiest solution. Risks will be avoided, while bribery and corruption will be rife, with those few officers who attempt to be dedicated being generally regarded as dangerous fools to be thwarted and ejected from the service. (Readers unable to visualise this effect should view the ABC television production:"The Scales Of Justice". This is a dramatised explanation why all cops must be crooked in a crooked force, or be outcasts.) Senior echelons must be staffed by those who care the least about the betrayal of justice and the most about their private gain, so the more senior the rank the greater the corruption. All resulting in a police force that can only pretend to do its duty as it protects the people it should prosecute, while being indifferent to safeguarding the innocent as it suppresses the truth. Inevitably the public will lose faith in their police and the laws that they are meant to uphold.

In this simple example the differences are clear:

Point Missed By The Author Of "Sex In History"
This immediately emphasises a critical point that Gordon R. Taylor missed when he was describing two modes of society in his book "Sex In History"; only one mode can pursue truth, for the other is committed to lies. A corrupt police can only feign their duty, as they are doing the opposite. They must live in a world of pretence where truth is dangerous, and lies a necessary prop. Thus a crucial difference between the two states is that one seeks understanding, while the other wallows in delusion.

Real Example (1998)
The impact of replacing unselfish with selfish police officers is easy to visualise and explains the result of exchanging the pursuit of duty with the pursuit of indulgence. While this process is inevitable it is difficult to see in a real police force, but it may be easily observed in any social group where the aims are simpler and the dangers less. Anyone seeking confirmation first hand need only visit a Toastmaster's club.

Toastmasters—A Simple Working Model Of Society
Toastmasters is an international organisation that allows entry to any and all adults who are prepared to pay a modest membership fee. This unrestricted access, coupled with its democratic administration, creates a small, simplified model of the society at large, which allows easy observation and understanding of the forces that drive our society.

The ostensible purpose of the organisation is to teach people how to speak in public, a simple aim which it pursues in a straight forward fashion. The club supplies all members with courses of practice and instruction, which are designed to develop their ability to address an audience, so converting the novice into an expert. To become a Competent Toastmaster a member must complete a set number of speeches, each with a different and specific purpose, to the satisfaction of nominated critics. With any unsuccessful performance being repeated until the declared aims of that particular delivery are met. And it would seem that all who successfully complete the course must attain some skill in public speaking.

The Inspiration Of Tyranny
Learners of any skill should expect to endure an apprenticeship where they start as the least regarded, with their initial blundering efforts occasioning censure and reprimand. But guided by these painful lessons, and arming themselves with study and regular practice, they eventually learn the necessary arts and qualify as capable practitioners. Nevertheless, Toastmasters have decided that it is possible to learn something without suffering, and becoming a public speaker is all fun. An attitude that is constantly reinforced at meetings, fervently uttered like prayers, to remind all present that every speech is to be praised, and every speaker encouraged. This is a decision to avoid the unpleasant duty of telling the truth, and replace it with something more pleasing to the senses, and is wishful thinking. Everyone who shares this notion is embraced as a friend but those who insist upon telling the truth are regarded as anti-social, and victimised. Until the beginning of 1998 the penalty for speaking the truth was social isolation, but this has been considered inadequate so the rules have been changed to allow unpopular members to be cast out of the club by a simple vote.

Impact Of Tyranny
Under the tacit threat of being banished the official judges of speeches find themselves compelled to resort to panegyric: empty praises. Regardless of the quality of a speech, their verdict is expected to be encouraging, never discouraging, and compelling critics to hide behind meaningless platitudes. Truth never dare be spoken, for even to quote "An empty vessel makes the most noise" could be instantly interpreted as the heresy of discouragement against those who often speak. Naturally this compulsory approval of every speech negates the function of criticism; it prevents members from discovering and therefore correcting their faults. And makes the attainment of Competent Toastmaster a meaningless qualification, reflecting only the completion of a set number of public utterances of uncertain quality. All speakers are treated as good speakers, which makes the club a mutual admiration society, lacking the ability to appreciate or demonstrate the skills of public speaking.

Public Sentiments Must Win Approval — Be Politically Correct
Having the need for compulsory popularity hanging over every head does not just make critics flatterers, never daring to suggest that a speech failed in any significant way, but ensures all speeches are inoffensive; except when they are addressed at unpopular subjects, such as politicians, or speeding drivers or pedophiles; and compels even members of an audience to appear interested, or risk being thought discouraging.

Supressing Truth Creates Uncertainty
It is not just bad speakers but ill-conceived sentiments that prosper in this tyranny, for none dare incur the odium that would be the fate of anyone who risked pointing out logical shortcomings in the sentiments of a speech. This has the effect of creating uncertainty, for while those members who state unpopular truths are condemned, no one is sure how to respond to nonsensical ideas. All members can do is go along with whatever wins acclaim at the moment, until time reveals the more lasting reaction of the membership. So those wishing to avoid unpopularity by embracing or rejecting a notion, have to try to do both until the group's decision becomes clear.

Tyranny Felt Most By The Best, Least By The Worst
Members are clearly tyrannised, but this will only be felt by those concerned about truth; the vain, conceited and foolish delight in never having their high opinions of themselves contradicted, and thrive under this licence to lie.

Summary Of Toastmasters
So it is easy to see in this little group why:

• The certificates of achievement are meaningless.
• A tyranny suppresses truth while fostering lies.
• All honest members must become alienated, either they become cowed into silence, resign or get thrown out of the club.
• Only the worst, those who care least about the art of public speaking and the truth, aspire to office.
• The purpose of the organisation is reversed as its function devalues the art of rhetoric.

A result obtained by the character of its membership who insist upon pleasant lies in the place of harsh truth, which is a malaise beyond cure or treatment.

Summary
The example of the imaginary police force and the actual Toastmaster clubs easily reveal the nature of the change from unselfish to selfish mode. It is a change from being capable and determined to corrupt, impotent and deluded. A fate that must be enjoyed by every institution run by selfish individuals. The very same fate that must over-take a civilization of selfish citizens. Hence:

In "The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire" Edward Gibbon remarked in Chapter II, in the paragraph titled Decline of Courage:

"The minds of men were gradually reduced to the same level, the fire of genius was extinguished, and even the military spirit evaporated."

— revealing that he believed the Romans became stupid and cowardly.

Roman civilization fell because the majority of its citizens changed from being unselfish to selfish. And this is the change from the Patrist to Matrist state observed by G.R. Taylor in his prophetic work 'Sex In History'. It is the inevitable degeneration of a society from self-sacrifice to self-indulgence; from strength to weakness; from revering truth to embracing lies.