Simply outstanding article. I'm an older fella now, so I hate to sound like the geezer saying "When I was a kid...", but, I have never forgotten when I was a small boy visiting my grandparents- must be 50 years ago or so now- and we were going out. I was leaving the house in a clean t-shirt. "What are you wearing!" gasped my grandmother. "Absolutely not!" and in I went to find a shirt with a collar. T-shirts were for wearing under other clothes. To this day, if I'm not wearing something with a collar, I don't feel like I've finished dressing. Respect for ones self and others starts at home. I miss my grandma.
60 and can relate, lol. My mom used to say that when leaving the house in the forties, all her clothes had to be just so, everybody wore hats, and she would have felt naked going out without perfect make-up on. She can also recall her dad getting ready to go out and tend can animals on their small farm; he certainly wore shirts with collars and she remembers him milking cows while wearing a hat.
Even as a young child it was hard to fathom a society like that because it was already far gone in the rear-view mirror by the time I really started paying attention, in the late seventies/early eighties.
Yes, indeed, and IQ is largely genetically determined (as has consistently been demonstrated empirically by controlling for environmental factors).
This means that Meiji Japan or Singapore under LKY, Taiwan and S Korea were able absorb and extend Western technology and institutions. For all its pathological aspects, the PRC has also managed to do this, perhaps most impressively of all in purely material terms.
There is the odd man out of N Korea, where the IQ is reportedly around the same as for S Korea - even under the most damaging variety of communism, a period of 75 years is not nearly enough to put a dent in the IQ figures. Notice that where it counts for the regime, this intelligence shows: N Korea is able to maintain and extend its nuclear-weapons technology by itself.
To go by fertility rates, S Korean culture has been more destructive of the family than its N Korean counterpart. According to the figures gathered in 2008, N Korea's birth rate was still able to reproduce the population. It has declined since then, but is still at about 250% of S Korea's rate (the lowest in the world). The regime has begun prosecuting doctors carrying out illicit abortions and merchants selling illicit contraceptives.
So even with an equal IQ and, in the 21st century, much stronger family life, N Korea is still held back economically by the particular brand of communism imposed by the regime (not merely by communist-party rule, as the PRC and Vietnam prove).
IQ is only part; family structure matters nearly as much. The Asians have extended family/clan structure, where responsibility for the clan supercedes individual responsibility. The Asian societies falter with technical innovation because there is little individuality and litte motivtion for an individual to put forth effort to succeed.
IQ matters a lot, but we can't have high-IQ people if high-IQ people aren't living in places where it's reasonable to have a family. We need to build new places for ourselves. Fixing the old world is going to get us nowhere. We need to build the new one.
Pride (the good kind--not the bad) and self respect as well as respect for others are some traits that are necessary for us to build a positive culture and society. It is good to take pride in our personal appearance and in the appearance of our streets, sidewalks, parks, etc. It is respectful of others to keep our public spaces clean. God created the entire universe out of nothing, and He created mankind and gave us dominion over the earth and the animals. We are to be good stewards of what He has given us.
Visited Singapore as a sailor beginning 5 years after their independence (from Malaysia) in 1970, 1971, 1973 and 1975. The improvements were notable in that short period. My brother-in-Law, a retired Naval Officer after 31 years service, works there now. He attests to the improvements over his 40 years of observing Singapore. For Singapore, it was all the matter of a national will and LKY.
That’s very interesting to hear. I remember LKY mentioning the Vietnam War period as something of a turning point because of the resources poured into Singapore over the period
I just spent a few days in Singapore, returning from the UK.
Glasgow in Scotland seemed almost third world in its squalor and dirt and crime and visible degradation, while Singapore seemed like it was from another planet, far off in some distant science fiction future. Singapore is literally like the world of Star Trek, made concrete, here today.
Excellent article. Spiritually, large swaths of the United States, generally under the corrupt management of the political Left and their disgusting ilk, have already completed their transitions from First World to Third.
I think that localization/regionalization is the only solution. To do that we need local businesses and industry that are less reliant on global supply chains. Profit margins capable of sustaining those businesses. The reintroduction of formality and public responsibility… something each individual can do simply through good action and dress.
I don’t have a broad solution for the country, but there can be regional solutions. Choose a mid-sized town (20 to 150 thousand people) and start there. Check the demographics, 10% or more under the age of 18 is what you’re looking for, a place that will grow rather than shrink. Even better if you can find a place where homes can be acquired for a price that’s consistent with local wages. We have to stop trying to save the United States and the West and start trying to build new bridgeheads into the future.
After reading this, I thought about the trend of high schoolers in my town, walking around and going to school in pajama pants. I dressed in punk rock attire when I was a teenager and yes a hallmark of that was pointed messiness. But I put effort into achieving that look. Pajama pants trend seems like a different thing. Not a countercultural rebellion against the establishment but a rebellion against effort itself.
We're living through 2 or 3 generations of milaisse right now. Beginning with Millennials and hopefully concluding by the adulthood of Generation Alpha.
I think that localization will alter the way we see productive industry. Large supply chains require high levels of constant maintenance and, frankly, that's not going to happen. Maintenance requires a commons with public support, and while politicians can promise a renewal of American Infrastructure until they're blue in the face, a tremendous amount of that money ends up in the hands of corrupt politicians and their contractor buddies. As a result, I don't think that the national infrastructure will survive to keep long-distance transport goods cheap.
At the same time, smaller non-transport goods won't be as competitive on global markets so major corporations won't invest in producing anything outside of major urban areas. This may open up a place in the market for smaller local manufacturers: machine shops, 3D print shops, clothing makers or cobblers. That kind of thing structured locally instead of nationally.
"Be the Broken Windows theory in your life. Dress well. Behave well. Live excellently. That is the First World mindset, and must be embraced just as disorder, entropy, and slovenly filth are rejected."
Inspiring essay definitely going to have to apply this theory going forward. I like dressing well but don't have an ironing table and set so am going to have to look into that.
I've taken your writings to heart. People could have spent much more, of course. But I looked at my dining room table and decided I needed to replace it with Old World beautification. So I bought a $5000 dining room table set, bought a $7000 bedroom set. I am replacing everything with solid wood furniture that is Craftsman built... and can be passed down generationally it is so solid and well built. I could have kept what I had or replaced what I had with furniture costing 1/3. (And certainly, people can spend much more on furniture - I bought what I bought because it is solid wood, Old World level quality craftsmanship).
But I wasn't going to buy something that looked good but wasn't solid wood and wasn't built to last past a 100 years.
And, I am dressing up now to be out and about. Dress pants, dress shirts, nice shoes, etc. People do notice.
I think what you have said is so true.
One point I am going to make is the errors of systematic theology contributing to the 3rd worlding of America.
Christians have been deceived into believing in "decisional salvation". They presume to believe that "just anyone" can be saved, become a Christian, and become just like them. It's not true. The truth is that the doctrines of election and reprobation are sound. The reprobate literally cannot be saved during their human lifetimes. They're in a state of spiritual blasphemy from conception - past the reach of salvation. If Christians realized that, they would stop trying to be nice to pagan people to try to manipulate them into "saying a sinner's prayer" like that could save everyone worldwide from depravity and hell.
There's no such thing as "deciding to speak an incantation" to become a Christian. We don't have any such power in and of ourselves. Salvation is the work of the Holy Spirit limited to those whom God knew before He formed them in the womb (as Jeremiah said).
The hordes of the pagan world are not going to become Christian. Inviting them into Christian nations is literally asking for war and genocide.
These doctrines of, "But we have free will!" And, "God wouldn't have created people and given them no chance for salvation!" - are bleeding heart liberalism blinding people to the truth of our reality.
Christians are bending over backwards to "save the lost" instead of defending their own nations, borders, and children from the pagan hordes of savages. Like being nice to savages will redeem them into "decisional salvation".
God's plan is much more deep than people realize. The concept that hell is eternal is rather redundant since obviously in Genesis 1, the abyss of hell already existed and God spoke into same, "Let there be light." I won't get all into that.
But Christians "trying to save the world from hell!" - has been their undoing. It would be better to leave such matters as eternal destinies of souls to God who created them knowing that you cannot save the wicked by manipulating them into saying "a sinner's prayer" by prostrating yourself before them, giving them your land, and surrendering your children to their rule.
Christians ought to be more hardened against the wicked and less concerned with "saving the lost" than they are with protecting and preserving their own nations, lands, civilization, and posterity.
Now I will leave my soapbox.
God save us from the decisional salvation sheep who love wolves to their own peril.
We should be separated from the world, not trying to save the reprobate, pagan world by the sacrifice of ourselves and our posterity.
Our founders didn't think in their days like the "decisional salvation" crowd thinks today.
My first thought in answer to the question of your title was Magical Thinking.
As to personal dress codes being carried forward, I think you mis-evaluate the purpose of dressing up at that time. The mid-20th century economist Thorston Verbleen termed it Honorary Pecunerific Consumption ie; I am a better person than you because my Buick costs more than your Pontiac or his Chevy.
People at the time didn't have cars to show off how much more important they were than you. Travel was uncomfortable, laborious (by today's standards) which limited opportunities to show off your household goods and there were very few 'consumer goods' to splurge on at that time.
So the best way to show the most people that you were 'keeping up with the Jones's was to buy nice clothes
I think a better answer is - The Dirt is Not Magic. Import the 3rd world, become the 3rd world.
This isn’t really an accurate explanation, except of a few gaudy plutocrats like Frick. Men’s dress actually moderated and grew progressively less flashy over this period, being formal enough to show respect and decorum but not otherwise being ostentatious
Extended family/clan societies fail to innovate at rates comparable to nuclear family societies. They dilute responsibility over the family/clan and inhibit individualism. Without individualism, individual responsibility, and individual motivation to innovate, technological advancement is stifled badly.
Simply outstanding article. I'm an older fella now, so I hate to sound like the geezer saying "When I was a kid...", but, I have never forgotten when I was a small boy visiting my grandparents- must be 50 years ago or so now- and we were going out. I was leaving the house in a clean t-shirt. "What are you wearing!" gasped my grandmother. "Absolutely not!" and in I went to find a shirt with a collar. T-shirts were for wearing under other clothes. To this day, if I'm not wearing something with a collar, I don't feel like I've finished dressing. Respect for ones self and others starts at home. I miss my grandma.
Thank you!
I’m somewhat younger, but my parents and grandparents taught me the same thing and now I never leave the house without a collar
My father always wore a collared shirt. He, too, considered t-shirts to be undershirts. :)
I've begun doing the same thing.
60 and can relate, lol. My mom used to say that when leaving the house in the forties, all her clothes had to be just so, everybody wore hats, and she would have felt naked going out without perfect make-up on. She can also recall her dad getting ready to go out and tend can animals on their small farm; he certainly wore shirts with collars and she remembers him milking cows while wearing a hat.
Even as a young child it was hard to fathom a society like that because it was already far gone in the rear-view mirror by the time I really started paying attention, in the late seventies/early eighties.
IQ is a HUGE factor. As is the nuclear family model; depart from either at your peril.
I prefer the extended family personally, but in general I agree.
Oh yes, there are a number of other things too.
I find the decay in the public space one of the more over symbols of what’s going on, however
James Q. Wilson, the Broken Window Theory. I think Uncle Jim got it right.
Yes, indeed, and IQ is largely genetically determined (as has consistently been demonstrated empirically by controlling for environmental factors).
This means that Meiji Japan or Singapore under LKY, Taiwan and S Korea were able absorb and extend Western technology and institutions. For all its pathological aspects, the PRC has also managed to do this, perhaps most impressively of all in purely material terms.
There is the odd man out of N Korea, where the IQ is reportedly around the same as for S Korea - even under the most damaging variety of communism, a period of 75 years is not nearly enough to put a dent in the IQ figures. Notice that where it counts for the regime, this intelligence shows: N Korea is able to maintain and extend its nuclear-weapons technology by itself.
To go by fertility rates, S Korean culture has been more destructive of the family than its N Korean counterpart. According to the figures gathered in 2008, N Korea's birth rate was still able to reproduce the population. It has declined since then, but is still at about 250% of S Korea's rate (the lowest in the world). The regime has begun prosecuting doctors carrying out illicit abortions and merchants selling illicit contraceptives.
So even with an equal IQ and, in the 21st century, much stronger family life, N Korea is still held back economically by the particular brand of communism imposed by the regime (not merely by communist-party rule, as the PRC and Vietnam prove).
IQ is only part; family structure matters nearly as much. The Asians have extended family/clan structure, where responsibility for the clan supercedes individual responsibility. The Asian societies falter with technical innovation because there is little individuality and litte motivtion for an individual to put forth effort to succeed.
IQ matters a lot, but we can't have high-IQ people if high-IQ people aren't living in places where it's reasonable to have a family. We need to build new places for ourselves. Fixing the old world is going to get us nowhere. We need to build the new one.
Pride (the good kind--not the bad) and self respect as well as respect for others are some traits that are necessary for us to build a positive culture and society. It is good to take pride in our personal appearance and in the appearance of our streets, sidewalks, parks, etc. It is respectful of others to keep our public spaces clean. God created the entire universe out of nothing, and He created mankind and gave us dominion over the earth and the animals. We are to be good stewards of what He has given us.
Absolutely. Well put
Dignity is the good version.
Visited Singapore as a sailor beginning 5 years after their independence (from Malaysia) in 1970, 1971, 1973 and 1975. The improvements were notable in that short period. My brother-in-Law, a retired Naval Officer after 31 years service, works there now. He attests to the improvements over his 40 years of observing Singapore. For Singapore, it was all the matter of a national will and LKY.
That’s very interesting to hear. I remember LKY mentioning the Vietnam War period as something of a turning point because of the resources poured into Singapore over the period
1970 and 1971 were R&R port calls during the war. Got to see the gutters up close and personal. 1973 and 1975 was when I saw improvements.
Impressive speed to that
I visited Singapore about 25 years ago, and it is the cleanest place I have ever been.
I just spent a few days in Singapore, returning from the UK.
Glasgow in Scotland seemed almost third world in its squalor and dirt and crime and visible degradation, while Singapore seemed like it was from another planet, far off in some distant science fiction future. Singapore is literally like the world of Star Trek, made concrete, here today.
Excellent article. Spiritually, large swaths of the United States, generally under the corrupt management of the political Left and their disgusting ilk, have already completed their transitions from First World to Third.
I think that localization/regionalization is the only solution. To do that we need local businesses and industry that are less reliant on global supply chains. Profit margins capable of sustaining those businesses. The reintroduction of formality and public responsibility… something each individual can do simply through good action and dress.
I don’t have a broad solution for the country, but there can be regional solutions. Choose a mid-sized town (20 to 150 thousand people) and start there. Check the demographics, 10% or more under the age of 18 is what you’re looking for, a place that will grow rather than shrink. Even better if you can find a place where homes can be acquired for a price that’s consistent with local wages. We have to stop trying to save the United States and the West and start trying to build new bridgeheads into the future.
Thanks!
After reading this, I thought about the trend of high schoolers in my town, walking around and going to school in pajama pants. I dressed in punk rock attire when I was a teenager and yes a hallmark of that was pointed messiness. But I put effort into achieving that look. Pajama pants trend seems like a different thing. Not a countercultural rebellion against the establishment but a rebellion against effort itself.
We're living through 2 or 3 generations of milaisse right now. Beginning with Millennials and hopefully concluding by the adulthood of Generation Alpha.
I sure hope so. We shall see
I think a lot of it will depend on how the attempt to restore productive industry goes
I think that localization will alter the way we see productive industry. Large supply chains require high levels of constant maintenance and, frankly, that's not going to happen. Maintenance requires a commons with public support, and while politicians can promise a renewal of American Infrastructure until they're blue in the face, a tremendous amount of that money ends up in the hands of corrupt politicians and their contractor buddies. As a result, I don't think that the national infrastructure will survive to keep long-distance transport goods cheap.
At the same time, smaller non-transport goods won't be as competitive on global markets so major corporations won't invest in producing anything outside of major urban areas. This may open up a place in the market for smaller local manufacturers: machine shops, 3D print shops, clothing makers or cobblers. That kind of thing structured locally instead of nationally.
"Be the Broken Windows theory in your life. Dress well. Behave well. Live excellently. That is the First World mindset, and must be embraced just as disorder, entropy, and slovenly filth are rejected."
Inspiring, thanks for writing
Glad you though so, thanks!
This just happened in Vzla.
<1 generation
Inspiring essay definitely going to have to apply this theory going forward. I like dressing well but don't have an ironing table and set so am going to have to look into that.
Thank you!
A steamer is much easier and can work well too, in most situations
Bienvenue X)
I've taken your writings to heart. People could have spent much more, of course. But I looked at my dining room table and decided I needed to replace it with Old World beautification. So I bought a $5000 dining room table set, bought a $7000 bedroom set. I am replacing everything with solid wood furniture that is Craftsman built... and can be passed down generationally it is so solid and well built. I could have kept what I had or replaced what I had with furniture costing 1/3. (And certainly, people can spend much more on furniture - I bought what I bought because it is solid wood, Old World level quality craftsmanship).
But I wasn't going to buy something that looked good but wasn't solid wood and wasn't built to last past a 100 years.
And, I am dressing up now to be out and about. Dress pants, dress shirts, nice shoes, etc. People do notice.
I think what you have said is so true.
One point I am going to make is the errors of systematic theology contributing to the 3rd worlding of America.
Christians have been deceived into believing in "decisional salvation". They presume to believe that "just anyone" can be saved, become a Christian, and become just like them. It's not true. The truth is that the doctrines of election and reprobation are sound. The reprobate literally cannot be saved during their human lifetimes. They're in a state of spiritual blasphemy from conception - past the reach of salvation. If Christians realized that, they would stop trying to be nice to pagan people to try to manipulate them into "saying a sinner's prayer" like that could save everyone worldwide from depravity and hell.
There's no such thing as "deciding to speak an incantation" to become a Christian. We don't have any such power in and of ourselves. Salvation is the work of the Holy Spirit limited to those whom God knew before He formed them in the womb (as Jeremiah said).
The hordes of the pagan world are not going to become Christian. Inviting them into Christian nations is literally asking for war and genocide.
These doctrines of, "But we have free will!" And, "God wouldn't have created people and given them no chance for salvation!" - are bleeding heart liberalism blinding people to the truth of our reality.
Christians are bending over backwards to "save the lost" instead of defending their own nations, borders, and children from the pagan hordes of savages. Like being nice to savages will redeem them into "decisional salvation".
God's plan is much more deep than people realize. The concept that hell is eternal is rather redundant since obviously in Genesis 1, the abyss of hell already existed and God spoke into same, "Let there be light." I won't get all into that.
But Christians "trying to save the world from hell!" - has been their undoing. It would be better to leave such matters as eternal destinies of souls to God who created them knowing that you cannot save the wicked by manipulating them into saying "a sinner's prayer" by prostrating yourself before them, giving them your land, and surrendering your children to their rule.
Christians ought to be more hardened against the wicked and less concerned with "saving the lost" than they are with protecting and preserving their own nations, lands, civilization, and posterity.
Now I will leave my soapbox.
God save us from the decisional salvation sheep who love wolves to their own peril.
We should be separated from the world, not trying to save the reprobate, pagan world by the sacrifice of ourselves and our posterity.
Our founders didn't think in their days like the "decisional salvation" crowd thinks today.
My first thought in answer to the question of your title was Magical Thinking.
As to personal dress codes being carried forward, I think you mis-evaluate the purpose of dressing up at that time. The mid-20th century economist Thorston Verbleen termed it Honorary Pecunerific Consumption ie; I am a better person than you because my Buick costs more than your Pontiac or his Chevy.
People at the time didn't have cars to show off how much more important they were than you. Travel was uncomfortable, laborious (by today's standards) which limited opportunities to show off your household goods and there were very few 'consumer goods' to splurge on at that time.
So the best way to show the most people that you were 'keeping up with the Jones's was to buy nice clothes
I think a better answer is - The Dirt is Not Magic. Import the 3rd world, become the 3rd world.
This isn’t really an accurate explanation, except of a few gaudy plutocrats like Frick. Men’s dress actually moderated and grew progressively less flashy over this period, being formal enough to show respect and decorum but not otherwise being ostentatious
Extended family/clan societies fail to innovate at rates comparable to nuclear family societies. They dilute responsibility over the family/clan and inhibit individualism. Without individualism, individual responsibility, and individual motivation to innovate, technological advancement is stifled badly.
https://gunnarmiller.substack.com/p/the-fuddy-duddy-manifesto