 So let's play the video. I'll play you Michael Knows's video. It's a minute 50. I Might play throughout just just let it run I might stop it who knows right and And then we'll talk about it and again today will be history. We're talking history culture civilization philosophy ideas and progress in history that What happens in history how history evolves the world? Maybe most importantly the world of ideas in history. So here is let's see if I can get this right. There's Michael Knows and I'm gonna play. Oh, I should put my headphones on so I can hear it. Let me know it on the chat if it's too loud too soft And any any other comments you have you can use the chat to let me know all right Here we go play Americans are as conservative today as They were back in 2012 which is fine and it's a good start given how much more liberal the country had become since 2012 But if 2012 is the end point then we might as well pack it in guys I do not want America to be as socially conservative as it was in 2012 I want our civilization to be as socially conservative as we were in 1220. Okay I forget it. I don't even want the 1950s. I don't even want the 1880s. I won 1220 I think that would be a good spot to land at I Want at the very least I think we ought to be as conservative as we were Before all the modern ideologies started corroding our civilization Because that's been the big problem the reason that a lot of people for a long time became more socially conservative more open more tolerant is because they had The pillars of our civilization to rely upon the church the family the productivity the Political order the institutions the system of law We had all of that to rely upon and so we were just we were just leaning on that While we were indulging in an ideology that was eroding all of that This is the thing about liberalism is a liberalism including the old classical liberalism it's just like an acid that you pour onto your civilization and You I don't know. Maybe you like it. Maybe it's like a lysergic acid You know, maybe it's like a drug or something when people kind of like this acid for a while But it just starts to eat away at at the thing upon which it must Rest All right, so there is a lot there a lot there and We're gonna we're gonna try to break it down. I probably should have stopped it, but I took some notes There's a lot there, but I want to start with the 2020 Sorry, I want to start with 12 will mainly focus on 12 20, but I also want to talk about You know all this modern ideology You know notice that he's dismissing classical liberalism as part of this new modern ideology So we'll get to what the source of that is so what's he really about? What's you really about and and a lot of the comments I got on Twitter was well He doesn't really mean 20 20 12 20. I can't even say 12 20 12 20 He just means more conservative in the past, but he repeats 12 20 twice and Not only does he repeat it twice he Elaborates on what he's talking about and maybe he doesn't be 12 20. Maybe he means 1009 or maybe means 1310, but he clearly means Middle Ages culture clearly means the social conservatism and he emphasizes social conservatism So not, you know, he's not giving up his iPhone We'll get to that in a minute. So social conservatism of the Of the 12 20s now Scott already in the chat is defending him and this is typical, right? Because because there's a there's a segment of People who follow me who cannot ever criticize the right Who cannot ever see anything? Evil and this is evil what he says evil on the right They they find that as an attack somehow on their own values. We saw that in people defending You know defending Christianity when I did the Christianity versus a Christianity and woke and and everything else It's just it's stunning to me stunning how they cannot even see it They refuse to see it And of course sure this is hyperbole But hyperbole for what what is he actually advocating for he knows exactly what he's doing. I Mean he's dismissing modern ideology. We'll talk about what I did you means and he's dismissing classical liberalism And he's telling you exactly what he wants people to rely on what are the pillars of civilization for him? So it's not really hyperbole. This is exact. Oh Scott says he's only one man Yep, and all the people who justify him and the people who employ him and the people who watch him and the people who follow him And the people who cheer him and the people who support him This is The new right This is modern Conservatism this guy is huge popular One man. It's always only one man Always only one man All right, so what was like? What is he pining for? We're talking here about 1220 Basically, he's pining for the Middle Ages The Middle Ages is a period in which the family was a family except Once in a while the aristocrat the Lord who ruled though for these peasants would maybe want to sleep with your wife on the wedding night before you Did forget what they called that but but generally the family was the family, right? There was a Man and there was a woman and there was no confusion between them. Whoo. God I mean the amount of time I know all of you spend every day on Dealing with the confusion between men and women. I know is is tiring to you. So it was very Relaxing to know that there were men and women basically if you were gay You You kept it serious. You kept it silent You join a monastery or you were like stone to death, right? Oh, you were you were killed in some way because that's the penalty in those days for actually being discovered as gay although Somehow the monks in the monastery got away with it Without it. There's a there's a fabulous book You know, there's a there's a lot of there's a lot of Rewriting of history going on right now. There's a lot of people trying to defend the Middle Ages Trying to say the dark ages were not dark the Middle Ages were not bad There's no big difference between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. There's no real shift They're trying to say that the Middle Ages were just just pretty good people people had great lives And and the generally the dark ages the Middle Ages have got a bad rap that is generally modern scholarship It is driven primarily by by religious scholars But but the left joins in because the left doesn't want to be judgmental and after all in In in in the in the Middle Ages people were a lot more environmentally responsible. There were a lot fewer cows Polluting with methane. There was no coal. There was no industry and and every everything you ate was organic So how can anybody be a great? How can anybody be against? Against the Middle Ages, I guess I guess nobody can on the left so but the left and the right have a vested interest in supporting this And and there is this the scholarship now that that keeps coming out About this now So I want to recommend a book to you that I think is is excellent that I think is the It really gives the sense of what the Middle Ages the dark ages Middle Ages were Like it only spends one chapter on that because then it moves on to Kind of what what what the Renaissance meant and how they transitioned from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance happened and And and and what that break was or as he calls it in the book the shattering And and what that looks like and it's I think it's written from a relatively individualistic perspective a rational perspective So it's called a a whoops The light here is not very good, but maybe like that it will let only by fire By William Manchester. It's one. It's a really really good book one of the best history books you'll read it a really really Um, uh, it'll really really I think uh You'll learn a lot about history about what was actually going on and from a from a Really good perspective, but but let's think about Like back then and then uh, you know I want to read you a couple of short segments that have to do more I guess with the intellectual spiritual side of this period You know, this is uh, this is this is before Thomas Aquinas Before the Renaissance This is a time feudalism Most people were serfs Now 1220 is a time where things are getting a little bit better. No question Like the dark ages are over the dark ages from about 400 to I don't know about a thousand A really really bleak. That is the the complete destruction of the Roman Empire. It's it's a fragmentation you know Charlemagne is is like the peak of that period Up to the 11th century and um, you know Charlemagne was illiterate like he was the And was illiterate So this is a slight improvement over that There's some universities Oxford University of Paris There's a little bit the beginnings of the discovery of Aristotle. So there's there's some questioning not too much because This is still a period in which if you question you're killed And and uh, you know if you question and act on it a lot of a lot of purification is being done of the church a lot of People who and it's interesting because most of people being killed during this period We've already got all the pagans who become Christian But now people who take Christianity a little too seriously Like have vows of poverty and things like that as communities and and say that the church and And and the pope are corrupt. They're basically slaughtered. They're butchered, right? So this is this is a period of immense violence violence on a local scale and violence on a kind of uh, uh, an international scale because there was no international but on on a on a Well international scale because this is a period of the of the crusades This is a period where the crusades often fail. So in 20 Something 2012 12 12 something The crusades try to go to Jerusalem. They fail so on the way back they figure they're pissed off. They're not happy. They've just failed So they go to Constantinople Which is basically christian at this point and they sack the place and slaughter everybody And they're basically slaughtering christians, right? No problem in killing Left and right and and everybody and everybody else. So It's a it's an unbelievable period of violence. So to the extent that you consider You know, uh socially conservative Equals violence, then you got it This is a period of of immense violence and if social conservatives consider that As something good then then so be it it is a period in which The crusades in order to fund the crusades in order to just warm up Slaughter people on the way to Palestine and and steal their stuff so that they could fund They're going over and trying to capture Jerusalem from the Arabs I fund the muslims, but again, you know slaughtering is going on on a on a white scale, particularly if you are Considered some kind of apostate to christianity Indeed in the dark ages, uh, you know people talk about islam having converted Much of the what today is the Arab world, uh by the threat of the sword As if christianity didn't do that I mean the christians traveled all over europe and converted people With the sword you either converted christianity or you know, charlemagne did this I think I think um to the saxons He basically said you either convert to christianity right now you're baptized or we kill you and they said Yeah, we don't we we don't want to convert and he killed 45. He literally Cut off the heads He decapitated 45 hundred people in one day. I don't know how you even do that I don't know what the logistics of that are of killing that many people in one day by beheading. I mean beheading is not easy So anyway, maybe that's maybe that's exaggeration. Maybe it took them three days But the point is they killed 45 hundred people in one day. Why because they wouldn't convert to christianity. So Don't tell me islam is this brutal religion Where they converted everybody with the sword Christianity of that period was exactly the same This is a period in which people are poor Most people are still subsistent farmers usually to Farms that are owned owned In quotation marks because it's not real ownership By by lords by by aristocrats And and who are you know, most people are serfs In they are now towns the towns might have Craftsmen It's interesting that if you read now I looked at the botanical history of this period And if you read the botanical history, it's like this is an era of growing economy of increased wealth of industry and you go really You know industry in the 19th century sense because we're reading this in 20 in in in What is it now 2023 so industry has a certain ring to it. No, of course not. It's a little craft shops It's a little it's it's it's it's a little two one two-man operations. This is not industry and rising standard of living raising Productivity not in the sense of the 19th century or the 20th century This is from 12, you know about a thousand years barely any increase in real wealth In real production in real increased standard of living and think about how low things got in the dark ages So that the middle ages looks like a big improvement This is an era of of physical material You know horror But it is also a period in which It is also a period where spiritually There's really no art Most people aren't exposed to any art. The art that exists is purposefully ugly Gargoyles monstrous and jesus is on a cross But even the jesus, there's no anatomically correct jesus. There's no anatomy There's just the the symbolism of what of what jesus would be an across of suffering of hatred of of of pain That's what is this period conveys. This is a period of darkness of suffering and of horror People are unbelievably superstitious Faith dominates all discussions Christianity is the law although there's the beginning of the study of roman law in in in some of the These centers and even the beginning of analysis of Aristotle In places like the university of paris, but these are the exceptions. This is a few people It's still true that the vast majority Vast majority of people are illiterate. They can't read. They will never be able to read throughout their lives This is a By the standards of 2023 This is like one of the worst periods in human history Like the romans were better off the greeks were better off and within three 300 years europeans are better off with renaissance The alabs are better off The alabs are better off from 900 or 1200 A.D. They're better off the the chinese are better off Most of the a lot of their history. They're better off that that you know, this is not a good period As I said, there's almost no art. There's some poetry There's some uh, there's some poetry going on a little bit after 12 20 and and I wonder If if nobles just made up 12 20 of of you was targeting the same I don't know but a little bit after this is thomas equina. So you get the beginnings of Thought philosophy, but during this period there's zero. There's there's one philosopher During this period, I mean this is a hundred years earlier, but basically similar Bernard of clavo clavo Right The most influential christian of his time bore a deep distrust of the intellect And declared that the pursuit of knowledge Unless sanctified by a holy mission was a pagan act and therefore vile Vile the pursuit of knowledge was vile um And you know, this is the beauty of of the book by, um, manchester. Whoops The light here was terrible. Um, william manchester You know, it really encouraged you to read it. Here's another element of this that has to do with um, arts, uh, personal values, um Kind of personal responsibility uh inspiration conservative conservative conservative social conservative socially of society. This is this is interesting um The most baffling elusive and yet in many ways i'm reading for the book and and in many ways the most significant dimension of the medieval mind Um, were invisible and silent one Was the medieval man's total lack of ego Now, I think this is what knows and maybe mad wash really really like Although of course they have big egos, but other than that the total lack of ego Even those with creative powers had no sense of self Each of the great soaring with evil cathedrals Our most treasured legacy from that age required three or four centuries three or four centuries to complete Canterbury Was 23 generations in the making 23 Charter's a a former druid center 18 generations Yet, I mean maybe maybe not yet. Maybe because we know nothing of the architects of builders They were glorifying god To them their identity in this life was irrelevant Noblemen had surnames, but fewer than one percent of the souls in christened them were quote. Well born Typically the rest nearly 60 million europeans Were known as Hans Jacques Saul call us will or will's wife or will's son or will's daughter If that was inadequate or confusing a nickname would do Because most peasants lived and died without leaving their birthplace There was seldom need for any tag beyond one eye or rosy the redhead or beyond or blondie or the like These villages were frequently Inominent for the same reason if war took a man Even a short distance from a nameless hamlet the chances of his return to it was slight He could not identify it and finding his way back home was virtually impossible Each hamlet was inbred Isolated unaware of the world beyond the most familiar local landscapes a creek and or mill Or tall trees scattered by lightning Skulled by lightning So there were no newspapers or magazines to inform the common people of great events Occasional pamphlets might reach them But they were usually Theological and like the bible they were always published in latin a language. They no longer understood even if they could read it Between 1378 and 1417 this is a hundred years later than uh, knoll's ideal Pope clement the seventh and benedict the 13th reigned in Avignon Excommunicating the other popes from rome who excommunicated them right back Yet the toiling peasantry was unaware of the Instrangement of the church in the church Who would have told them the village priest knew nothing himself his archbishop had every reason to keep it quiet The folks were baptized Shriven attended mass received the host at a communion married and received the last rites Never dreaming that they should be informed about great events Let alone have any voice in them the anonymity approach the absolute So did the mute Acceptance of that That's what they want No twitter No, none of this and of course a life expectancy out of 29 half your kids dying before the age of 10 No technology no wealth now some people said wrote to me and said where where wait a minute Michael knows he's talking about social conservatism. He still wants the wealth But this is where this is a worse than a fantasy. This is a massive evasion Where does the wealth come from? What led to the wealth that we have today what led to The Non anonymity of individuals today what led to twitter and and and You know iphone's and everything we have today what led to the to the modern standard of living that they want to preserve While having the barbaric culture of 1220 Oh, by the way, I didn't even mention that You know, I should have 1220 and this I think is what what really appeals to gnaws and mad walsh Women could not own property women were basically slaves to their husbands. They they they They were nothing they had no rights. They had I mean men didn't have rights, but women certainly didn't have rights. They were below So what led what led to all the the the wealth that we had today all the success that we had today What what meant to it is modern ideology? You know, and this is what gnaws is complaining about Well led to it because he says what I want is social conservatism before all modern ideology Well, what is modern ideology you say the individual mind the individual ambition? But what made individual ambition possible? What made the individual mind? Fertile efficacious in the world Where did it come from? How did it happen? Just fluke It's just an accident that you know, if if if we don't he kept the social conservatism of 1212 20 whatever the hell that even means Yeah, we'd still be wealthy today. I mean that is such ignorance of history The middle ages ends With a revolution An intellectual revolution Evolution of the mind a revolution of the individual It takes that revolution A few more centuries to actually manifest fully in the culture Which then leads to increased wealth, but it happens, you know 200 years after 1220 it happens sometime in the 1400s exact dates don't really mean much here And that's called the Renaissance And what is the Renaissance? The Renaissance is a Renaissance. It's a rediscovery and a re introduction and a reliving of what? of Greece and Rome of Aristotle a beautiful sculptures of individuals And now Now you have great art Now you have great art that's not you have art that's available to all people Michelangelo's David is out in public everybody can enjoy him in them in Florence You have art that's displayed everywhere and you have a beginning of a recognition of individuals Still most people are surf still most people ignorant still most people are illiterate But it's the beginning And yes, certain things happen in the middle ages Thomas Aquinas predominantly That led to the Renaissance So it's not that Renaissance came out of nowhere. Of course not. It's those first studying Aristotle in the University of Paris by people like Abelot. Abelot is a great story like of middle ages I don't know if you know that If you don't know the story of Abelot and Eloise You should know it and there's a good movie about it, which I forget the name of but, um You know Abelot has as this fair with Eloise and and and as a consequence as a sexual relationship with it and as a consequence is Well, I won't tell you what happens. Watch the movie or read up about it and then You know so so you you you get a Renaissance And a Renaissance is the introduction the beginning of the introduction of modern ideas Modern ideas about art Modern ideas about the intellect the the the individual Modern ideas about the secular about the secular Maybe even modern ideas about sexuality Yeah, I know rough But it's probably the case I don't know for certain, but it's probably the case that both Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci were gay Michelangelo probably repressing that And and suffering from guilt and everything else And Leonardo embracing it and living it Not quite in open, but relatively in open I mean Michael knows we'll be horrified by that. This is modern ideology. This you know, it's it's really fascinating to me how Of all the issues out there sexuality and and and homosexuality Um is the thing they fear the most. They're really afraid of it. They're really scared I don't know what it says about their own sexuality or what it says about their own sense of their own manliness But they're terrified terrified Of homosexuality and terrified Gay pride now pride flags are the most terrifying things in america today That is the enemy because they are so afraid these right wing nuts are so afraid of that Thank you for listening or watching the iran brook show If you'd like to support the show We make it as easy as possible for you to trade with me. You get value from listening. You get value from watching Show your appreciation. 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