The Age of Tribes & Utility approaches..

An open letter to my Ultra-Orthodox brethren

There is new world order coming.

Everyone can feel the eerie sense of impending catastrophe.

Ever since Trump took office, it feels like world events are spinning faster and faster.

BLM. COVID. Jan. 6. Afghanistan. Russia-Ukraine. October 7. and now Israel and Iran.

Even irreligious people are noticing that it feels like the world is heading towards the final act of some divine script.

Jews across the world are realizing that labeling something “anti-Semitic” no longer has the same effect that it used to. While the simplistic reason being given is that Antisemitism is becoming acceptable in the culture, I think this is an oversimplistic answer.

This change is manifestation of a more macro shift that is happening in the culture.

Institutional trust is dead.

The media, WHO and many governmental agencies have been exposed as biased, partisan and manipulative. But even worse, is the erosion of the morality-based world order.
In the past, there were certain universally accepted norms and labels that society lived by. But at a certain point, the labels and movements started to be used as a weapon against the opposing side.

Feminism started as way to give woman equal rights to men, is now used to promote debased sexual expression, unfair demonization and double standards against men.

“All woman must be believed!”

Facts used to be undisputable. Then came came “FactChecks” to show us how manipulative facts can be.

The expert class used to be the ones we looked for to guide us in subjects that we are uneducated in. Now, we have all seen how they have abused their positions to push transing of kids and mask mandates.

“Flatten the curve, Peasant!”

Victims were taken seriously until victimhood became a status.

“We want reparations, white colonists!”

The N-word word was not used until people got tired of DEI and being told they were racist.

Hitler was universally considered history’s villain, until the left compared Trump and the republicans to him one too many times.

“He is Literally Hitler!”

The universally accepted terms were weaponized and used to manipulate under the guise of moral superiority.

The shift

The tide is shifting.

People are realizing that the old moral world order is dying and broken and are returning to their ancient beliefs and traditions. There is a huge surge of Christians returning to their faith and society in general is becoming more religious. Paradoxically, some blame Christianity for the erosion of society because the liberalism of the church and are embracing paganism.

“Trad” is now in vogue, the Amish are considered cool and living healthily and naturally as G-d intended it is becoming mainstream.

The rise of religion is a good things. We need more religious people of all denominations to fight the decay that is rotting our world.

Healthy nationalism and tribalism is also a good thing.

However, all of this means that many of the above groups will do a reevaluation of who is on their side and who is their enemy.

It will not be a moral based equation, it will be a Utilitarian one.

Different religions and tribes can’t coexist on a universal moral framework because of the diversity of their beliefs. The only way to ascertain whether you can peacefully live with other tribes is taking an amoral approach to coexistence.
Can we live with them in peace? Will they undermine our country? Do they bring value to it?

Unfortunately, we have a bad track record of being lumped together with ethnic jews who are rightfully perceived as enemies of morality and democracy.

Do we want to be defined by George Soros? Karl Marx? Hollywood? The LGBTQ movement? Communism? The ADL?

We must unequivocally condemn and distance ourselves from all Jews that hold beliefs contrary to ours.

Israel and the ADL

The ADL has been to quick in labeling things antisemitic. Any critique of Israel has been labeled antisemitic. Anyone who pointed to the power of the Israeli lobby or the Jewish money behind many of the leftist anarchists agenda was labeled antisemitic.

This is the same weaponization of morality that is dying in over other societal arena and only causes non-Jews to associate us with the same powers that have been manipulating them for so long.

All antisemites criticize Israel but all who critique Israel are not anti semitic.

Morals no longer are a social currency as they have been weaponized so many times and have lost their meaning. You can no longer tell the public to do something or believe something because it is the right, moral thing.

Saying Israel is the USA’s number one ally will no longer hold sway in the court of public opinion. You must show specific measurable benefits that Israel provides to America.(Tech, intelligence etc.)

I am talking to you, Ben Shapiro.

Saying that we must pick “the right side” in a war that has no direct bearing on the average American citizen (Ukraine, Israel etc.) does not work anymore. Americans are burnt out of fighting wars and overthrowing regimes in the name of being the police men of the world.

Telling us to believe experts and ignore evidence because we are stupid peasants does not work anymore.

Local politics

On a local level, we must take a utilitarian approach to civic duties. We must show other religions and groups that we are good citizens, follow the law and enhance our cities with our presence.

No more tax and Medicare loopholes.

We need to bring value to the cities that we live in.

Instead of screaming “antisemitism” and litigating when someone points out that we overdevelop and ruin towns, we should instead build responsibly and keep our cities neat and functional.

Sustainable development that does not cause people to drive like lunatics.

Build enough parking spots for shuls instead of infuriating the neighbors with double parking in front of their driveways.

Not every forest needs to be a maze of duplexes.

While we have big families and value functionality, we must recognize that many others value the vibe and aesthetics of a town, not just the ability to develop every inch of farmland.

Provide value to society.

We can live harmoniously with other groups and tribes as long as they see us an asset.

Otherwise be prepared for other tribes to label you as an an enemy…..and we have seen where that ends…

I highly recommend my readers to read this essay from Walt Bismarck. It goes into the utilitarian mindset in depth and is prescient to what is coming. Trigger warning: It does contain NSFW language..you have been forewarned.