Over eleven years ago I wrote a book called Burnt Offerings. Although it was published, there was very little marketing. Despite that, it sold nearly a thousand copies and it's one review was very positive. It is still on sale through Amazon. The amazing thing about this book is that it's focused on politics and government-produced statements and predictions that after eleven years turned out to be true. With that in mind, the following narrative summarizes the content of my book.
In the Introduction, it was stated that "our secular society no longer believes in good or bad; only equality." Then, it went on to say that America "seems to be implementing equality everywhere without any concern for the consequences." It seems that there is "a knee-jerk reaction to eliminate most of the inequalities that still exist." It is explained that many inequalities involve judgments about good and evil. Further, in modern society good and evil have developed into numerous more specific inequalities; like reward and punishment, guilt and innocence, normal and abnormal, and use and abuse.
As distinctions between these cultural inequalities deteriorate, a process is depicted in my book called blurring. It is a process of dimming down our entire population. Boundaries no longer exist that allowed us to better understand the world around us. Clear mental ideation is blurred to the point where distinctions between policemen and criminals, teachers and students, counselor and patients, guilt and innocence, and good and evil are mentally dissolved. These dualities are melded and blurred into the criminal justice system, education, government, mental health, and religion.
The book goes on to explain that while equality is being forcefully implemented, the inequalities in the criminal justice system, education, government, religion, and mental health are perceived gradually as evil or bad. In criminal justice law enforcement is increasingly viewed as bad, while criminals are viewed increasingly as good. The earlier distinction of law enforcement being rewarded for its good behavior is being torn apart. In education, the previous distinction between teachers and students is deteriorating as equality negates the distinction between them. Teachers are viewed increasingly as equal to students.
In government individual leaders are increasingly perceived as bad, while group decisions are viewed as good despite group inability to quickly problem-solve. In mental health, the distinction between normal and abnormal is theoretically equalized since no one seems to know the meaning of normal. Lastly, in religion, the difference between good and evil is being trashed without any discussion of the cultural consequences. In my book, it is said that "We have become that which we were originally against. We are Topsy-Turvey." The question is how did this come about?
In my book, it is said in several places that in a sane society, persons who exhibit good behavior should be rewarded. Conversely, those who are bad should be punished. The following quote is meant to give the reader a clearer perspective on equality and its effect on good and evil.
"In an efficiently functioning society, behavior has consequences, and not all behaviors are equal. An efficiently functioning society must distinguish between good and bad (or evil)."
The point here is that absolute implementation of a theory of equality alone is a prescription for disaster. It is equality and inequality together that will produce the most efficient and prosperous society.
Theoretically, a positive comprehensive theory must include a clear notion of how equality and inequality relate to each other in harmony without destroying each other. We must first reward the unequal teacher, policeman, counselor, politician, and religious authority for good behavior whenever it occurs. The examples in my book show that a theory of equality that excludes inequalities gradually diminishes any inequalities that exist. Then, without legal protection, the distinction between the police and criminals is reversed.
Anyone who works in law and order is now the bad perpetrator and criminals become the good victims. There is a section in the book that shows how legal protection swiftly diminishes when an attention shift occurs that changes the focus from the bad behavior of the criminals to the way a criminal is badly processed by law enforcement. In a book by Cullen Murphy called "Are We Rome (Murphy, 2007)?" the author is quoted as saying "America...(has)...some condition...(that)...has left government responsive to particular special interests but deaf to the popular will."
That new focus is not only discussed in Burnt Offerings, there is also a more detailed narrative of the consequences of special group attention shifts in my new book, Perceptual Shift. There is also a section on why no legal system can make fair judgments regarding guilt or innocence without clear notions about what is good and bad. Burnt Offerings then depicts examples of special attention shifts and how they affect our society in law enforcement, education, government, and mental health. Religion is mentioned but not discussed in detail because its effect was less obvious years ago. The focus of the discussion in the book is a clear argument that all of those institutions have been and are severely impacted by equality with only punitive and passive references to inequality.
Up to this point, it is clear that equality has become a singular focus in and of itself. Originally in the Civil Rights movement, the focus of attention was on lifting constraints on the oppressed. As a result, a sense of freedom was obtained by the oppressed as that movement increased. But beyond a certain limit, cultural harm begins. Equality initially begins to stabilize chaos and anarchy, but equality alone cannot stabilize inequalities. Those parts of our culture that depend on inequalities will continue to deteriorate as long as equality views most inequalities as evil and wrong. Gradually the general focus of the movement changed from paying attention to bad behavior to accusing traditional good behavior of being bad.
The biggest blasphemy of all was my book's discussion of the O.J. Simpson trial years ago. In that discussion, it was said that "we appear to be losing the past, but we are not gaining the future." It was further stated that in that trial they focused on "something other than...justice." That focus was "racism." Instead of focusing on the bad behavior of O.J. Simpson, Racial prejudice, as an accusation, shifted the focus in that trial from the defendant's bad behavior. By doing that, the defense attorney was able to shift attention to the police and law enforcement. The implied suggestion was that the police may be bad instead of being the good guys: they may be "racist." Mr. Simpson was acquitted, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
In current politics, there is a clear example of how this special attention shift works. On May 15, 2021, Hamas in the Gaza Strip launched 2900 rockets towards Israel to start the violence. Hamas is a well-known terrorist group that refuses to acknowledge Israel's existence. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), a U.S. political representative, condemned Israel for defending itself against the Palestinians instead of condemning Hamas for its bad behavior.
This kind of cockeyed reasoning illustrates the attention-shifting that is going on publicly throughout western civilization. Traditionally Americans have rewarded good behavior for individuals and groups. In this case, the comments by AOC would be about the evil behavior of Hama, but true to form, she blamed Israel for the process that Israel used to defend itself.
This overwhelming irrational response is now out-of-control as public opinion seems to justify an unusual perceptual shift where anyone who disagrees is bad; in other words, a racist. This attention shift has become so socially contagious that it has become public opinion. Anybody who disagrees with the liberal public these days is a racist; without any factual data to justify the accusation. In my book, I said, "When public opinion becomes more powerful than the law, a radical blurring may occur." To date, that is exactly what is happening.
The boundaries between accepted cultural norms are being destroyed. We no longer accept the concept that there are two genders; male and female, wise teacher and student, good law enforcement and bad criminals, normal citizens, and abnormal deviants. We are all one, without distinction. We are all part of an infinite cosmos; without end. We have digressed to knowing nothing because the structure of knowledge has been torn apart.
The answer is becoming increasingly clear. We need a detailed theory based on the individual personality that can be factually proven. The liberal progressive approach is a mixture of civil rights activist theory, tyrannical authoritarianism, socialism, and communism. The current collectivist approach is so chaotic that there is no factual base. All it does is create division and destroy things; including our long-held beliefs in inequality. We desperately need a comprehensive cultural theory legitimatizing the individual along with the inequalities that exist in our society. Some parts of that kind of theory are discussed in my last book, Burnt Offerings, and my new book, Perceptual Shift.