Post-Persuasion Me?

To peaceably persuade or convince others of an argument is (probably) still a noble thing.

I suppose it is dependent entirely upon the veracity and value of the conclusion.

In business, Henry Ford convinced his associates and financiers that Americans could and would purchase a bare-bones automobile en masse, and that he possessed the technical know-how to scale this venture in the most profitable of ways. In communications, Marconi succeeded in showing the practicability and feasibility of wireless transmissions–albeit with enormously expensive mistakes along the way. In architecture, Brunelleschi and Bernini convinced their backers that their visions would stand indelibly–in all figurative and literal senses.

We have a natural preference for argument and persuasion over brute, wrathful attack. This is the cornerstone observation of the great libertarian Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s argumentation ethics. That I wrote this and that you’re reading it (and especially that which is quickly forthcoming) without you lashing out at me in the physical sense (not yet at least) illustrates this essential penchant. Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me–and all that true jazz.

Still, I have Jeff Deist’s words ringing in my ear. No; not the ones about secession or central banking or bitcoin–those are still there–but rather his most poignant sentiment; namely that we are living in “post-persuasion America”.

All of the stuff going on or not going on in the world at the moment has gotten me to considering, exactly what is the point of all this? In other words, I must admit that I wish this blog had a massive global following and that the podcast and my books and articles were in the hands of millions throughout the globe. Oh, as the Beach Boys would say, wouldn’t it be nice if my phone rang incessantly with pliant supplicants at the other end of the line asking me to talk at this conference or do this lecture series at the Sorbonne?!

But then, Ole Dammegard and James Delingpole reeled me in. Enough with the pining for bigger numbers or the next uber-sponsor–just Uber would be nice–and our first sponsor at that! During their most recent exchange, Dammegard interlaced his explications of the contemporary and awful events with reminders that he is not here to persuade anyone. In point of fact, he is not even trying. Whether he’s opening up the mind to false flag attacks or very real electro-magnetic wave strikes, Dammegard ironically convinces me that he’s not here to convince anyone. But, the truth and his own wonder about it all shoots out of him, and for the life of him, he cannot bottle that up, choke it off, or silence it. It has to come out.

Let it flow! For just as quickly as one is drawn into pessimism or potentially worse, a spirit of apathy, there come new book projects, then angelic encouragement, then a self-professed anarcho-capitalist wins the presidency in a Latin American country with a population of 50 million and a history, pre-1950 of being one of the richest countries in the world. Nobody’s gonna break-a-[that]-stride / Nobody’s gonna slow me down regarding that. Got to keep on movin’.

So being in post-persuasion phase hardly means throwing in the towel, and it certainly precludes losing hope.

Hope is a very, very good thing. Whether I can convince you or not of that is really up to you. All I can do is just make the best of cases for it.