The Empire of Nice
June 29, 2015
IN THIS previous entry, a reader asked why those who are not engaged in the vice of homosexuality have been so aggressively in favor of homosexual “marriage.”
Another reader, Ignatius A. Chesterton, writes in response:
J.D. writes, “What is it that they want?”
It’s shockingly simple: They want to be thought of as NICE. By everyone.
Niceness is their highest value… the coin of the realm. Nice people are nice. Not nice people are mean. And they don’t want mean people to think they’re not nice, either, so it’s a double-bind worldview. They’re trapped in the social empire of nice, and there is no escape.
However, there is a prize: everyone thinks the nice person is nice. Not much more, but certainly nice. No one can say anything bad about the nice person, which isn’t a fully human, fully-alive experience, but it is nice.
They don’t want to be thought of as mean, so they follow the nice trends and celebrate all kinds of nice self-congratulation. It’s a dualistic worldview, brought to them through television, Internet, viral emails, movies, social media, cute JPEGs, et cetera.
The Glowing Box tells them what is nice, and how to think. They imitate, and pass it on.
That’s what they want: to be nice, for others to think of them as nice, for others to be nice to others, and the world to be a nice place. They want to be comfortable. People who create discomfort — by thinking or encouraging others to think — are not nice. Just like their most challenging teachers in their school years, who created a “not nice environment” that demanded the best of them and others… the highest effort, playing on their growth edge. Standing for something beyond the comfort zone of niceness. That wasn’t nice because some people couldn’t get an A because they wouldn’t think or work hard enough to get it, creating despair. That’s not nice. And this view of thinkers — those with higher standards for humanity — continues to this day. Thinkers are mean, caught up in their heads. Unrepentant thinkers are haters. They have no heart.
Fun, huh?
Laura writes:
So true. Thank you.
The great irony is that the Lovers of Nice are not nice.
They are not nice to the children who will be confused when told in first grade that a mommy can marry a mommy or the children who will never know their fathers, the men who jacked off in fertility clinics and then left them for good. They’re not nice to the victims of homosexuality who will kill themselves, end up murdered by a not-very-nice partner, die prematurely from a not-nice disease such as anal cancer, bacterial pneumonia or AIDS, or if they are one of the small number of homosexuals who survive into old age, die alone and with no grown children to care for them.
You are right. Their definition of nice is taken from propaganda artists. Their niceness comes from the organized forces of hatred. Their submission to these forces ultimately stems from their own refusal to be nice to God. They are the “sensual man” of which St. Paul spoke:
Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God. Which things also we speak, not in the learned words of human wisdom; but in the doctrine of the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God; for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand, because it is spiritually examined. But the spiritual man judgeth all things; and he himself is judged of no man. Corinthians 2:13-15
They’re not nice. But they sure think they are. And there is nothing — nothing — you can possibly say to dissuade them of their superior niceness. Instead, they will hate you for not being nice, proving yet again that their niceness has definite limits.
— Comments —
George Weinbaum writes:
Reading this post reminded me that I have said many times, I would rather be thought of as a criminal, than “nice.” It also reminded me of Matthew 10:34-35. Has John Roberts, nominally Catholic, a sword?
David W. writes:
“A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world and might even be more difficult to save.” – C.S. Lewis
Karl D. writes:
I wholeheartedly agree with Ignatius. I would also add that the same members in the Empire of “Nice”, really do see themselves as actors on an historic stage.To be on the “wrong side of history” in Nice Town would tarnish the biographies that they so carefully create in their own minds. It was the same with Obama’s initial election. These “historic moments” also lend themselves to a party atmosphere. And who wants to be a party pooper? This is especially true amongst millennials and to a lesser degree Generation X. My generation. There is a reason Millennials and Gen-Xers get along so well. They are cut from a similar cloth. When I was in first grade my parents came to the school to get a report from my teacher on how I was progressing. One of the things she said about me was very astute and proved to ring true in my life. She said, “Karl is a very good student but he does not suffer fools gladly. He see’s life without the bulls**t.” She then half jokingly said, “God help him.”
She was right. It has been an issue for me my whole life. Because I question things or point out logical fallacies I have been viewed as a cynic or “not nice. Why don’t you just relax and go with the flow?” I didn’t mean to turn this into something about myself, but I would guess that you, as well as many of this site’s readers have experienced the same thing. The Empire of Nice is a difficult thing to battle. And they will do their very best to gaslight anyone who doesn’t float through life with a dopey smile on their face.
D. Edwards writes:
I’ve been reading Eric Hoffer’s book The True Believer in order to gain insight into what is happening. There are many memorable passages in the book. It is difficult to excerpt just one passage and do justice to the whole. But this one I like:
“Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all the unifying agents. Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a god, but never without a belief in a devil.”
J.D. writes:
“Nice” in this context, may be a mask on the truth. It seems more a mix of fear, hate and ironically, a need to control. Challenge them, as I did two friends recently, and the brew bubbles up as anger and increased frustration, way out of proportion to the non-threat of my simple questions. I think they hate the good as much as they practically scream that they represented it.
There’s also that destructive libertarian element. They worship, as a vague abstraction, a supreme right one’s body. The body being the ultimate private property – to and from which all fundamental rights adhere and arise – permiting a limitless liberty to do with it whatever is desired and consented to. They seem increasingly unhinged with each “success”.
Mr. Chesterton writes:
If you really want a fun intellectual exercise that is sure to leave others uncomfortable, look up the etymology of the word nice at your favorite dictionary website.
Start by reviewing the word’s current definition, and the array of modern uses for this single-syllable gem… it’s the modern equivalent of “Smurfy,” and just as serious.
Now scroll down further and read the Middle English, Old French and Latin derivatives. Go ahead… take a gander.
Yes, my friends. Now THAT changes the meaning. Fitting, no?
Now compare our modern interpretation of nice with its original origin. Perhaps this will explain why modernity is backwards. Being nice appeals to a peculiar part of the intellect, does it not? Or does it?
My how things change.
Share this riveting knowledge with your acquaintances! Enjoy the blank looks you receive. Reflect to them that the dictionary is just a standard for language, it just provides definitions, it’s just an extension of tradition and human history. See? Language can become anything you want it to be! You don’t have to believe it. In fact, the trendy thing today is to believe in nothing… now you can look smart with the Lefty friends you’ve always wanted! Why, with a simple postmodern declaration, you can call the dictionary a work of horror or fantasy, if you wish. If you can convince five Supreme Court Justices — unelected, unaccountable politicians without term limits — to agree with your argument, you can have anything you want!
