According to the French poet Charles Baudelaire, only three types of people truly earn respect: priests, warriors, and poets; respectively, those “who know,” those “who kill,” and those “who create.” He wrote this in the 19th century but the sentiment could certainly still apply today. And by applying the sentiment, we could also gain some insight into why our current culture is so gross — we have bad priests, warriors, and poets.
Naturally, “priest” immediately brings up thoughts of religion. So then think of the state of the dominant religion in our country: Christianity. It’s been watered down, and it increasingly has no substance. Church services have become a combination of rock concerts and motivational seminars. People may be uplifted for a time, but once the adrenaline wears off, so too does the meaning. Those who are supposed to “know” Christianity are largely to blame for this. Either they’ve stopped trying to gain knowledge, they never had any, or they’re picking and choosing which parts of Christianity they’re best able to sell. True religion has been swapped out for feel-good self-help.
Now to those “who create.” If the question were to be asked about whether literature, art, and movies have gotten better or worse in the last 15-20 years, I’d be shocked if the majority of those asked would answer “better” — and I’m likely being generous with this timespan. Increasingly, to create art of any kind, one abides by a checklist of what is and is not allowed, in the interest of equity over quality. Therefore, beauty and truth, things that are better seen through art than explained through academic language, aren’t being displayed. Something that’s truly beautiful is being bypassed in favor of something being propagandized as “beautiful,” because it adheres to the regime-approved social justice checklist.
I skipped over “warrior” and saved it for last because propping up those “who kill” might not seem like the best idea. However, I look at who has played the role of the “warrior” throughout history and I don’t think of just soldiers at war, though that’s a part of it. Generally speaking, the men of a given society are its warriors. And when looking at today’s society and how men are portrayed, it’s not hard to discern that there are very few warriors worthy of recognition. Men have become incentivized not to be masculine as well to not play the role of protector and provider. Strong men are looked at as toxic, which creates weak fathers, which creates more weak men — leaving warriors of any kind missing in action.
The solution here is quite simple: become, find, and prop up better priests, warriors, and poets. However, the difficulty comes in the actual carrying out of that solution, especially when the cultural framework in place works directly against it. But again, it’s simple, and it doesn’t require any time wasted on political activism — notably something not mentioned among Baudelaire’s respect-worthy vocations.
So, if you don’t like the way things currently are, look to these three forms of doers and makers in society and work to make them respectable again. It won’t be easy, but perhaps the inner “warrior” in you longs for a challenging endeavor.
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