How to Beat the Tyranny of What ‘Everyone Knows’
How can we better understand what is ‘common knowledge’, asked free speech hero Lord Young recently?
Toby cites Steven Pinker’s new book, When Everyone Know That Everyone Knows…, in which he presents an understanding of how tyrants manage to stave off popular revolt in spite of widespread discontent by distorting what is understood to be common knowledge.
Pinker uses the famous example of Václav Havel, the great Czech dissident, who cited a greengrocer displaying a sign in his shop window saying “Workers of the World Unite”, even though his faith in Marxism has long since lapsed. This act caused others to assume they’re alone in dissenting from communist dogma and so the tyranny continues.
Consider almost any apparently current ‘common knowledge’ today – Net Zero, critical race theory, trans, ‘diversity is our strength’ – and you will find instead a minority concern elevated to ‘common knowledge’ with the dictatorial overlord shouting down those who dare speak against it.
This is most acutely felt within academia and certain corporates, but all of us at some point will have self-censored for fear our opinions are not common knowledge when in fact they probably are. If as a society we can succeed in getting a proper handle on ‘common knowledge’ we will greatly improve our country and our sense of ease within it.
Lord Young continues: “I think there’s a great deal in this [Pinker’s assessment] and I wish I knew what the solution was, apart from defending those brave academics who find themselves being targeted by their pitchfork-wielding colleagues.” Unlike our dear leader Lord Young, I do think there are other solutions to this issue.
It’s not easy, but unless we are honest about what we think and what ‘common knowledge’ is, infinite nonsense will continue to be dumped on us, with the majority thinking the majority want it, when actually the majority don’t. And frankly I’ve had enough of it all and I can confidently say you have too.
1 Share our own ‘common knowledge’
There is no getting around it, but all of us have to practice saying what we think at work and at play. It is not good enough leaving it to Lord Young to defend those brave enough to speak out. If more of us had spoken up earlier, a lot of garbage could have been swerved. We can do so thoughtfully and politely, but as Douglas Murray says, “Come in the water’s warm.” I cannot convey how exhilarating it is, politely disagreeing with someone else’s complacent ‘common knowledge’. They generally fold and don’t argue back – please give it a go!
2 Avoid wearing or using regime imagery
We don’t yet live in a tyranny so it’s still possible not to wear rainbow lanyards, use pro-nouns in your email, silly symbols in your X bio, or any of the other figurative ‘Workers of the World Unite’ signage. If you’re worried about overweaning members of the HR department, do it anyway because – guess what – many of them will not believe in it either.
3 Understand the power of propaganda in distorting ‘common knowledge’
James Holland, the World War Two historian, spoke powerfully in a podcast with Lex Fridman about the effective menace of propaganda:
And for all the modernity of the world in which we live in today, most people believe what they’re told repeatedly. … They still do. If you just repeat, repeat, repeat over and over again, people will believe it.
Laura Dodsworth is very good on how to recognise and resist the power of manipulation. Understanding that an issue has been forced on people by propaganda makes it much easier to speak against those ideas that are misunderstood to be ‘common knowledge’. We English are polite creatures and don’t want to hurt people’s feelings; understanding that people’s views around contentious issues are not actually self-generated but imposed by propaganda takes away that worry of inflicting a social sting.
4 Step outside the historical determinism a.k.a. ‘right side of history’ view of the world
We can blame those Marxist historians for all of this ‘right side of history’ bunkum. It’s the trite way of saying that humans have no sense of individual agency and we are all at the mercy of great historical progressive tides, therefore our voices don’t matter. Eric Hobsbawn erroneously wrote:
The French Revolution was not made by conspiracies, nor by the deliberate acts of individuals, however prominent. It was the result of a long chain of circumstances, economic, social and political, which made its outbreak, if not its precise form, inevitable.
I’m not sure Trump or Musk would agree with that view of history. Indeed, we are all beings with free will. History is directed by those men and women who act, who speak, who write, who persuade. Whether in a family, boardroom or shop floor setting, please speak up and you will no doubt find others who agree.
5 Cultivate free association
Once you’ve experienced the exhilaration that comes from meeting a like-minded person, you just want more of it. Václav Benda, another Czech dissident, wrote:
Free association is the only way to restore the broken tissue of society, to reweave the fabric of human solidarity that the regime has torn apart; it is the antidote to the atomisation and isolation that totalitarianism imposes.
I interpret this to mean essentially: let’s do more of meeting likeminded people in the pub. There are terrific events run by, say, the Spectator and UnHerd, but generally they are the ‘elites’ talking to the audience. Let’s generate events whereby the audience can talk and connect with each other. Why not start at home, invite some mates over and just say what you think? That way ‘common knowledge’ will be more readily understood.
Joanna Gray is a writer and confidence coach.
source dailysceptic.org
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