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We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism
To his fellow conservatives, John Derbyshire makes a plea: Don't be seduced by this nonsense about "the politics of hope." Skepticism, pessimism, and suspicion of happy talk are the true characteristics of an authentically conservative temperament. And from Hobbes and Burke through Lord Salisbury and Calvin Coolidge, up to Pat Buchanan and Mark Steyn in our own time, these...more
Hardcover, 272 pages
Published
September 29th 2009
by Crown Forum
(first published 2009)
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A skeptic's and pessimist's dream of a book. What's happened to the healthy pessimism and realism of our founding fathers? John Derbyshire says "It's gone, bleached and parched by the false sun of optimism, then blown away by the cold winds of reality, leaving all the roots of our liberty exposed to the colorless, featureless glare of infantile cheeriness, to wither and die." He further states that "Happy talk and wishful thinking are for children, fools, and leftists." So, it comes as no surpri...more
The style is sprightly and witticisms abound, concealing the fact that the arguments are deep and the conclusions founded in considerable erudition.
The conceit is the familiar one that conservatism is founded in a belief in the fallenness, or at least the imperfection of human nature, and the complexity and proneness to error inherent in social arrangements. Hence impulses to uplift frequently cause trouble, and social experiments regularly fail.
Running through diversity, foreign policy, immigra...more
The conceit is the familiar one that conservatism is founded in a belief in the fallenness, or at least the imperfection of human nature, and the complexity and proneness to error inherent in social arrangements. Hence impulses to uplift frequently cause trouble, and social experiments regularly fail.
Running through diversity, foreign policy, immigra...more
Derbyshire is my favorite gloominary, but he still seems a bit unbalanced in his antipathy towards organized religion. He spends much too much time trying to push his own biological/physical interpretation of the universe, and he tries to show himself at ease with the pessimistic conclusion of that way of viewing life. I would have much preferred a stricter adherence to the theme of negative trends in our world. He has much to say that is insightful and causes the reader to pause and reflect on...more
Derbyshire's erudite and delightful style always makes his writing a pleasure to read, even when his subject is a bracing and sober look at the present and future of the USA. Derbyshire is more than anything a member of the "reality-based community", and the reality of our national predicament, from immigration, to education policy, to economics, to cultural decline, is one that most of us would shrink to face directly. But face it Derbyshire does, and with great style. A joy to read, though sob...more
John Derbyshire has written a wonderful novel (Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream), a popular math book, and in We Are Doomed has added political polemic. We Are Doomed is addressed to fellow American conservatives whom Derbyshire has diagnosed with an illness shared by those on the left, namely "foolishly utopian ways of thinking." What Derbyshire calls pessimism is simply a realistic view of human nature although his prognosis is pessimistic in a different sense. The book after all is titled We...more
It is interesting that an atheist presents a better understanding of human nature and potential than many nominal Christians, but National Review contributor John Derbyshire does that in his call to a return to pessimism. In We Are Doomed, Derbyshire lambasts happy talk, including from too many conservatives, that lacks foundation in reality. He moves swiftly and deftly through a broad range of topics -- diversity ("nothing to celebrate"), politics ("show business for ugly people"), culture, edu...more
Mark Steyn caused a stir a while back with a book he published called America Alone which predicts that Europe will soon be overcome demographically and become part of the international Islamic Caliphate leaving the US as the last refuge of Western Civilization. John Derbyshire is not so optimistic. In page after page of masterful moroseness he laments all the areas where the US has embarked on the road to irreversible ruin, pointing the finger at third world immigration, a broken education syst...more
Derbyshire's become one of my favorite political and cultural commentators. I can't say I disagree with very much in this book... American conservatism got swept up in completely irresponsible Utopian pipe dreams ("the freedom agenda", "compassionate conservatism") over the last generation or so, and as a result has failed in its proper restraining role. Had we been more pessimistic then, there might be some reason for optimism now. But we weren't, and so there isn't.
An incredibly entertaining and insightful polemic pie-in-the-skyism of shapes and sizes. Derbyshire argues quite persuasively that undue political optimism leads not merely to disappointment, but to overreach, excess, and harm. If Bobby Kennedy dreamed of things that never were, and asked "Why not?", Derbyshire entreats us to look at them as they are, make the best of them, and to tell the Bobby Kennedy's of the world to stuff it. Not that he expects many to follow his advice because, well, We A...more
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Something to offend everyone – a cosmopolitan, atheistic, English self-identified conservative, from a working class background, who lives in the US with his Chinese wife & American children, and believes “human biodiversity” is obvious to anyone not brainwashed and economics is not a science. I enjoyed the book but it’s not for the easily offended.
Broad overview of political topics in which the author believes conservatives have given in to cheery (what he calls "foolish")optimism instead of maintaining a healthy skepticism and even pessimism about human nature and relationships.
Oct 29, 2009
Srinivas
marked it as to-read
Through John Walker (Fourmilog).
The book apparently doesn't suggest any measures that can be used to change course. Might be too depressing to read. Read only to understand if there is any sound logic.
The book apparently doesn't suggest any measures that can be used to change course. Might be too depressing to read. Read only to understand if there is any sound logic.
John Derbyshire takes a very dim view about the future of America and conservatism - it will be destroyed by fuzzy-headed multiculturalism, a horrible education system, and other changes in culture. In the future, business will be gone and the government will provide the only good jobs.
While I'm not sure the future is quite as grim as he sees it, he does raise some very good issues, and they are issues that will cause problems if they aren't addressed.
While I'm not sure the future is quite as grim as he sees it, he does raise some very good issues, and they are issues that will cause problems if they aren't addressed.
Funny, observant and profoundly pessimistic. I'm tempted to label this a call to arms, but the author is rather clear that, in his view, the war has already been lost. Wonderful reading.
Derbyshire is my favorite author - both his books and online commentary for various outlets. Clear eyed pessimist whose writing is excellent.
Claims to be "addressed to American conservatives," yet promotes "federalism" and "pessimism" about "human nature."
Although I don't agree with everything, there is quite a lot to think about it.
Unrelentingly pessimistic. Deeply depressing. Because I agree with him.
Very good stuff. A 250-page fleshed-out version of arguments and observations he makes at NR, NRO, and Secular Right.
A terrific book.
The Derb is a wonderful writer, and as a natural pessimist, I find myself nodding along almost incessantly. Where we part ways is at religion: He is most emphatically NOT a believer. Still, I think that the conservative, non-militant atheist and the conservative Christian can both agree that there's plenty to be pessimistic about here on planet Earth. After all, Jesus Himself said, "In this life, you will have troubles." So...there you go.
An interesting and entertaining read. The underlying philosophical message I think is a good one (human nature is real and ignoring it leads to disaster). But it is a sort of popular essay - or survey - style book not a detailed argument. Lots to argue with but that also makes it interesting, IMO.
Jul 19, 2012
Loyd
added it
I enjoy Mr. Derbyshire's columns. They can be quite funny. This book though was quite a tough read. I couldn't argue with much of what he said, but it was still an emotionally tough book to work through.
I miss the Straggler ...
May 15, 2013
Daniel Alders
is currently reading it
Apr 12, 2013
Alex MacMillan
marked it as to-read
Apr 01, 2013
James Junghanns
added it
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“The more depressed and maladjusted you are, the more likely it is that you are seeing things right, with minimal bias”
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4 people liked it
“The problem is hedonism. The problem is the preening vanity and selfishness of 'coming out,' of parading private inclinations, of a kind that repel normal people, as if those inclinations were, all by themselves, marks of authenticity and virtue, of suffering and oppression.”
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3 people liked it
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Hmm. Is the author German, by chance?
Feb 05, 2010 09:12am