My Six-Step Formula for Destroying Everything

Let us suppose a counter-factual for a moment. Let us suppose that I want nothing more than to ruin a healthy culture and destroy the social order which depends on that culture. Here, then, are my top six tactics to bring this about:

1. Eliminate Meaning: The first goal is to make people believe there is no meaning to life, no proper ends and purposes for human beings, because human beings are essentially accidental conglomerations of material elements which just happen to have the curse of consciousness. We must make sure all educational institutions echo this interpretation of humankind. Value: This will create a vacuum of moral purpose, breeding chaos in human relations, leaving nothing but the Hobbesian State to control everything.

2. Banish Religion: As the single strongest force for giving the human person a sense of ultimate meaning and purpose, religion must be ruled out of order in public life and ultimately reduced in significance so much that it withers in private life. Value: A wholly secular society eliminates the most likely and most effective source for a positive vision which can give rise to an ordered culture.

3. Mock Sexual Responsibility: Sexual expression lies near the heart of who we are as male and female, and so responsible use of sexuality is the sine qua non of human integrity. To completely destroy the order that lies within the human person, our most intimate passions must be encouraged to vent themselves at full force, unbridled. Value: The destruction of a person’s integrity of spirit, mind and body renders him weak and despairing, utterly bewildered that the passions do not lead to happiness.

4. Destroy the Family: Because both psychological stability and consistent material stability throughout life depend more on strong natural family structures than any other single factor, destruction of culture requires not only the breakdown of family life through frequent divorce and the refusal to bear children, but the elevation of “alternative” life-styles and fake families to an equal or superior status. Value: Without the family, people have no port in the storm unleashed by the forces of cultural dissolution and economic hardship.

5. Increase Dependency on Government: At every term, we must intrude government into personal life, both through regulation and benefits, so that people can be deceived into thinking they no longer need families, churches, community organizations, or habits of virtue and responsibility. It is essential to foster a politics of dependency. Value: This will condition people to elect whoever promises the greatest social benefits, ultimately destroying politics as a tool for solving human problems.

6. Pile Up Debt: Finally, it is essential to encourage both individuals and government to pile up enormous debts in order to seek material happiness, on the one hand, and to ensure that government remains in control, on the other. Since this approach to both personal life and government is inherently unsustainable, the last vestiges of order in society must inevitably collapse. Value: The job is done. After the collapse caused by universal debt, the fraudulent last hope of the populace is destroyed.

If this sounds chillingly familiar, then we have to scratch our heads and wonder what people are really trying to accomplish when they employ these same tactics. At what cost are they willing to pursue their own disordered personal goals? It would seem that many of the strongest themes in the life of what is left of the West are not only selfish but self-defeating, for all six of these steps are progressing around us on a grand scale.

This Dr. Jeff Mirus is just regurgitating a condensed version of:

The late Paul Harvey’s “If I were the devil”...

If I were the devil...

If I were the prince of darkness I’d want to engulf the whole world in darkness, and I’d have a third of its real estate and four fifths of its population. But I wouldn’t be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree: thee.

So I’d set about however necessary, to take over the United States. I’d subvert the churches first. I’d begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve, “Do as you please.” To the young I would whisper that the Bible is a myth. I would convince them that man created God, instead of the other way around. I would confide that what’s bad is good, and what’s good is square. And the old I would teach to pray after me, “our father which art in Washington...”

And then I’d get organized: I’d educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting. I’d threaten TV with dirtier movies, and visa versa. I’d peddle narcotics to whom I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. I’d tranquilize the rest with pills.

If I were the devil I’d soon have families at war with themselves; churches at war with themselves; and nations at war with themselves; until each in its turn was consumed. And with promises of higher ratings, I’d have mesmerizing media fanning the flames.

If I were the devil I would encourage schools to refine young intellect, but neglect to discipline emotions; just let those run wild, until before you knew it you’d have to have drug-sniffing dogs and metal detectors at every schoolhouse door.

Within a decade I’d have prisons overflowing; I’d have judges promoting pornography. Soon I could evict God from the courthouse, then from the schoolhouse, and then from the houses of Congress. And in His own churches I would substitute psychology for religion and deify science. I would lure priests and pastors into misusing boys and girls—and church money.

If I were the devil I’d make the symbol of Easter an egg, and the symbol of Christmas a bottle.

If I were the devil I’d take from those who have, and give to those who want it, until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. And what’ll you bet I couldn’t get whole states to promote gambling as the way to get rich.

I would caution against extremes, and hard work, and patriotism, and moral conduct. I would convince the young that marriage is old fashioned—that swinging is more fun. That what you see on TV is the way to be. And thus I could undress you in public, and I could lure you into bed with diseases for which there is no cure.

In other words, if I were the devil I would just keep on doing what he is doing.

Paul Harvey, March 16, 1993

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