[Otto] I don’t really know what the church today sermonizes against. Once we… when we really come to it, all sins seem to have shriveled down to racism.
[Rushdoony] Yes.
[Scott] Beyond that there is no sin…
[Rushdoony] Yes. That is very good. That is about the only sin that is left. And that is an odd thing to choose as a sin, because one of the characteristics of people all over the world has been a preference for their own. People prefer their own families. They prefer their own nationality or their own race, which is entirely legitimate as long as they don’t abuse and mistreat others.
I believe that the world has seen more racism in this century than ever before precisely because we are trying to equalize everything and we are trying to obscure the differences and say they don’t exist. And when you do that, you are going to create a situation where there will be a bootlegged and resentful recognition of differences.
[Scott] Well, you drive underground what doesn’t belong underground. The business of justice, the business of treating people fairly, the business of equality before law and meritocracy, so to speak, of making opportunities open to all, the whole idea of a civilized society is based on the idea of mutual respect. But respect is one thing. A denial of reality is something else. If in order to get along or to placate we have to pretend that everyone has the same intellect and intelligence, the same ability then we have downgraded all intelligence and all ability.
[Rushdoony] Yes.
[Scott] It is usually a question of let’s you and he be equal. Not you and I.
[Rushdoony] Yes. Well, by obscuring the fact of differences, what we have done is to create a climate in which any awareness of reality is gone.
[Scott] Well, it is dishonest.
[Rushdoony] Yes. You are not living in a real world if you don’t recognize differences and say he is better than I am. He is of another color. And he or she is not as good as I am in this particular field where I am good.
Note especially here that the objection of Otto and Rush is that the denial of racial reality contributes to the disintegration downward into the void. Their main protest is that when the egalitarian vision is pursued the consequence is not that all people are lifted up but rather that all people are leveled to the lowest common denominator. The egalitarian project is a project that attacks excellence, superior capabilities, and the reward of meritorious ability in favor of mediocrity, weakness, and dullness. It creates a Harrison Bergeron social order.
