On Strauss

Leo Strauss designed his system as a trap, a distraction. A container for smart minds to create layers of gibberish and debate over layered speech instead of over harder ideas.

I’d barely read any works from Strauss until just a year or so ago.

I do not like the Straussian model. I will not repeat that because there is nothing to read beyond that. It is a waste of time and energy.

I have not followed Strauss’s approach in my writings before, but now I am concerned that some people think that I have. The only way out of Strauss’s trap is to speak plainly and then back up the simple statements with actions that truthfully align with the simple statements. Over time people will see that you are truly not intending to create Straussian layers, and will ask if something isn’t clear instead of just assuming they don’t get it. Already with this essay the trap is broken.

We all should speak plainly and stop writing in doublespeak in our everyday lives.

We have too many big problems to deal with to worry about constantly translating and reading between the lines. Sometimes in artwork, writing and reading between the lines is a technique to better emphasize an important truth. Call that a Shakespearean approach.

But today too many people are writing in a Straussian way (and not a Shakespearean way), intentionally signaling simple ideas or political statements using overly complex speech.