The “realists” claim they can see what the idealists can not, or which the latter even flee from seeing. But curiously, it seems to be the idealists (who are, on the whole, the most likely to question capitalism’s supposed necessity or inevitability) who are most likely to ask why things are going so grimly: what is behind it all? The “realists” scrupulously avoid asking about the causes of our current problems. In that sense, they are not realistic at all: they do not look for the reality behind reality. They do not want to get too close to ultimate causes, whatever they may be.
Primo Levi quotes a guard at Auschwitz as saying, “hier ist kein warum” (here there is no why).
It might also be said that behind the authoritative veil of the cynical-mystical “realist” and his deification of darkness and pain is the snivelling lackey: the first to screech that the emperor is very well clothed indeed. So close your eyes, underlings, and continue your swaggering! What else do you have to offer?