Reading about “prooftexting”, I was amused to find attempts to prove/persuade about the Bible’s “divine” origin described as “theologically retrograde.” The authors contrast this with “profound theology.”
Given the increased number of people who pay no attention to the Bible, it may be time to apply that label of moving in a rearward direction to an Economy, Corporation, Politics, and Educational Theory. The Military is always liable to be preparing to fight the last war and coming up short when a new iteration comes along—they are a warning to all other arenas in life that rise to claim an ascendancy. In a zero-sum, winner-takes-all setting, pride is always retrograde—moving toward a fall, destruction.
Retrograde Economics—uses people as expendable resources to keep power limited to a ruling few.
Retrograde Corporations—takes that up a notch as it claims a right to be a person and to extend that right to being first among equals.
Retrograde Politics—is forever pacifying people and messing with their minds, so they support policies against both their short and long-term interests.
Retrograde Education—teaches to one authorized test or another while constraining thought into underground silos that have no visionary component.
It appears there is no human construct exempt from a retrograde expression of any initial best intention. I’m interested in what additional categories the term “retrograde” might apply. Retrograde Parenting? Disease Prevention? Environment Protection? Grammar Rules? Scientific Standards? …?