Rise of the Moral Authoritarians
In the depths of this current political and cultural climate lies an undulating monster generated by disgust and fervent ideologies. It's a team against team atmosphere. A rise in balkanization and tribalism. The center is always moving. Constantly shifting and being pulled the the gravity of the extremes on both sides of the fallacious paradigm. Polarization becomes a byproduct of this pervasive ignorance.
Some people want to inflict their world views and wills on others by barking on social media and using their political prowess and knowledge to vote. The pressure is rising. Radical opinions operating from stagnant frameworks. A testament to a new Fundamentalism. It is admirable to see the passions of the political citizen. That passion burns deep inside them like a furnace. They may be part of a team or a bigger crowd, but that sense of belonging they act out and project is something to pay attention to when trying to understand the inner workings of human psychology.
After all we are social creatures...
The people that are so adamant about pushing their world view tend to come off as very authoritarian. A sense of moral superiority and feigned sympathy and compassion. Their so called beliefs align very closely with the substantive nature of religion and religious thought. There is a sense of good and evil. An enemy to resist against and motivate the ones following the ideology to push back on. Their set of virtues and sacred testaments are brought up to the surface and shown around like a fancy poodle. Now at the end of the day they are their own unique individual, but they are caught up in a dangerous brew of collectivism acting like a cog in a much bigger wheel diminishing skepticism and the ability to critically think.
" Righteousness, righteousness. One of us, one of us."
“Morality binds and blinds. It binds us into ideological teams that fight each other as though the fate of the world depended on our side winning each battle. It blinds us to the fact that each team is composed of good people who have something important to say.”
― The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
When one recognizes the tribal tendencies of devotees and ideologues, one can start to see how they fit within a divide and conquer based group think. They become them and they start to rally against an "Us". It seems like this dehumanizing dichotomous trope would be unjust. Yes, that's right. Them Vs. Us is poignantly unjust. It requires that particularly snotty bogeyman to push a certain Authoritative Agenda. This agenda thrives on pushing to ideals and extremes. This soupy sense of idealism can hold a great gravity that can sway the "center" in the cultural and political spectrum. Hence, the center is never stagnate and always moving.
"To be good is noble; but to show others how to be good is nobler and no trouble." –Mark Twain
If you pay attention, you will notice that these Neo-Puritans have a certain number of commandments that rest on how they think the world SHOULD run. They love the idea of conformity. The idea of group think and homogenization while pushing an atmosphere of enforced diversity and equality. Surely we can all agree that diversity is a great aspect of any society. Appreciation of differences and commonalities leads to a respect of the individual within a framework of cooperation. For the moral authoritarian, the group subsumes the individual thus stripping the atomized sovereignty of each person for the greater good of (Insert Here) Totalitarian ideology. A ritual sacrifice if you will for the highest tenants that they repeat like mantras in replace of critical thinking and coherent arguments challenging the status quo.
Their resistance stems from the identification of the viral thoughts and ideologies. It is a cyclical psychosis. Their identity hinges on the resistance of something else. A false dichotomy of sorts. Their ideas come FIRST and then their obscured sense of reality. It fills a void all allows for behaviors that someone would not normally do with their own conscience. An intoxication that allows for one to forfeit individual autonomy and meld into an imagined order of group identity.
Some of these commandments and tenets that they take to heart center around the pillars of force, power and conquest. What better way then to enact or enforce an idea then through force whether it be violence, coercion or some type of subtly morally degrading manipulation. Virtue by force. Be wary of anyone that goes into a discussion or argument with their mind made up and feel as if they have already won. Their ideological modality strips the opposing force of humanity. This makes it easy for them to attack and ignore their empathy and compassion mechanisms.
There is frequently more to be learned from the unexpected questions of a child than the discourses of men. - John Locke
Most of the time the ideas become so rigid and fragmented that they tend to lose the value of the original source. One new modified concept might come to blows with an older concept thus de-legitimatizing it's original intent. This fracturing may break a bigger group into smaller more resistant groups thus causing a rift in the original ideology. Divide and conquer. The ideas start to multiply and attempt to each its own creations. Thought begetting thought begetting behaviors feeding ignorance.
Part of their strategy relies on the stigmatization of some concept that acts in opposition to what they want. To what the ideas want. Once they nail that certain category in the ground, they can act with resistance persistence. This persistence of resistance adds to more resistance. The whole goal is to question the legitimacy of the opposing idea. Once that legitimacy is stripped or destroyed, they can sneak in and take over with their own agenda thus repeating the same disastrous and viral behaviors. The thing they are fighting against becomes stronger thus empowering the polarization and dividing power of opposites.
“Conflict is not unavoidable. However, it is nonsensical to consider the institution of a state as a solution to the problem of possible conflict, because it is precisely the institution of a state which first makes conflict unavoidable and permanent.”
―
The Failings of not acting things out.
Carl Jung famously wrote that people do not have ideas, but that ideas have people (paraphrased). This is an important thing to observe. We can see when large groups that have a strict structure of rules and guidelines descend into a stagnation of growth and new ideas that could take them into new levels of self knowledge and analysis. They may have all these rules, virtues and mantras, but not have any understanding on how to implement or take their ideas to their logical conclusions. The moral authoritarian types tend to want to enforce their ideas on others, but not have a method to their own madness. There is also a slant towards a Utopian and idealist mindset where they think that their view is the BEST view. It is one thing to believe something and be passionate about things, but if you can't act it out in every action that you do with conscious effort then it holds no value or impact. Their ignorance and blindness of their own "path" or consciousness allows for them to become hypocrites of their own choosing. Thus, the potential for becoming your own worst enemy arises when you do not have a "why" to your "how" or a "how" to your "why".
Putting the group or collective first allows for the people to have more of a sense of belonging and they get a boost in their reward centers anytime they spout or shout something that everyone touts and agrees with. It is collectivism in action that hijacks the systems of the brain that create pleasure and reward from accomplishing certain things. It is a viral manipulation of the dopaminergic system responsible for acting as an individual to accomplish a set intention. That sense of belonging becomes the front runner for the people succumbing to group think. They become idealistic Seekers of Security. Taking one for the team and feeling that sense of belonging and all the "credit" is a big motivator in manipulating ideological soldiers.
It is an interesting thing to see large groups of homogeneous thinkers challenging the legitimacy of hierarchies when all their rules and views have a top down approach to what is most and least important. Hypocrisy at its finest.
What might be good for you may not be good for others. A revolutionary concept.
FREEDOM FROM/ FREEDOM FOR
It is key to see what these ideologues are running away from or towards. They may want freedom in a sense, but not understand the hypocritical process it takes to get there. A distraction from attempting to improve one's own struggles and "life" problems. What freedom? Freedom from what? Freedom FOR what? These are questions that seem to not be taken into account and critically thought about. It is easy to reduce a word to a singular abstract concept that strengthens the walls and movements of ideologues. What better way to mobilize a group then to have key words that become mantras and chants for the cognitively oppressed idea mongers.
Categories are like Prisons
These so called placement and "trigger" words that worm their way into the lexicon of the Moral Authoritarians act to strengthen the rigidity of the tribalism within their group. Repetition works wonders in this context. The more words are loosely defined and repeated, the easier it is to "otherise" the other side. It is again a tactic to condition ones thought process, hijack it and strengthen the resistance to their tribal opposite. When you label and define, you are limiting by nature. This is essential to understand. To define is to limit. Of course, we need to define things for contextual purposes, but when definition is manipulated and projected for a certain agenda, then a level of unconsciousness is promoted. Then that methodology of limitation expands to create borders around anything that counters the meanings of those words. An assemblage of letters can hold enough power to create a stimulus/ response within the mind of a fervent ideologue.
Make things easy to define. Make them easy to categorize and resist. When your written mythology is concrete and easy to repeat, it's good to go.
Side Note: Of course categories are necessary, but when they are used as artillery, then its original intent is perverted and distorted.
"Think for yourself? Nah, we got this for you." - Classic Collectivist Trope
Transcendence over Tribalism
If an indoctrinated person decided to perceptively "escape" the slings and arrows of their ideology, they must look at themselves in the mirror both figuratively and metaphorically. We humans are naturally tribal creatures. This sense of allegiance we feel to a nation or a team is built into us from evolution and the need for the species to propagate and survive. It is recognizing this phenomenon and seeing how it affects every aspect in our lives in totality that will lead away from the grips of ideological tribalism. It is integration and not a dogmatic approach that will allow for the person or people to discover the inner turmoil that allowed them to be so susceptible to bad ideas in the first place. As said many times, the inner is a reflection of the outer. Turning inward and not to some extrinsic source for salvation will ultimately keep a fresh and present mind awake and not prey to unconscious motivators.
Who is Empowering Who?
Now this is an important question. Within a limited and destructive ideology, who is getting empowered? Does anger and resentment empower an individual or strengthen the collectivist fabric of the ideology? In what way can an individual empower his or herself without caving to a void of direction or an ideological "promised land"? How can an autonomous individual observe the ugliness within and use it as an energy to empower ones self to their own good? Radical self interest if you will. The health of the individual creates a ripple effect outwards. The healthy individual who feels empowered can use his or her "energy" to radiate towards their close humans. Family, friends, community, country and so on. It is that ripple effect that can create such empowering individuals that can use their various skills, talents and interest while celebrating the differences of each other.
The greatest enemy may be you and most definitely is most of the time in your head. What are you projecting? What are you ignoring? What are you escaping? What are you ignoring?
The patience to listen and observe without the immediate action to scorn a person or a group of people is a gigantic leap for awareness and the benefit of all mankind.
Then again what do I know? Am i trying so hard to enforce my view on the rest of the world? I have plenty to look at and dissect.
In other words, the default state is to trust, and what the amygdala does is learn vigilance and distrust.”
― Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
DG
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