All politics are identity politics. The family, not the individual, is the base unit of society.
Discussion
Disagree. I think you tend to see a lot less identity-idea connection in a lot more centrist and moderate forms of politics, where there tends to be a greater emphasis on seeking evidence-based policy, compromise and affordance for accepting disagreement and loss.
I agree that these people lack a *meaningful* identity. As a result, they advocate on behalf of the “expert” class with whom they wish to identify and by whom they are directed. The priest caste who deliver the evidence to the enlightened centrists for their righteous consideration. This is an identity group.
Yeah. I disagree with that. I mean, I think there are shades of truth to it. But what I would say is we don't really have many centrists or moderates in the political class anymore.
If a centrist is by definition someone without a group identity then I agree. You cannot be a political actor without an identity, so such people don’t exist.
You can tell that they’re an identity group because they act like one. They use the same, predictable language as one another, identify the same enemies, and support the same allies. They may be unaware of their group identity, but that’s another matter.
Do you think this is because extremism in general requires that sound logic and scientific validation be eschewed for emotional fervor and pseudoscience?
It requires that you hold certain conclusions as a condition of the group membership. It is unacceptable to challenge orthodoxy. Even if you say, disagree with a subset of policies, you are expected to keep it to yourself for the good of the group and to stay united. It demands hypocrisy of you.
Hypocrisy, like group identity, is unavoidable. I hate sin, yet I sin. Alas.
I never sin, I do unproductive, disingenuous, and destructive actions sometimes, but never is it a sin.
I try to avoid the hypocrisy, by simply not caring about whatever package-deal fallacy of ideas and beliefs that people might tend to associate with me based on whatever subset of things they've heard or read me say or write.
Sufficiently advanced acedia could, perhaps, make you free of hypocrisy. Doesn’t sound like any way to live to me.
I don't think anyone who knows me would consider me apathetic. Have you read my posts? 🤣
Here and there. You appear to have group identity(ies) like everyone else. “Group identity is dumb and I avoid it by not caring” is acedia, though.
What are my group identities?
I don’t generally like to call out specific group identity when people don’t say “I am X” because it’s trivial to just say “I’m not that and you’re wrong”. I prefer to deal with ideas. I’ll do so for the sake of this conversation. Liberal (in the political philosophy sense of the word), bitcoiner, enlightened centrist. I’m sure that, as a father (I think that’s true?), you have more private group identities as well, but I won’t speculate on those.
Dude, admittedly I had to google acedia to know what it is, but you’re just being an arrogant asshole who is bullying an intelligent guy who puts his shit out here for analysis. I’m not a fan. Get real.
How so?
Thank you for asking. I think this mono-polarized presentation of our person is not natural from an evolved community standpoint. When Brock says he avoids hypocrisy by not caring I thing that is truth, but an unfortunate truth. I thing that by accommodating the strong beliefs of others for the sake of peace we are forced to evaluate our own convictions, whether we express them to the dissenting person or not. With social media, I cannot apparently hold or express conflicting views without my digital legacy outing me as a apparent hypocrite, this is counter to the natural state of a human being existing in a community, where opposing views can be held, withheld, and expressed simultaneously for the sake of our relationships. Just my humble opinion, Brock probably doesn’t need me coming to his rescue in this conversation, but I feel compelled so here I am, though frankly he’s no particular ally in this conversation, he largely ignored me. Lol.
Auto correct strikes again, thing is think. Ugh.
🤣🤣😭😭🥰🥰
And there you have it folks, the reason I have been an outcast all my life. 😁
Having an identity is extremest? 🤣