This runs in parallel to tribalism and being part of an “in” crowd. Some people are so bound by their tribalism that they’ll stare at facts and cry that it’s not true because their tribe told them differently; they will reject the facts to continue to be a part of the tribe.
To them, being “in” is more important than being right, or even being logical.
Tribalism can take all sorts of different forms, from politics, to your local sports ball team. Even religion is a form of tribalism.
When everyone you know is a part of the conservative/republican/christian/whatever tribe, even if you don’t agree with any of it, it’s difficult to face the consequences of being ostracized or excluded from the only tribe you’ve ever really been a part of, by following what your mind and heart actually believe. In time, you might actually convince yourself of the bullshit you have to say you believe, in order to maintain your status in the tribe.
Tribalism is a survival trait. It’s what has divided us into nations, countries, states, provinces, cities, towns, etc. Looking back, if we need to do something that will screw over the survivability of the neighboring village, so that we can ensure the continued prosperity of our village, then the answer is yes, do it. It’s rewarded to be greedy and selfish in those circumstances.
Tribalism in the form of villages and towns like that is basically non-existent today, so instead we divide ourselves along other boundaries for what tribes we partake in. Whether that’s religion, sports teams, political ideologies, conspiracy bullshit… It doesn’t really matter, the tribes are all still present, they’ve just taken a very different, more abstract form.
All of the MAGA hats, Trump flags, big trucks rolling coal on “hapless” EV drivers… It’s all just parading around your tribes colors, announcing your affiliations so others will know (the same way that marine vessels sail under a countries flag, or an army marches carrying the flag/colors of a country or whatever). All this showboating is the same as a peacock trying to attract a mate. All these fancy colors, and not a hell of a lot more going on.
They’re baboons waving their big red buttocks around so everyone knows their butt is more red than yours.
Gotta have the ol double-think.
First they politicized a pandemic, now they’re politicizing a hurricane.
When will it end?
Elon Musk, who owns X, claimed—without evidence—that FEMA was “actively blocking shipments and seizing goods and services locally and locking them away to state they are their own.
Oh, you mean like how the orange turd’s administration in 2020 was legitimately very literally seizing shipments of critical PPE in 2020 at the height of COVID and selling it to fellow grifters for them to auction off to hospitals?
What is the common thread that links almost all of these crazies? I mean, even more than religion.
Conservatism. Almost all of them vote for, or are elected representatives of, conservative parties.
And conservatism encourages divisiveness and bigotries like this. To be suspicious of and actively hate others, to find “evil” where none exist. To believe in falsehoods even when they have been demonstrably debunked.
Conservatism of all stripes is fundamentally evil. Conservatism is what will destroy civilization, and eventually, humanity.
Conservatism
Have you ever met conservative atheists? I have and SOME of them have been the most hateful and vile people I ever met. It’s like without any form of religion holding them back, you obtain the “purest form” of conservationism.
Some people think with no god, that means it’s actually on humanity to take care of each other.
Other people think that with no heaven, better make this life count and fuck all y’all bitches, carpe deez nuts. Every man for himself. (Not women though because those aren’t people).
I think it can be further boiled down to a belief that hierarchies are either necessary or good. All of the evil are cases where those higher up in the hierarchy impose their will on those lower.
Under those beliefs, the meaning of things like “respect” and “good/bad” are different than when one believes that everyone should be considered equal. The politeness version of respect is for equals, when they aren’t equal, respect only needs to go one way and if it’s sent the other way, it’s more “effective management” and not giving respect “downwards” then boils down to a different management philosophy rather than simply being an asshole. They can even acknowledge that it is an asshole way to treat people, but there’s an underlying belief that it’s ok to be an asshole to lessers.
It also makes the whole “they believe in things that hurt themselves” make more sense. They just believe that those higher than them in the hierarchy deserve better treatment. Maybe there’s an element of hoping to get there themselves one day, or maybe there’s an element of just feeling like they are inferior to those they agree are their betters.
This is why they don’t really care if Trump is consistent or if he’ll help them directly. It’s also why his support is wavering, because if he’s not strong enough to win, then he isn’t really their better and is just fooling them, which also helps explain why the ones who have tried to take his life seem to be former followers because they can’t be neutral about him, it’s either gotta be love or hate.
It makes sense that those who believe in it and those who don’t would be at odds with each other because the two beliefs are very incompatible. I’m not sure there is a resolution. It used to be “just don’t talk about politics, keep it private”, but that wasn’t sustainable as each side of the divide wanted to push for improvements under their belief system.
This is such an excellent and rational explanation. Thank you!
So how do we reprogram people to see hierarchies as evil and destructive outside of true crisis situations?
You don’t. The answer is always, without exception, going to be violence in the long term. It is the only permanent equalizer that is able to forcibly impose large scale social reorientation. At the most basic level the social order of government systems, regardless of form, are an agreement about who controls the monopoly on the use of violence. Given where we are currently at as a culture I don’t think that bodes well for the future because we are treading a very thin line with giving inmates control of the asylum.
People shit on religion, but it’s rarely a problem until it’s conservative.
You’ve hit the nail on the head.
Conservatism is the mistake of assuming outright that people are evil, and therefore need to be punished and conquered into being good, or at least restricted. Where the reality is people aren’t quite good or evil, they’re more marbled, and if you buy the conservative misunderstanding, the punishing and the conquering are morally good, whereas stopping them is bad. What conservatism won’t acknowledge or doesn’t see is that when you grow, encourage, support, and develop the good parts, you can safely drop a large portion of the punishment and conquering stuff.
Most of what conservatism is defending itself against is its own way of doing things.
Conservatism is “outgroups to bind, in groups to protect”. It’s pretty bad.
And conservatism is fundamentally hostile to democracy, as well. It gravitates naturally to oligopolies, monopolies, autocracies, dictatorships, and despotism.
I mean, just look at Trump and Project 2025, to say nothing of past conservative behaviour involving gerrymandering and other shenanigans.