Ideology
Definition
Applications
"I'm not a fan of collectivists. I'm not a fan of people who put group identity first. I'm not a fan of people who would dare to identify as Marxists, after what happened in the 20th century. I'm not a fan of university professors who think their job is to take impressionable 18-year-olds and turn them into political activists despite the fact that they're not educated." [1]
"I've been trying to understand what the core issue is that drives the pathological left, and I think it is the story of Cain and Abel, is that it's jealousy of the successful ... Let's say that I'm not taking responsibility for my life and I'm not bearing any moral load, and it turns out that not only are you successful but you're competent and good. Well, then, you're a real enemy. Because you're a judge under those circumstances. Because it's your competence and your goodness that's really showing me in a negative light, and instead of wanting to contend with that, and to see myself reflected badly in your mirror, then I'm going to make the accusation that everything you've done is merely a consequence of power, and even more deeply, I'm going to criticise the idea of merit and competence itself, because that gets me out of my self-loathing.[2]
Q: In your lectures, you define “religion” in opposition to “ideology.” Could you explain the difference between the two?
A: To me, ideology is corrupt; it’s a parasite on religious structures. To be an ideologue is to have all of the terrible things that are associated with religious certainty and none of the utility. If you’re an ideologue you believe everything that you think. If you’re religious there’s a mystery left there. The mystery is whatever God is. That mystery has the possibility of keeping you humble. You’re not the ultimate authority, and you’re accountable in some ultimate sense.[3]
Interpretations
There is a hatred of humanity at the base of ideologues. Why else would professors want to cripple their students by stripping them of any shreds of meaning they might have? And it is a constant refrain amongst environmentalists, that humanity is a blot on the planet, a virus.
2-year-olds think that their subjective feelings are the whole world, in a technical sense
There are so many things for people to do when they stop being dead puppets of sick ideas.
We ran the equity experiment in the 20th century, and it led to imprisonment, enslavement and execution, with 100 million corpses.
Ideology is a parasite on a religious substrate An ideologue believes:
- I know everything
- I am morally superior
- I know who my enemies are
See Also
References
