Politics and Snowflakery

Critical Thinking

03 - Politics and Snowflakery

It’s no secret that there are some very heavily politically skewed people in this world, and those who get very triggered by certain things, but what are the specifics? I’m someone who has drifted over both sides of the political aisle through a lack of knowledge of what politics is and some supreme ignorance outside of the inadequate teachings I learned in school.

I have gone from being a politically ignorant teenager to a hard leftist liking pages like Occupy democrats, anonymous, and various anti-conservative pages. I then got into conspiracy theories and with the influence of people like Alex Jones - adopted a weird hybrid liberal-conservative conspiracy mentality. Later I left the conspiracy theories and by viewing Dave Rubin, Ben Shapiro, and Stephen Crowder, would adopt a more right-wing political opinion.

Later, I would come to see the flaws in all of my previous ideologies to where I now sit: the center-left while trying to be as objective as possible. From my time on both sides I come to understand the arguments both make, but more importantly, the deep flaws in them, too.

Here’s my general understanding of the left and the right and how this fits into snowflakery.

The Left

The left has a better track record with science, but has a tendency to over-exaggerate it. Generally, they’re in favour of the breaking of borders socially and physically - the breaking of tradition. They tend to think about others more than themselves whether it’s forign nations or minorities both racially and in respect to gender identity. They are in favour of change and the more left someone gets, generally they see more and more things as a problem that needs changing. In essence they praise socialism.

The Far Left

The further left someone gets, the more they start accepting anarchism and anyone who doesn’t agree just benefits from injustice and is complicit in it. Political extremism is a marker of accepting conspiracy beliefs making far-left individuals prone to conspiracy theories. The prioritising of minorities and others gives them self-perceived superiority over others which descends into whoever supports the most underrepresented people are the most woke, which leaves other typically supported groups behind in favour of those smaller groups. They are more accepting of radical social laws until any whatsoever affect them or a minority they speak for, in which case they descend into reactionary calls of fascism and oppression.

Anarchistic mindsets at the fringe look for radical change towards a future ideal and complete removal of the current system. Radical ideals and bad ideas such as communism can be accepted. The further someone goes down this path, the more forceful they are with their ideas.

The Right

The right have a habit of science denial, a greater disposition towards conspiracy theories and a tendency to downplay and reject science. They’re in favour of the preservation of borders both socially and physically - preserving tradition. They tend to think about themselves more than others whether it’s forign nations or minorities both racially and in respect to gender identity. They are in favour of conserving what we have and the more right someone gets, generally they see more and more things as fine the way they are or previously were. In essence, they praise capitalism.

The Far Right

The further right someone gets, the more they start accepting patriotism and anyone who doesn’t agree with you just hates your country and should leave. Conservatism is a marker of accepting conspiracy beliefs, as is political extremism making far-right individuals very prone to conspiracy theories. They are more accepting of authoritarian rulers and praise swift and hard rule-of-law until any measures whatsoever are taken against them, in which case they descend into reactionary calls of communism and dictatorship.

The prioritising of their country gives them self-perceived superiority over others which descends into whoever isn’t a patriot is a RINO (republican in name only) or not a true patriot. Patriotic mindsets at the fringe look for radical change back to previous eras (sometimes involving race) and a complete removal of the current system. The further someone goes down this path, the more forceful they are with their ideas.

There’s an uncanny polarity there. Conservatives and liberals are generally speaking, opposite sides of the same coin. The same can be said for the extremes. Each has their positives and negatives in the general central-skew area. They both have their deep flaws in the hard areas, and massive issues at their extremes. Ultimately, it comes down to polar oppsite values.

Left Vs Right

It’s also no secret that the left oppose the right, and the right oppose the left. When you oppose the other, it doesn’t necessarily matter what the content of their position is because by nature you oppose it.

The game of politics in the actual world of politics is more complicated than simple positions and honest representations of your ideals, but for the ordinary person they don’t have that problem.

Generally, I think that the primary thing which gets people into this tribalistic us against them mentality is the visible gap between ideologies. If someone is center right and you’re a hard-left anarchist, you’re really not going to get along. If you’re a center-left person, you are not going to get along with a white supremacist.

I think the reason for this is when someone moves down the political scale, they might not necessarily realise it to the extent to which they’ve moved. I know some right wing and hard right people who generally think they’re center-right when they’re anything but. I’ve been called a communist in the past for having left-leaning ideals - this is because he (on the hard-right) thought he was in the middle so by contrast our ideas were so far apart, that I must be on the super far left.

There’s a clear distinction that I need to make. As pointed out to me by a very insightful smasher of misinformation, this page could look to be conflating avoiding political extremes with being politically central.

Central politics is essentially a meeting in the middle. Political opinions change over time and shift depending on the culture they’re in. Standard normal practice today would have been politically extreme a few hundred years ago, and there’s all the possibility that some extreme politics of today might well follow the same course.

That’s not what this page is about. I go into this on the Acceptance and Centrism page, but being central isn’t a default place to sit politically - it’s the active repression of bias to achieve as much objectivity as possible. I think the concept of being politically central is relatively impossible anyway. I don’t want anyone to come away from this page with the idea that central views are always best.

What consuming central news lets you do is see the best representation of current events without the misleading hand of the news outlets guiding you towards their conclusion, which in biased news is driven by party politics and tribalism. You can hold left and right political beliefs while consuming central news - there’s nothing wrong with that. While climate change is a scientific subject, it is seen as a politically left position. You can be a right-winger and still understand the science of climate change. While sovereignty is usually seen as a right-wing political subject, you can be a left-winger and still recognise the utility in sovereignty.

Additionally, while I see the hard left and hard right positions as gateways to more extreme and biased politics, I also don’t think those positions make someone automatically unreliable. I think these are a grey area where hard left and right positions aren’t extreme enough to succumb to the detrimental biases of the far and extreme positions, but allow the transition into them. I’ve known some very intelligent and insightful left and right-wingers. Some people exist in these places and have intellectually robust understandings of how the world works. However, I think that most people cannot do this.

What happens when you have two sets of people with polar opposite ideas, who get along less and less the further adrift their ideals are, who play tribalistic group-think politics, who are prone to biases? You get snowflakery.

On the left this is the meme that is your angry colour-haired “soy boy” or militant feminist, playing the oppression olympics, where everything is the product of systemic racism, everything is fascist, getting fit is fat shaming, everything is homophobic, microaggressions are everywhere, men are rapists and so on.

On the right this is the angry patriot red-faced gammon saying the communist liberals want to take their guns, that immigrants are taking native people’s jobs, that scientific matters like climate change are liberal hoaxes, that the left want to destroy civilisation as we know it, and that socialised healthcare is communism and so on.

The greatest ruse the right have a monopoly on is relegating the left to snowflakery. In reality, both political extremes and even the far left/right are able to be total snowflakes - reacting to the “other” just so they can get angry at something, validate their beliefs, and feel superior to each other.

Whether it’s the reactionary right, or the reactionary left - whether it’s the far right or far left, or either of the extremes - stay away. Go for something centered and reliable. It’s not worth it. As someone who has drifted around a lot, I can tell you that if you listen to biased news, you’re going to be biased and that’s not a good thing.

This isn't to say that everyone on the hard or even far left, or hard and far right is a snowflake, but the chances increase the more politically one-sided and extreme someone becomes. This isn't the end of my take on politics. If anything this is to be combined with the next page which demonstrates what I'm getting at a bit more effectively.

If I could sum my thoughts up in a sentence or two it would be this:

By all means stand up for what you believe in. Take a stand on important issues and try to make the world a better place. Own your beliefs, but don't put them above scruitany or allow them to cloud your judegement of objective reasoning.

Next I will write about one of the mechanics keeping the outrage wheel turning, the polarities increasing, and the divisions increasing.

Next page: Media bias and tribalism.