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Musings Report 2021-17 4-24-21 The New Us vs Them: the Non-Ideological vs the Ideological
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The New Us vs Them: the Non-Ideological vs the Ideological
The extreme polarization that now characterizes American politics seems to be infecting every nook and cranny of life. This article is a representative survey of how this polarization is driving physical migration and digital/asset migration as the economy and finance bifurcate along the political fault lines: The United States Of Two Americas.
It's now a common experience to be baited with leading questions or comments by new acquaintances to discover, as an old friend put, "whether to hate you or approve of you."
Though I can't find any references to this phenomenon, I discern a new Us and Them beyond the ideological Us and Them (Conservative/Right vs Progressive/Left): Us being the non-ideological and Them being the ideological of any camp, with the non-ideological being in an invisible territory that is within a nation-state's boundaries but outside the ideological context of the State (government).
For this silent Us, the demands to pick a political / ideological side is very much like being presented with two teams playing an unknown (and apparently aimless) sport in a distant land and being badgered to pick our favorite team: the sport, the teams and the entire context of the question are simply of no interest to us.
How can we tolerate such an oppressive, unjust status quo? How can we not bristle at the erosion of civil liberties? How can we not resist one side of the coin or the other?
To the silent Us, we're "outsiders" not in the sense we have opted out of all conventions (though that is another option) such as working, paying taxes, etc.; rather, we are "outside" the demands of the ideological to "choose a side" and see everything through the clouded lens of ideology.
Rather than be pro-reform or pro-state, we're indifferent to the state and reforms. We conform to the rules and normative standards (i.e. what's permissible and what isn't) and pay our taxes, but our interests are in everyday life, where we create and invest our "surplus value" in informal networks of friends, family and those with whom we share interests, and in our real-world lives of sharing, learning, skills, interests, gardens, workshops and conviviality.
Power relations between the state, corporations and individuals and groups still exist, of course, but these power relations no longer define who we are or what we consider important.
In this "in-between territory," deciding what can be deemed truthful or not is less important than Niels Bohr's "deep truths" / "profound truths," as defined by his famous quote: "The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth."
To be ideological is to be state-centric, defining everything in the context of state power relations and policy. In contrast, those in the Us (non-ideological) camp are indifferent to the state even as we live within the constructs of the state.
What I'm describing here is an ontology of opting out that is by its very nature not something that can be nailed down. It's edges are ambiguous, contingent on what's happening in the moment and the individual and group experiencing an indifference to ideology and the state because it's such a disheartening and potentially hazardous dead-end.
The righteously ideological are frustrated by Us--how can we not keep track of various officials and outrages? How can we not be ashamed of our appalling ignorance of the state's latest moves and the latest ideological developments?
From the point of view of Us, all these are concerns of Them, not Us. We're not anti-this-or-that, we're invisible. We're not offended by Them, and make no demands of Them, we just find it uninteresting and a waste of time and energy.
We're no longer tuned to receive ideological signals. When pestered with the latest slew of ideological developments and outrages, we think to ourselves, "You still watch TV?"
We've emigrated away from the internal territory in which social status, politics and power relations are of paramount importance. We're no longer bound by the narratives of winning approval and social standing; all that is uninteresting and irrelevant to where we invest our time, energy and surplus value.
Highlights of the Blog
Podcasts:
AxisOfEasy Salon #42: Is System Change Likely, Possible or Inevitable?
Keiser Report E1687: In the second half, Max interviews Charles Hugh Smith of OfTwoMinds.com about the 'fatal synergies' and the 'sealed pressure cooker' resulting when the system refuses to offer a solution to those denied a voice or access to resources. They also discuss the oversupply of elites and the chaos this ultimately brings to society.
Charles Hugh Smith on the Terminally Ill Economy (FRA Roundtable)
Posts:
The People Have Lost Faith in the State, and the State Has Lost Faith in its People 4/23/21
The Only Way to Get Ahead Now Is Crazy-Risky Speculation 4/21/21
America's Fatal Synergies 4/19/21
Best Thing That Happened To Me This Week
This sounds all too ordinary to be the best thing, but some modest rain finally arrived after two weeks of near-zero natural watering for the trees and gardens.
When my 90-year old Mom-in-law is up to cooking, it's a treat for us. Here is her watercress / bean sprouts chop sui and fried ahi (locally caught tuna) with watercress.
From Left Field
The Empire Feeds Off The Republic
The Secret of How the Titanic Sank -- analyzing the steel plates and rivets...
United States Drought Monitor -- major drought, but nobody thinks there will be any consequence...Fed free money solves everything...
Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index
Spreading faster, hitting harder – why young Brazilians are dying of Covid (Guardian)
How Safe Are You From Covid When You Fly? (NYT)
Next-generation Covid-19 vaccines are supposed to be better. Some experts worry they could be worse (statnews.com)
It’s the Lab! WHO Report Unintentionally Supports Laboratory Origin of Covid-19
We know a lot about Covid-19. Experts have many more questions (statnews.com)
The COVID-19 Catastrophe in India Keeps Growing
Common Blood Pressure Medications Linked to Increased Skin Cancer Risk (medscape.com) (via Cheryl A.)
When Isaac Newton was Master of the Royal Mint (via Maoxian)
"... the readiness to do bad things becomes a path to promotion and power. The positions in a totalitarian society in which it is necessary to practice cruelty and intimidation, deliberate deception and spying, are numerous." F. A. Hayek
Thanks for reading--
charles
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