Narrative analysis of the things we read and information we consume is necessary for detecting unconscious beliefs and logical fallacies informing our opinions and practices.
The thinking that everything will change if only one of “us” is promoted to the top spot is rampant in business as well and has shown the same fallacy. It ignores that to get to the top of any corporate or political hierarchy you have to play the game by the rules that have already been set, thus making you already one of “them.” Former President GW Bush once said something to the effect that the office of the president has limited power within the system at large. There is only so much that s/he can do. To think that electing anyone based on their immutable characteristics will all of a sudden change the system is just foolish.
It's magical thinking based in fantasy land. There are systems in place that are barriers to equity and some of those barriers are internal (shitty mental models and responses) and external (human prejudices and ignorance). It's how we respond to them that matters that doesn't perpetuate the same thinking and practices that they're trying to overcome. It's scary to see people overly focused on system change without recognising the dangers of their own practices that is just tit for tat rather than actual transformation. Transformation requires new/better mental models, vision of reality, and practices that bring practitioners closer to that vision. How many times do people want to repeat history before they can see how they contribute to the problems?
Sorry for the rant Alison and thank you for your great comment!
No one likes intellectual dishonesty. However, people will wear it and run out on it like it's the best armor in the world because they, literally, have nothing else to 'wear'. Imagine being told your entire life that your critical thinking and evaluations of the world are insufficient based on income, status/station, race, gender - whatever boxes will simplify the atomization process. So that you can FINALLY be acceptable to someone who seems powerful, you adopt whatever they say, and repeat it vigorously like a weapon without explanation or questions. Then these same people simply attack anyone who had an independent thought about the matter. There are useful idiots all over political action.
I think I am finding my way through by indicating that people come how they are: WYSIWYG. It varies from scenario to scenario based on who is added to the mix. Consider your sources, what they want to wring out of you and why. So much political opinion goes nowhere because no one is going to change their race, income or status in one political cycle so drastically that the fundaments of broad ranging social issues won't apply to them. Politicians play down policy when they don't have any.
The job requires policy action. Government work is not a handout or public protectorate for narcissists and the bullies who protect them. They have to have the policy. Make them show their work.
The narcissism you specialize in and write about was in high display here. I read her article, your response and her childish backlash. No engagement, no discussion of differences, just refusal to exchange. And yes, the cult analogy is spot on. This is a super clarifying post. Thank you.
Having survived an extreme NPD relationship, I have been trained to spot narcissism up and down the entire spectrum. Politics, I have found, is ripe with it. Your post describes it to a tee.
Great minds think alike! I love when similar articles come out at the same time as mine. It shows how we each approach the same topic in different ways.
I cringe when someone calls me an expert. We all have expertise in specific things but expert implies we're masters and know everything. Nope, not me.
I like to draw on some theories from time to time to describe a common phenomenon. I like what you wrote because it's grounded in experience and takes aim at our shared failings. Theory without grounding it in reality is pretty useless.
Thank you Nathalie 🙏 consider me calling you an expert an act of love and respect. I wouldn’t read you if I didn’t learn something, enjoy it, and align with it. You are definitely onto a huge topic with Hacking Narcissism
I am not saying one should never be allowed to use a block button, but it should ideally be deployed only in cases of obvious profanity, harassment, or other forms of low-quality dialogue.
Very few of the people I saw blocked for responding to *that* piece (many of whom were women themselves, white and non-white alike) fell into that category.
It seems to me that a large proportion of what you're calling "unconscious beliefs" are not unconscious at all: they are assumed or unstated. If the author had been asked if they believed those things, they would readily assent that they did.
I don't wish to pick over words, but my observation is that people who write things such as "is a complex phenomenon influenced by privilege, systemic racism and sexism, religious affiliations and, of course, the patriarchy" have some pretty clearly thought out beliefs that they don't feel they need to to unpack every time they wish to say something. They are not unconscious. Such individuals are not unaware of them until they are prompted to think about them. They have thought about them. They have been taken on as dogmas. From there they don't have to state them again. They can assume their audiences know where they are coming from.
Lol. Now imagine being the sort of person who could write such a thing. I can say it made me feel grateful I am not quite so deluded. Though, as I mentioned to another commenter on my piece, we (American) white men have a lot of work ahead, winning back white (American) women.
"This is not an exhaustive list but writing this list is exhausting." Reading it was too! That's an amazing amount of caloric burn and (for me anyway) increadibly illuminating in terms of all the nuanced messaging/counter messaging embedded in the post you were responding to.
I just read the original post by the guilty white lady and my god I want to gouge my eyes out from the simplistic nature of the words. I won’t even call it reasoning. I am so tired of this “women will save the world” bs and I appreciate how you always find the narcissism lurking under the surface.
I had a shower afterward. Mainly because I was still in my workout gear but that article was the push to get clean. The saviourism is deeply embedded in the collective unconscious of Americans (sorry) and manifests in the craziest ways as evidenced by that article.
It's the protestantism...there's this book you may enjoy, Strange Rites by Tara Isabella Burton. It's connects the religious roots to the modern woke movement masterfully. She weaves many threads to make sense of the current moment in which we see feminism become a sort of cultish replacement for religion.
What a great article! There is a macro solution that surfaces biases and moves people to reality. Then it uses collective intelligence to develop the best solutions at a national level through a new solution process instead of yay and nay voting. It effectively defends against outside influence from political parties and the special interests who control them. It foster's continual awareness and improvement using collaboration. It takes the principles explained in this article and incorporates them into two processes in government. EndPoliticsNow.com
The thinking that everything will change if only one of “us” is promoted to the top spot is rampant in business as well and has shown the same fallacy. It ignores that to get to the top of any corporate or political hierarchy you have to play the game by the rules that have already been set, thus making you already one of “them.” Former President GW Bush once said something to the effect that the office of the president has limited power within the system at large. There is only so much that s/he can do. To think that electing anyone based on their immutable characteristics will all of a sudden change the system is just foolish.
It's magical thinking based in fantasy land. There are systems in place that are barriers to equity and some of those barriers are internal (shitty mental models and responses) and external (human prejudices and ignorance). It's how we respond to them that matters that doesn't perpetuate the same thinking and practices that they're trying to overcome. It's scary to see people overly focused on system change without recognising the dangers of their own practices that is just tit for tat rather than actual transformation. Transformation requires new/better mental models, vision of reality, and practices that bring practitioners closer to that vision. How many times do people want to repeat history before they can see how they contribute to the problems?
Sorry for the rant Alison and thank you for your great comment!
Never sorry, I love your writing!
White women are helpless to do anything positive on their own *but* they do have the power to destroy hope and progress. 🤷🏻♀️
White women are the bane of human existence and can also save humanity from white women's oppression. Love the circular thinking!
No one likes intellectual dishonesty. However, people will wear it and run out on it like it's the best armor in the world because they, literally, have nothing else to 'wear'. Imagine being told your entire life that your critical thinking and evaluations of the world are insufficient based on income, status/station, race, gender - whatever boxes will simplify the atomization process. So that you can FINALLY be acceptable to someone who seems powerful, you adopt whatever they say, and repeat it vigorously like a weapon without explanation or questions. Then these same people simply attack anyone who had an independent thought about the matter. There are useful idiots all over political action.
I think I am finding my way through by indicating that people come how they are: WYSIWYG. It varies from scenario to scenario based on who is added to the mix. Consider your sources, what they want to wring out of you and why. So much political opinion goes nowhere because no one is going to change their race, income or status in one political cycle so drastically that the fundaments of broad ranging social issues won't apply to them. Politicians play down policy when they don't have any.
The job requires policy action. Government work is not a handout or public protectorate for narcissists and the bullies who protect them. They have to have the policy. Make them show their work.
The narcissism you specialize in and write about was in high display here. I read her article, your response and her childish backlash. No engagement, no discussion of differences, just refusal to exchange. And yes, the cult analogy is spot on. This is a super clarifying post. Thank you.
Having survived an extreme NPD relationship, I have been trained to spot narcissism up and down the entire spectrum. Politics, I have found, is ripe with it. Your post describes it to a tee.
Thank you Bruce. You've had the masterclass and now have the knowledge and skills to avoid getting into relationships with a narcissist.
Sheesh good one Doc. Somehow it seems more credible when you say it—maybe it’s that expert thing 🤷🏻♂️
I just wrote adjacently about this today.
https://deerambeau.substack.com/p/politicians-suck-they-lie-for-a-living
Great minds think alike! I love when similar articles come out at the same time as mine. It shows how we each approach the same topic in different ways.
I cringe when someone calls me an expert. We all have expertise in specific things but expert implies we're masters and know everything. Nope, not me.
I like to draw on some theories from time to time to describe a common phenomenon. I like what you wrote because it's grounded in experience and takes aim at our shared failings. Theory without grounding it in reality is pretty useless.
Thank you Dee!
Thank you Nathalie 🙏 consider me calling you an expert an act of love and respect. I wouldn’t read you if I didn’t learn something, enjoy it, and align with it. You are definitely onto a huge topic with Hacking Narcissism
You’re such a love. Thank you Dee!
Aww. ❤️
Excellent essay. .
I am not saying one should never be allowed to use a block button, but it should ideally be deployed only in cases of obvious profanity, harassment, or other forms of low-quality dialogue.
Very few of the people I saw blocked for responding to *that* piece (many of whom were women themselves, white and non-white alike) fell into that category.
It seems to me that a large proportion of what you're calling "unconscious beliefs" are not unconscious at all: they are assumed or unstated. If the author had been asked if they believed those things, they would readily assent that they did.
Assumed and unstated are unconscious beliefs. People are not aware they hold them until they are prompted to think about their beliefs /behaviour.
I don't wish to pick over words, but my observation is that people who write things such as "is a complex phenomenon influenced by privilege, systemic racism and sexism, religious affiliations and, of course, the patriarchy" have some pretty clearly thought out beliefs that they don't feel they need to to unpack every time they wish to say something. They are not unconscious. Such individuals are not unaware of them until they are prompted to think about them. They have thought about them. They have been taken on as dogmas. From there they don't have to state them again. They can assume their audiences know where they are coming from.
As I suspect in all the West, everyone has gone from having a political persuasion to outright hate and that is primarily stoked by one side.
We’re suckers because when a politician tells someone they’ll be getting something free, they believe it.
God help us all.
How long have you been a Caustrailian? I used to go back & forth to Canada a lot.
Thank you for reading David!
I've been living in Australia for 19 years this month. I was only meant to live here for 2.
"This is not an exhaustive list but writing this list is exhausting."
It was exhausting reading it! Wow. I took issue with that piece and profiled it, but didn't break it down like that. Well done.
Kudos for getting through that sensationalist piece! It wasn't easy.
And thank you!
Lol. Now imagine being the sort of person who could write such a thing. I can say it made me feel grateful I am not quite so deluded. Though, as I mentioned to another commenter on my piece, we (American) white men have a lot of work ahead, winning back white (American) women.
It's a big mission. Your article is a definitely a step in that direction.
"This is not an exhaustive list but writing this list is exhausting." Reading it was too! That's an amazing amount of caloric burn and (for me anyway) increadibly illuminating in terms of all the nuanced messaging/counter messaging embedded in the post you were responding to.
I just read the original post by the guilty white lady and my god I want to gouge my eyes out from the simplistic nature of the words. I won’t even call it reasoning. I am so tired of this “women will save the world” bs and I appreciate how you always find the narcissism lurking under the surface.
I had a shower afterward. Mainly because I was still in my workout gear but that article was the push to get clean. The saviourism is deeply embedded in the collective unconscious of Americans (sorry) and manifests in the craziest ways as evidenced by that article.
It's the protestantism...there's this book you may enjoy, Strange Rites by Tara Isabella Burton. It's connects the religious roots to the modern woke movement masterfully. She weaves many threads to make sense of the current moment in which we see feminism become a sort of cultish replacement for religion.
Intrigued! Thanks for the reference. Whenever the god shaped hole widens, something has to come in and fill it, and it's never good.
"It is binary thinking in a world that is nuanced and complex." One of many clear and well articulated truths.
Thank you Steve!
What a great article! There is a macro solution that surfaces biases and moves people to reality. Then it uses collective intelligence to develop the best solutions at a national level through a new solution process instead of yay and nay voting. It effectively defends against outside influence from political parties and the special interests who control them. It foster's continual awareness and improvement using collaboration. It takes the principles explained in this article and incorporates them into two processes in government. EndPoliticsNow.com
- The “kumbaya” make-nice approach to matters or war and peace will make the world safer and more peaceful.
-Greater good can be done by redistributing resources to those with the greatest deficits.
-Only a bigger, more involved government can keep us safe.
-Judeo-Christian morality is oppressive to women, minorities, and the poor.