Though when ranking fit, John’s “ideology-as-OS, S5 cognition as hypervisor” tops my list. Sometimes, a particular OS is needed to accomplish a role, especially in the context of a network of computers running that OS. E.g. I need access to Windows and Linux for work.
-
-
Similarly, I need to be able to step into Christianity when talking to my parents, Intersectional Feminism and Libertarianism around town, and material monism at the hacker space if I’m going to be coherent or persuasive. I need them all to function in a pluralistic society.
1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes -
Replying to @delysis @everytstudies
ok this tweet makes your idea a lot more clear to me. we may have a terminology mismatch. what I think you're describing are "stances", which I might call "dramatis personae" in memespace. masks that you wear and remove as needed. ideology is a mask sutured to your face.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @danlistensto @everytstudies
Agree on terminology mismatch. The reason I think my Christian persona is still an ideology when I wear it earnestly (as opposed to sneeringly, which I also do sometimes) is that it still functions the same as when it was “sewn to my face” as a boy, despite strong disbelief.
2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @delysis @everytstudies
that's a really interesting thing to say. if you don't mind my asking, do you wear it earnestly in the sense of being able to talk to Christians in their own language, or in the sense of (temporarily) being an earnest Christian?
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @danlistensto @everytstudies
I find there are levels, and the deeper you go, the larger the risks and rewards. Adopting the language of the listener is just good communications practice, but it comes with the risk of picking up bad definitions, being perceived as patronizing...and I’m sure there are others.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
To illustrate one risk: when I use evangelical theology to argue politics with my parents, who know me to be a persuasive troll, they are right to be wary or even angry: it’s unkind if the subtext is “I keep your brain inside my brain just for kicks,” it’s condescending.
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
In other cases it can be fine. In some, maybe most of those cases, the person you’re talking to probably assumes I agree with them, and some subset of those will be very offended if they learn you were just meeting them in their meme-space.
2 replies 0 retweets 2 likes -
To illustrate that risk: It never occurred to one of my closest friends of many years that perhaps I wasn’t a communist, until one day I mentioned that I appreciate apsects of the free market, like being able to start a business without approval of a party official.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
The conversation that followed, in which I pointed out that the market economy had actually done quite a bit for disadvantaged people relative because of productivity increases and competition, she got very frustrated, screamed for me to leave, and ~never spoke to me again.
2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
and THAT is why I describe ideology as a pathogen. she chose her Marxism over your friendship.
-
-
Replying to @danlistensto @everytstudies
Agreed! At S3 and S4 I think the pathogen model, especially toxoplasmosis, is extremely fitting: the parasite is wearing you. Trading off participation in an ideological community for the provenance of your own brain is horribly Faustian.
0 replies 0 retweets 2 likesThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.