Some ideologies aren't defined by their ideas but by the personality profile of the people they attract. The ideas just evolve as a mechanism to help attract those people. Personality comes first. - ThreadSky

fchollet.bsky.social • 15 days ago

Some ideologies aren't defined by their ideas but by the personality profile of the people they attract.

The ideas just evolve as a mechanism to help attract those people. Personality comes first.

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fchollet.bsky.social•15 days ago

It sounds shallow and unintellectual to say the maga movement is "evil" -- it sounds emotional, extreme, leaving no nuance, like something a 5 year old would say.

But the more you ponder the causes and consequences of the movement the more you realize it's accurate. Evil is the clustering force.

fchollet.bsky.social•15 days ago

Maybe you can call it something else. Malice. Among the people you knew, it was always possible to anticipate who would become maga -- just from who they were. Maga called to them like the pied piper's song. It spoke to the malice in their hearts

siphiwet.bsky.social•15 days ago

I find it so hard to agree with you on this. But this sounds right. I can't think of one Maga enthusiast who is a kind person. But this is from my personal life experience. It doesn't make it true.

hans-hjelm.bsky.social•15 days ago

Sadism

pietervoogt.bsky.social•15 days ago

I'm not sure. I'm surprised how someone like Lex Fridman got sucked into the maga vortex. I don't think he is bad but he is a fool.

panoptic.bsky.social•15 days ago

re-upping this classic: https://harpers.org/archive/1941/08/who-goes-nazi/

smus.com•15 days ago

classic is far more nuanced than “nazis are simply evil people”

fchollet.bsky.social•15 days ago

The nuance in the piece is intellectual flourish. What it says can really be distilled into "nazis are simply evil people". That wouldn't make a very interesting piece though.

colhilbertspace.bsky.social•15 days ago

No, it says more than that - it says evil arises from having an externally defined morality rather than internally defined. All the types in that piece who wouldn't go Nazi are those who define right and wrong for themselves, rather than according to what other people want.

colhilbertspace.bsky.social•15 days ago

I think there's a concrete reason for the malice. Since 2000, or earlier, the urban blue counties have been siphoning the economic life and talent away from rural counties. I think the malice is simply because they know they're losing generational economic warfare.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/biden-voting-counties-equal-70-of-americas-economy-what-does-this-mean-for-the-nations-political-economic-divide/

colhilbertspace.bsky.social•15 days ago

The MAGA platform can be simply stated as, "punish the urban liberals for their economic warfare". E.g. blue states pay far more in federal taxes, and the D. of Ed. was one way to send a lot of that money back to blue states, so it's being targeted.

colhilbertspace.bsky.social•15 days ago

A lot of the economic impact of the ICE targeted deportations is centered on urban counties. (No, I 'm not affiliated with Brookings, I just think they dig up some interesting things.)
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/which-places-would-be-most-affected-by-the-trump-administrations-immigrant-deportation-proposals/

fchollet.bsky.social•15 days ago

You're over-theorizing to an extreme degree. They aren't aware of any of the statistics you mention. They followed the movement based on vibes. And the main vibe was malice.

johnsontoddr.bsky.social•15 days ago

"Evil" fits well here. The fact that it is an extreme word that has religious connotations is also fitting.

javiermares.bsky.social•15 days ago

It could be “fearfulness about the world” which then uses MAGA fantasy to soothe such fear. Like a drug. Hence the unyielding grasp on the lies. Their sanity depends on believing them.

brianplusplus.bsky.social•5 days ago

Thats part of MAGAs defense. Be so stupid and aweful that any accurate critique seems hysterical

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