10 ms·

Why Is Stoicism Having a Cultural Moment?

83 points by diodorus 11y ago

Animats 11y ago
Probably because it helps justify longer working hours and low pay.
- rodgerd 11y ago
  There's a certain temptation to ascribe it to a cynical desire to convince people they shouldn't try to change their lot.
  - marktangotango 11y ago
    Viewed in the historical context, Seneca the younger lived in the time when crucifixion, impalement, and gladiator games where in full swing, so the comparatively speaking, the bad then was quiet a bit worse than the bad now. In my view that makes the grand parents comment quiet shallow.
jjaredsimpson 11y ago
Because everyone who cares eventually tries to read great literature and you make it to Meditations which is a great read for a 20+ year old immersed in a culture that tells you to connect your self worth to the score others give you. It's a self-help read for people who don't want to consume for profit self help. It's counterculture.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
hugh4 11y ago
Is stoicism having a cultural moment? I rather think that modern western culture is about as un-Stoic as it has been at any point since... sometime before Stoicism was invented, and that any explicit endorsement of Stoicism you may find among the remaining sane people is purely a reaction to that. Stoicism teaches that suffering and misfortune are part of life, and that wisdom comes from learning to deal with this fact. Modern-day Oprah culture teaches that you are a beautiful and unique person and that any suffering or misfortune you may encounter is something that you should probably sue somebody about.
- chipsy 11y ago
  The snowflake syndrome is the modern means of building a minority political bloc - for any underrepresented group or condition, a representative comes along and declares themselves champion of the people(the people that they represent, that is), and encourages shaming of the rest as a form of unification. It's the shaming that eventually got to me. It's such a prolific and harmful tactic. The people who do it the most tend to lack virtue themselves, when held up to the light. And it doesn't matter how well your internal sense of guilt works - you can always be judged poorly for reasons that become obviously unfair when pushed to far-reaching conclusions. It encourages you to polarize into a completely fanatical or disengaged state, without a healthy middle. If we've improved any, it's in that outright dehumanization is less common now, replaced with convenient euphemisms that diffuse blame. Stoicism has the appeal of "It doesn't matter how bad the outside world gets - I am going to do my own thing and fix up my own principles and actions." It encourages you to work on small everyday behaviors instead of constantly diverting your attention to the Big Important Problem that the news is currently pushing at you(and that you can't do much about, without derailing your entire life).
  - TickleMeHellNo 11y ago
    Nailed my personal experience. I wonder how many others of us there are?
    - mhuffman 11y ago
      DOZENS!!
      - VLM 11y ago
        Hundreds of thousands, absolute minimum. You want to look at the small scale environmentalists as one specific example. Not the "fly my lear jet to the anti-nuclear protest" but the organic home gardener types. Chipsy sounds like he was channeling John Micheal Greer there, towards the end. JMG's blog is well worth reading for other insights, of course.
      - 11y ago
keyle 11y ago
That was quite an article. Then I went to read the local newspaper and it was about how a man got charged for taking a naked stroll. The news gave people what they want, shock and kittens. Blogging rules.
Synaesthesia 11y ago
Stoicism really helped me through some psychological difficulties. It contains truths which haven't altered in thousands of years.
- brightball 11y ago
  Stoicism is basically Christianity minus God / Jesus when you really boil it down. With us watching a cultural trend of people rejecting faith regularly, yet at the same time watching a lot of the bad decisions that come from the "focussed on me" aspects that often come from it, Stoicism is a fairly expected non-theistic reaction. In a lot of ways, the concept of the tiny house movement is sort of a reflection of Stoicism if you think about it. The general idea is that if you lessen your needs, then what you have becomes abundant. It could also be considered a bit of a reaction to the debt crisis that individuals face on many levels. As your expenses approach zero, your income approaches infinity.
  - taurath 11y ago
    Stoicism is much more self focused than Christianity. Christianity has the added dissociative effect of the source of your morals not being you, and lets one achieve a form of "humility" through being able to move thoughts judgement and morals that can't be reconciled over to the abstraction of an all-knowing other. Stoicism is much more fatalistic in that sense - whatever happens happens, rather than whatever happens is known and "matters" in the scheme of things because of God. "Focused on me" culture is not inherently wrong for communities or cultures at at all, but when you compare straight hedonism to "selfless" christianity then its understandable to have some backlash on "me" culture. "Me focus" can also mean basically trying to achieve what is in the Serenity Prayer (written in the 1800s by a Christian theologian) - "[God] grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference"
Expez 11y ago
This was a wonderful read. Could someone who's gone down this path provide a reading list for someone interested in learning more?
- roflmyeggo 11y ago
  Meditations is the usual go-to read by Marcus Aurelius. Then if you are still interested check out the writings of Seneca, Epictetus, etc.
- freshfey 11y ago
  I'd start with "Letters from a Stoic" by Seneca, then read "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius. If you're looking for a modern interpretation of these thoughts check out "The Obstacle is the Way" by Ryan Holiday
- kornish 11y ago
  The three best-known literary products of Stoic culture and philosophy are probably: - Marcus Aurelius' Meditations (make sure to get the Hays translation! By far the best). Aurelius was an emperor of Rome; Meditations are his musings to himself in later life. It's interesting to reading the internal grapplings of a man who was, to his countrymen, basically a walking god. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca's Letters from a Stoic - Epictetus' Enchiridion, which translates roughly as "handbook" and was assembled from the teachings of Epictetus, an exiled former slave, to those who traveled to live and study with him. I strongly recommend all three. If you're interested in more modern interpretations of the above, a couple good jumping off points would be A Guide to the Good Life by William Irvine (which was mostly pretty good) or The Inner Citadel by Pierre Hadot (which studies Meditations). Ryan Holiday also has a book called The Obstacle Is The Way, though I didn't enjoy it as much as any listed above, to be honest. A personal favorite gem which, found several years ago: http://stoicletters.blogspot.com/ http://stoicletters.blogspot.com/. This blog bundles Seneca's letters into a modern style of prose and is much more accessible while conveying much of the same meaning as the original letters.
  - hugh4 11y ago
    Interesting that nobody seems to have had anything particularly worth writing on the subject of stoicism for the past nearly-2000 years.
MichaelMoser123 11y ago
here they compare stoic virtues with Hindu notions of dharma. The author speculates that Stoics were somehow influenced by Hindu thought. Maybe a new interest in Stoicism is partly inspired by exposure to Hinduist beliefs. http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/public/articles/Parallels_in_Hindu_and_Stoic_Ethical_Thought.aspx http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/public/articles/...
- visakanv 11y ago
  > Hinduist thought Nitpicking, but "Hindu thought" will do! Thanks for the link.
stoikerty 11y ago
wait what
Udo 11y ago
The problem is that stoic people can suffer a serious social penalty to their interests and the cooperation they get from others. It's expected that, once you are in a bad situation, you fight in an outwardly visible fashion. If you don't display the markers of frustration in an easily understandable way, people will think you just don't care enough. Meanwhile, there is little downside to histrionics and unreasonable demands, putting the stoic at a severe disadvantage.
- tomhoward 11y ago
  I know what you mean, having been through this journey and experienced the kind of thing you're talking about. But in the end, the calmness and tranquility that comes from removing yourself from the drama and histrionics of the rest of the world is its own victory, and any "social penalty" turns out to be quite a gift.
- briancleland 11y ago
  There is only a disadvantage if you place value in externals. The most important lesson in Stoicism is that only the things in our power are good or bad, whereas externals have no intrinsic value. "Wherefore, O judges, be of good cheer about death, and know this of a truth - that no evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death." http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html
- VLM 11y ago
  There's a hidden assumption that signalling and belief have to be the same. If some weird signalling is just an annoying valueless externality, then acting (assuming its any good) isn't as relevant as the belief within. Maybe an analogy with politics, nobody really believes sloganeering except the smallest of minds; its merely a traditional weapon that has to be used as part of the show. Ditto obeisance to political correctness, its just signalling you gotta do in public, nobody believes that stuff internally or in private except a small cadre of insane people. "Emperor has no clothes" moment and all that.
tljr 11y ago
Prisoner mentality. Sorry, I like to answer titles that end in question marks. Because they're questions. Not Titles.
DanielBMarkham 11y ago
One of the things I did when I was in my 20s was to look for some kind of great person to adopt as a hero, or a philosophy that would cover all of the tough questions. I guess my feeling was that there was some exact solution to everything and that putting myself in the right bucket I'd have a lot of personal questions answered. Looking back, this is probably a good reason to wait until studying philosophy until your 30s -- you need some time actually living in order to put things in their proper place. Epistemology, especially, can really take your head for a spin. But I finally realized that various forms of thought are not solutions, rather they are tools for dealing with the day-to-day issues that life brings. Different situations? Use different tools. The goal wasn't to find an universal answer, it was to fill a tool belt with the tools you'd need for an interesting and rewarding life. An obvious corollary here: it's okay if the tools don't all work together at the same time. I'm a human, not a math equation. It all doesn't have to add up and be consistent in the end. (Very tough to realize and accept this as well!) Today the three main tools I use the most are agnosticism, existentialism, and stoicism. Between these three I find that I am safely and soundly able to navigate various difficult ethical, moral, and professional questions. In addition, they give me direction for further joy and fulfillment in life. And extra bonus points: they do not preclude any of the wonderfully human and irrational beliefs I may want to pick up along the way, such as using supplements for life extension, playing the lottery, or choosing to believe in the Great Pumpkin. Modern life is one of people instantly connecting together in mobs. Nobody can tolerate being bored, and it's very easy to spend a lot of your life without really thinking about what you're doing. Stoicism, existentialism, and agnosticism guides me in mindfulness, self-directed purpose, and the limits of my knowledge. I'm very happy to have them as part of my tool belt.
0xcde4c3db 11y ago
I'm a little surprised that the article doesn't mention cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). It is easily one of the "hottest" forms of psychotherapy in recent years, and is heavily inspired by Stoic ideas. Mindfulness more generally is also having a big moment in clinical psychology.
- hammock 11y ago
  Best CBT books you can recommend?
  - lfowles 11y ago
    Not sure, but I've seen Feeling Good by David Burns[1] recommended in ADHD circles. Can anyone back this up? [1]: http://www.amazon.com/Feeling-Good-The-Mood-Therapy/dp/0380810336 http://www.amazon.com/Feeling-Good-The-Mood-Therapy/dp/03808...
  - pataracts 11y ago
    This book is the standard book most doctors recommend (or so I'm told): http://www.amazon.com/Feeling-Good-New-Mood-Therapy/dp/0380810336/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 http://www.amazon.com/Feeling-Good-New-Mood-Therapy/dp/03808...
- dingbat 11y ago
  things change, CBT appears to be losing efficacy: http://digest.bps.org.uk/2015/06/is-cbt-for-depression-losing-its.html http://digest.bps.org.uk/2015/06/is-cbt-for-depression-losin...
  - 0xcde4c3db 11y ago
    I wonder if this is due to allegiance effects [1] inflating the effect of CBT in the earlier studies. I would expect that the older a CBT study is, the more influence the originators and promoters of CBT had on it. [1]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26033943 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26033943
minority-one 11y ago
Who started it? Who is the group X that started the routine of saying "we are group X and we are special and isolated from the rest of human kind because of our unique suffering and/or significance"? I'll give you a chance to answer.
- norea-armozel 11y ago
  No group literally starts that way, but their behaviors exhibit as such and oftener there is a reason why terms like Oppression Olympics exist in the social media lexicon. It's not out of humor but that there's a core truth to it. For example, there's a segment of gender critical feminists that believe that transgender activists are uniformly assaulting them on all fronts when in reality transgender activists have been focused on issues of non-discrimination in law (public accommodation, employment, and healthcare as big issues where activists seek redress). Neither side assumes one is special or better/worse than the other but both attempt grand standing on who is more oppressed/harmed by society. And how unique their position is in terms of said oppression. I've rarely seen either side (being trans myself here) extend a hand in regards to trying to understand the other. It seems the most vocal members of this fracas are doomed to bury each other in terrible memes and virtual shouting matches. Some have gone further like Cathy Brennan who has doxxed a transgender teenager (who had no quarrel with her or other gender critical feminists) for the Pacific Justice Institute (a right wing think tank out of California). So, I hope you can see where I'm coming from here.
  - minority-one 11y ago
    Let's put together a bunch of what you said, because you are indeed so close to guessing, and I don't doubt you can, as a fellow anarchist. Behavior patterns of Group X (that is then passed on to other groups): - being a special and isolated group from the rest of human kind - having suffered uniquely - having unique significance - pulling the special-group card all the time (say, to stifle criticism) - believing other groups are assaulting them on all fronts (say, like a paranoia towards an outgroup) - attempting grand standing on their being the most oppressed by society (say, by discussing on a TV show whether their suffering was the most awful of all) - never admitting they are wrong on something (say, in History, where if you disagree with their version, it can only be because you might hate them) I gave you many hints but as you can tell, the hints come from your posts. You are so spot on. But now you must guess, who is Group X who is influencing other groups to adopt this same behavior?

83 points by diodorus 11y ago

Animats 11y ago

Probably because it helps justify longer working hours and low pay.

rodgerd 11y ago
There's a certain temptation to ascribe it to a cynical desire to convince people they shouldn't try to change their lot.
- marktangotango 11y ago
  Viewed in the historical context, Seneca the younger lived in the time when crucifixion, impalement, and gladiator games where in full swing, so the comparatively speaking, the bad then was quiet a bit worse than the bad now. In my view that makes the grand parents comment quiet shallow.

jjaredsimpson 11y ago

Because everyone who cares eventually tries to read great literature and you make it to Meditations which is a great read for a 20+ year old immersed in a culture that tells you to connect your self worth to the score others give you. It's a self-help read for people who don't want to consume for profit self help. It's counterculture.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

hugh4 11y ago

Is stoicism having a cultural moment? I rather think that modern western culture is about as un-Stoic as it has been at any point since... sometime before Stoicism was invented, and that any explicit endorsement of Stoicism you may find among the remaining sane people is purely a reaction to that. Stoicism teaches that suffering and misfortune are part of life, and that wisdom comes from learning to deal with this fact. Modern-day Oprah culture teaches that you are a beautiful and unique person and that any suffering or misfortune you may encounter is something that you should probably sue somebody about.

chipsy 11y ago
The snowflake syndrome is the modern means of building a minority political bloc - for any underrepresented group or condition, a representative comes along and declares themselves champion of the people(the people that they represent, that is), and encourages shaming of the rest as a form of unification. It's the shaming that eventually got to me. It's such a prolific and harmful tactic. The people who do it the most tend to lack virtue themselves, when held up to the light. And it doesn't matter how well your internal sense of guilt works - you can always be judged poorly for reasons that become obviously unfair when pushed to far-reaching conclusions. It encourages you to polarize into a completely fanatical or disengaged state, without a healthy middle. If we've improved any, it's in that outright dehumanization is less common now, replaced with convenient euphemisms that diffuse blame. Stoicism has the appeal of "It doesn't matter how bad the outside world gets - I am going to do my own thing and fix up my own principles and actions." It encourages you to work on small everyday behaviors instead of constantly diverting your attention to the Big Important Problem that the news is currently pushing at you(and that you can't do much about, without derailing your entire life).
- TickleMeHellNo 11y ago
  Nailed my personal experience. I wonder how many others of us there are?
  - mhuffman 11y ago
    DOZENS!!
    - VLM 11y ago
      Hundreds of thousands, absolute minimum. You want to look at the small scale environmentalists as one specific example. Not the "fly my lear jet to the anti-nuclear protest" but the organic home gardener types. Chipsy sounds like he was channeling John Micheal Greer there, towards the end. JMG's blog is well worth reading for other insights, of course.
    - 11y ago

keyle 11y ago

That was quite an article. Then I went to read the local newspaper and it was about how a man got charged for taking a naked stroll. The news gave people what they want, shock and kittens. Blogging rules.

Synaesthesia 11y ago

Stoicism really helped me through some psychological difficulties. It contains truths which haven't altered in thousands of years.

brightball 11y ago
Stoicism is basically Christianity minus God / Jesus when you really boil it down. With us watching a cultural trend of people rejecting faith regularly, yet at the same time watching a lot of the bad decisions that come from the "focussed on me" aspects that often come from it, Stoicism is a fairly expected non-theistic reaction. In a lot of ways, the concept of the tiny house movement is sort of a reflection of Stoicism if you think about it. The general idea is that if you lessen your needs, then what you have becomes abundant. It could also be considered a bit of a reaction to the debt crisis that individuals face on many levels. As your expenses approach zero, your income approaches infinity.
- taurath 11y ago
  Stoicism is much more self focused than Christianity. Christianity has the added dissociative effect of the source of your morals not being you, and lets one achieve a form of "humility" through being able to move thoughts judgement and morals that can't be reconciled over to the abstraction of an all-knowing other. Stoicism is much more fatalistic in that sense - whatever happens happens, rather than whatever happens is known and "matters" in the scheme of things because of God. "Focused on me" culture is not inherently wrong for communities or cultures at at all, but when you compare straight hedonism to "selfless" christianity then its understandable to have some backlash on "me" culture. "Me focus" can also mean basically trying to achieve what is in the Serenity Prayer (written in the 1800s by a Christian theologian) - "[God] grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference"

Expez 11y ago

This was a wonderful read. Could someone who's gone down this path provide a reading list for someone interested in learning more?

roflmyeggo 11y ago
Meditations is the usual go-to read by Marcus Aurelius. Then if you are still interested check out the writings of Seneca, Epictetus, etc.
freshfey 11y ago
I'd start with "Letters from a Stoic" by Seneca, then read "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius. If you're looking for a modern interpretation of these thoughts check out "The Obstacle is the Way" by Ryan Holiday
kornish 11y ago
The three best-known literary products of Stoic culture and philosophy are probably: - Marcus Aurelius' Meditations (make sure to get the Hays translation! By far the best). Aurelius was an emperor of Rome; Meditations are his musings to himself in later life. It's interesting to reading the internal grapplings of a man who was, to his countrymen, basically a walking god. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca's Letters from a Stoic - Epictetus' Enchiridion, which translates roughly as "handbook" and was assembled from the teachings of Epictetus, an exiled former slave, to those who traveled to live and study with him. I strongly recommend all three. If you're interested in more modern interpretations of the above, a couple good jumping off points would be A Guide to the Good Life by William Irvine (which was mostly pretty good) or The Inner Citadel by Pierre Hadot (which studies Meditations). Ryan Holiday also has a book called The Obstacle Is The Way, though I didn't enjoy it as much as any listed above, to be honest. A personal favorite gem which, found several years ago: http://stoicletters.blogspot.com/ http://stoicletters.blogspot.com/. This blog bundles Seneca's letters into a modern style of prose and is much more accessible while conveying much of the same meaning as the original letters.
- hugh4 11y ago
  Interesting that nobody seems to have had anything particularly worth writing on the subject of stoicism for the past nearly-2000 years.

MichaelMoser123 11y ago

here they compare stoic virtues with Hindu notions of dharma. The author speculates that Stoics were somehow influenced by Hindu thought. Maybe a new interest in Stoicism is partly inspired by exposure to Hinduist beliefs. http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/public/articles/Parallels_in_Hindu_and_Stoic_Ethical_Thought.aspx http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/public/articles/...

visakanv 11y ago
> Hinduist thought Nitpicking, but "Hindu thought" will do! Thanks for the link.

stoikerty 11y ago

wait what

Udo 11y ago

The problem is that stoic people can suffer a serious social penalty to their interests and the cooperation they get from others. It's expected that, once you are in a bad situation, you fight in an outwardly visible fashion. If you don't display the markers of frustration in an easily understandable way, people will think you just don't care enough. Meanwhile, there is little downside to histrionics and unreasonable demands, putting the stoic at a severe disadvantage.

tomhoward 11y ago
I know what you mean, having been through this journey and experienced the kind of thing you're talking about. But in the end, the calmness and tranquility that comes from removing yourself from the drama and histrionics of the rest of the world is its own victory, and any "social penalty" turns out to be quite a gift.
briancleland 11y ago
There is only a disadvantage if you place value in externals. The most important lesson in Stoicism is that only the things in our power are good or bad, whereas externals have no intrinsic value. "Wherefore, O judges, be of good cheer about death, and know this of a truth - that no evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death." http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html
VLM 11y ago
There's a hidden assumption that signalling and belief have to be the same. If some weird signalling is just an annoying valueless externality, then acting (assuming its any good) isn't as relevant as the belief within. Maybe an analogy with politics, nobody really believes sloganeering except the smallest of minds; its merely a traditional weapon that has to be used as part of the show. Ditto obeisance to political correctness, its just signalling you gotta do in public, nobody believes that stuff internally or in private except a small cadre of insane people. "Emperor has no clothes" moment and all that.

tljr 11y ago

Prisoner mentality. Sorry, I like to answer titles that end in question marks. Because they're questions. Not Titles.

DanielBMarkham 11y ago

One of the things I did when I was in my 20s was to look for some kind of great person to adopt as a hero, or a philosophy that would cover all of the tough questions. I guess my feeling was that there was some exact solution to everything and that putting myself in the right bucket I'd have a lot of personal questions answered. Looking back, this is probably a good reason to wait until studying philosophy until your 30s -- you need some time actually living in order to put things in their proper place. Epistemology, especially, can really take your head for a spin. But I finally realized that various forms of thought are not solutions, rather they are tools for dealing with the day-to-day issues that life brings. Different situations? Use different tools. The goal wasn't to find an universal answer, it was to fill a tool belt with the tools you'd need for an interesting and rewarding life. An obvious corollary here: it's okay if the tools don't all work together at the same time. I'm a human, not a math equation. It all doesn't have to add up and be consistent in the end. (Very tough to realize and accept this as well!) Today the three main tools I use the most are agnosticism, existentialism, and stoicism. Between these three I find that I am safely and soundly able to navigate various difficult ethical, moral, and professional questions. In addition, they give me direction for further joy and fulfillment in life. And extra bonus points: they do not preclude any of the wonderfully human and irrational beliefs I may want to pick up along the way, such as using supplements for life extension, playing the lottery, or choosing to believe in the Great Pumpkin. Modern life is one of people instantly connecting together in mobs. Nobody can tolerate being bored, and it's very easy to spend a lot of your life without really thinking about what you're doing. Stoicism, existentialism, and agnosticism guides me in mindfulness, self-directed purpose, and the limits of my knowledge. I'm very happy to have them as part of my tool belt.

0xcde4c3db 11y ago

I'm a little surprised that the article doesn't mention cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). It is easily one of the "hottest" forms of psychotherapy in recent years, and is heavily inspired by Stoic ideas. Mindfulness more generally is also having a big moment in clinical psychology.

hammock 11y ago
Best CBT books you can recommend?
- lfowles 11y ago
  Not sure, but I've seen Feeling Good by David Burns[1] recommended in ADHD circles. Can anyone back this up? [1]: http://www.amazon.com/Feeling-Good-The-Mood-Therapy/dp/0380810336 http://www.amazon.com/Feeling-Good-The-Mood-Therapy/dp/03808...
- pataracts 11y ago
  This book is the standard book most doctors recommend (or so I'm told): http://www.amazon.com/Feeling-Good-New-Mood-Therapy/dp/0380810336/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 http://www.amazon.com/Feeling-Good-New-Mood-Therapy/dp/03808...
dingbat 11y ago
things change, CBT appears to be losing efficacy: http://digest.bps.org.uk/2015/06/is-cbt-for-depression-losing-its.html http://digest.bps.org.uk/2015/06/is-cbt-for-depression-losin...
- 0xcde4c3db 11y ago
  I wonder if this is due to allegiance effects [1] inflating the effect of CBT in the earlier studies. I would expect that the older a CBT study is, the more influence the originators and promoters of CBT had on it. [1]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26033943 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26033943

minority-one 11y ago

Who started it? Who is the group X that started the routine of saying "we are group X and we are special and isolated from the rest of human kind because of our unique suffering and/or significance"? I'll give you a chance to answer.

norea-armozel 11y ago
No group literally starts that way, but their behaviors exhibit as such and oftener there is a reason why terms like Oppression Olympics exist in the social media lexicon. It's not out of humor but that there's a core truth to it. For example, there's a segment of gender critical feminists that believe that transgender activists are uniformly assaulting them on all fronts when in reality transgender activists have been focused on issues of non-discrimination in law (public accommodation, employment, and healthcare as big issues where activists seek redress). Neither side assumes one is special or better/worse than the other but both attempt grand standing on who is more oppressed/harmed by society. And how unique their position is in terms of said oppression. I've rarely seen either side (being trans myself here) extend a hand in regards to trying to understand the other. It seems the most vocal members of this fracas are doomed to bury each other in terrible memes and virtual shouting matches. Some have gone further like Cathy Brennan who has doxxed a transgender teenager (who had no quarrel with her or other gender critical feminists) for the Pacific Justice Institute (a right wing think tank out of California). So, I hope you can see where I'm coming from here.
- minority-one 11y ago
  Let's put together a bunch of what you said, because you are indeed so close to guessing, and I don't doubt you can, as a fellow anarchist. Behavior patterns of Group X (that is then passed on to other groups): - being a special and isolated group from the rest of human kind - having suffered uniquely - having unique significance - pulling the special-group card all the time (say, to stifle criticism) - believing other groups are assaulting them on all fronts (say, like a paranoia towards an outgroup) - attempting grand standing on their being the most oppressed by society (say, by discussing on a TV show whether their suffering was the most awful of all) - never admitting they are wrong on something (say, in History, where if you disagree with their version, it can only be because you might hate them) I gave you many hints but as you can tell, the hints come from your posts. You are so spot on. But now you must guess, who is Group X who is influencing other groups to adopt this same behavior?