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TLDR Summary: "If you are wondering why a socially liberal and well-educated cartoonist such as myself is not afraid of Trump, it’s because I don’t see the pin

by mbgaxyz 10y ago

TLDR Summary: "If you are wondering why a socially liberal and well-educated cartoonist such as myself is not afraid of Trump, it’s because I don’t see the pink elephant. To me, all anti-Trumpers are experiencing a shared illusion. Before you scoff at mass, shared illusions as being unlikely, keep in mind that everyone with a different religion than yours is experiencing exactly that. Mass shared illusions are our most common experience. If you see something unlikely – such as a new Hitler rising in the midst of America – and I see nothing remotely like that – I’m almost certainly right and you’re almost certainly having the illusion. I say that because the person who sees the unlikely addition to reality is the one experiencing the illusion nearly every time. Trump as Hitler-in-America is an addition to reality that only some can see. It is a pink elephant. It is a classic hallucination."

bbctol 10y ago
This is a theme I've often noticed with "socially liberal" etc. people having different political beliefs--their perception of the "other side" is based in the far-left society they inhabit, and their positions are based more on criticizing that society than supporting their own vision. It's precisely because Scott Adams is from liberal, high-education circles that he sees opposition to Trump as being based around irrational fear of Trump as Hitler, when people with those beliefs are tremendously dwarfed by people who simply don't like him. (I don't think Trump as a lunatic and a fascist; I think he's unqualified and a jerk.) It's a weird rollover effect, in which a society can get pushed so far into an echo chamber, it becomes easy to criticize every aspect of that society, and people ride the zeal of the convert all the way around to the other end of the political spectrum. A lot of the younger generation of the so-called "alt-right" grew up in very liberal, progressive societies, and once they realized most of that society was based on social pressure and oversimplification, see no reason to tilt full-on into racism and autocracy. All societies are built on social pressure; every creed we teach our kids is inherently oversimplified and flawed. But you don't get points just for pointing out those flaws. Adams has been on this kick for a while now that sounds like the beginning of every Moldbug piece: point out some incorrect belief among members of a culture you were raised in, and so think represents everyone (high-educated social liberals) and say "See? This is bullshit! It's all bullshit! The whole thing is a mass hallucination!"

by mbgaxyz 10y ago

bbctol 10y ago

This is a theme I've often noticed with "socially liberal" etc. people having different political beliefs--their perception of the "other side" is based in the far-left society they inhabit, and their positions are based more on criticizing that society than supporting their own vision. It's precisely because Scott Adams is from liberal, high-education circles that he sees opposition to Trump as being based around irrational fear of Trump as Hitler, when people with those beliefs are tremendously dwarfed by people who simply don't like him. (I don't think Trump as a lunatic and a fascist; I think he's unqualified and a jerk.) It's a weird rollover effect, in which a society can get pushed so far into an echo chamber, it becomes easy to criticize every aspect of that society, and people ride the zeal of the convert all the way around to the other end of the political spectrum. A lot of the younger generation of the so-called "alt-right" grew up in very liberal, progressive societies, and once they realized most of that society was based on social pressure and oversimplification, see no reason to tilt full-on into racism and autocracy. All societies are built on social pressure; every creed we teach our kids is inherently oversimplified and flawed. But you don't get points just for pointing out those flaws. Adams has been on this kick for a while now that sounds like the beginning of every Moldbug piece: point out some incorrect belief among members of a culture you were raised in, and so think represents everyone (high-educated social liberals) and say "See? This is bullshit! It's all bullshit! The whole thing is a mass hallucination!"