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The "ideological pipeline" is a ratchet effect caused by virtue signaling. A group starts with a baseline ideology. This baseline is the minimum set of ideas
by opwieurposiu 7y ago
The "ideological pipeline" is a ratchet effect caused by virtue signaling. A group starts with a baseline ideology.
This baseline is the minimum set of ideas you must believe in to stay in the group. A new idea comes along, some group members discover they can earn in-group virtue points by espousing this idea. Eventually enough group members espouse this idea that it gets added to the baseline set. A new-new idea is now required for signaling. Thus the ratchet effect.
- narrator 7y agoThere's got to be some ideological gatekeeper giving out virtue points somewhere though. I like the example of coffee being introduced into the west. Nobody knew what to make of it and eventually the pope was asked to make a decision and he said Coffee is a good thing, and then everybody started drinking coffee all over the west. Where's the "X is a good thing" in the ideological pipeline? So often new ideas bounce around and nobody knows what to make of them and all of a sudden a "strong" argument comes along through multiple channels and then everyone starts lining up.