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The over-confidence in clearly irrational positions, the bluster and bluffing and bullying are all coping mechanisms for what their brains detect as cognitive d

The over-confidence in clearly irrational positions, the bluster and bluffing and bullying are all coping mechanisms for what their brains detect as cognitive dissonance. "How can my life be so bad, dreary, miserable, and inadequate?" "It must not be my situation, but it must be everyone else, so I will fight everyone else, as I can't change my situation." Rather than improve their own lot, they seek to destroy other's, because improvement is so difficult, if not impossible, and destruction is just so much easier.

anigbrowl 4y ago
One should ask, though, what makes improvement impossible.
- rexreed 4y ago
  A rational person would indeed ask that. Is that what we're dealing with tho?
  - anigbrowl 4y ago
    What I mean is, when dealing with an irrational or antirational person, who is behaving this way because other kinds of action are impossible, we should ask what constrains them. If they are not actually in control of their circumstances, then we can't really pooh-pooh their irrationality because they are not free to choose. We like to assume that we are all masters of our own circumstances and can deal with any obstacle or misfortune by adjusting ourselves to match it, but this presumes a degree of autonomy that does not always exist in fact.
  - konart 4y ago
    >Is that what we're dealing with tho? Assuming both side have the same information? No. But this is would be a very strange assumption.
- _siis 4y ago
  Well just from my own personal research (which is not nearly as thorough as I'd like), structurally any central power structure receives little benefit from division of labor and the main driver that allows it to work and greese the wheels are corruption, which generally promotes oligopoly or monopoly. Then you have the economic calculation problem, inability to adjust to shortages because the economy is not self-moderating, low to zero visibility (and shame) so responsible parties may not communicate to enact change rapidly or admit there's a problem until its had significant cost. Generally speaking, there is also a lot of indoctrination, and many who grow up in those places see the only solution to failures of socialism as more socialism because it failed because there simply wasn't enough, and it is after all about the group over the whole with identity politics. Improvement is impossible because failures can't be acknowledged or reconciled rationally. Structurally over time its a fundamentally unstable system as people age out of positions of power, newer generations may not be properly educated (they all drink the same coolaid). Rational pragmatic and constructive thought is kind of a requirement to improve. There's also usually a good portion of the population used as disadvantaged labor that supports an aristocratic elite.

anigbrowl 4y ago

One should ask, though, what makes improvement impossible.

rexreed 4y ago
A rational person would indeed ask that. Is that what we're dealing with tho?
- anigbrowl 4y ago
  What I mean is, when dealing with an irrational or antirational person, who is behaving this way because other kinds of action are impossible, we should ask what constrains them. If they are not actually in control of their circumstances, then we can't really pooh-pooh their irrationality because they are not free to choose. We like to assume that we are all masters of our own circumstances and can deal with any obstacle or misfortune by adjusting ourselves to match it, but this presumes a degree of autonomy that does not always exist in fact.
- konart 4y ago
  >Is that what we're dealing with tho? Assuming both side have the same information? No. But this is would be a very strange assumption.
_siis 4y ago
Well just from my own personal research (which is not nearly as thorough as I'd like), structurally any central power structure receives little benefit from division of labor and the main driver that allows it to work and greese the wheels are corruption, which generally promotes oligopoly or monopoly. Then you have the economic calculation problem, inability to adjust to shortages because the economy is not self-moderating, low to zero visibility (and shame) so responsible parties may not communicate to enact change rapidly or admit there's a problem until its had significant cost. Generally speaking, there is also a lot of indoctrination, and many who grow up in those places see the only solution to failures of socialism as more socialism because it failed because there simply wasn't enough, and it is after all about the group over the whole with identity politics. Improvement is impossible because failures can't be acknowledged or reconciled rationally. Structurally over time its a fundamentally unstable system as people age out of positions of power, newer generations may not be properly educated (they all drink the same coolaid). Rational pragmatic and constructive thought is kind of a requirement to improve. There's also usually a good portion of the population used as disadvantaged labor that supports an aristocratic elite.