The ideology-free ideology
I haven't participated in usenet in years, but I do occasionally participate in other blogs by their comments. I had almost forgotten about the ideology-free ideologue. For some reason, they always seem to turn out to be Neoprogressives, but that may simply be a problem of self-selection.
I'm not sure how they arrive at their particular politics, but it may be either or both of these paths:
Now, the person is a reformed, enlightened, passionate new convert, free of the blinders of ideology. They regard the unconverted as naive and benighted. Interestingly, rather than trying to proselytize, they frequently participate in discussions from a very condescending point of view, violating all or most of the ad hominem variants from this list (hat tip: Mike Huben).
I hereby admit guilt of having on occasion tried some of these things and promise to try not to use them anymore.
In fact, the claim to be ideology free is subject to serious question. Having an ideology means having a worldview, a conception of reality, a set of assumptions about the world. In its pejorative sense, "being ideological" or "being an ideologue" means having a narrow set of rules and forcing reality to fit them. however, lacking an ideology is possible by only two approaches of which I can think:
I'm not sure how they arrive at their particular politics, but it may be either or both of these paths:
- Tried socialism, kept bumping into failure, or
- believed in free market (nominal - see below), bumped into market failure
Now, the person is a reformed, enlightened, passionate new convert, free of the blinders of ideology. They regard the unconverted as naive and benighted. Interestingly, rather than trying to proselytize, they frequently participate in discussions from a very condescending point of view, violating all or most of the ad hominem variants from this list (hat tip: Mike Huben).
I hereby admit guilt of having on occasion tried some of these things and promise to try not to use them anymore.
In fact, the claim to be ideology free is subject to serious question. Having an ideology means having a worldview, a conception of reality, a set of assumptions about the world. In its pejorative sense, "being ideological" or "being an ideologue" means having a narrow set of rules and forcing reality to fit them. however, lacking an ideology is possible by only two approaches of which I can think:
- Trivial: complete insanity, inability to coalesce facts into concepts, waking up in a new world every day, having no understanding of cause and effect
- Unlikely: Being free of evolutionary and cultural influences and personal experience
Labels: philosophy
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