Conservativism Is A Mental Disorder

Meridian ID

Description

This enormous threat to humanity lies in the human mind - it all starts in the few inches between our ears. * Call it conservatism, fundamentalism, right wing thinking, ideological insanity, what have you, it can clearly be considered a mental disorder; a dysfunction of the human mind, and it threatens our survival. * Instead of valuing results of policies and actions above all, choosing behavior according to consequences, you instead hold rigid commitment to an ideology or a philosophical conviction as a supreme value. In other words, "it's okay to get things wrong as long as you have strong beliefs." * You believe that your strength of will or faith defines reality, and that truth is a matter of your conviction, instead of Independent fact. * You believe that fate is inevitable, and that your decisions or behavior cannot alter destiny. * You do not believe humanity is truly able to work together rationally and pragmatically to solve basic problems, and view that strategy as basically impossible, for various reasons. * When solutions to major problems are suggested, you tend to think of reasons that they cannot or should not be attempted. * You consider faith and personal conviction as being more compelling, or stronger, than facts or consequences of behavior. * You believe things to be true for subjective reasons of personal perspective - ie., "I believe [x] is true because I feel it gives my life meaning." These symptoms provide a rough sketch of the conservative disorder as I think of it. The kind of thinking described above is a recipe for disaster and destruction. This problem can be "cured" or at least greatly reduced, if people want it, through fairly simple education. Even this major problem is solvable, as long as people have the will to deal with it. Imagine if societies taught children these core values: * The human species, and individual lives, are very precious, and should be valued and protected. * Being mistaken about what is true or real in the world around you is very dangerous, and it can seriously hurt or kill you. So it is important to understand reality accurately. * The consequences of your actions and decisions are very important, because they can either hurt or help you and others around you - real results matter more than intentions or beliefs. * Treating people equally, and according to how you would prefer to be treated in their place, is important. Unjustified inequality, especially in the extreme, generally fosters conflict and violence, and so increases threats to survival. * Survival and well-being is more easily protected when we refrain from providing others with motives to threaten or harm us (another reason for the Golden Rule). * Religious beliefs are your own business, and people should not oppose their own faith on others in any way. * A society of reasonable, helpful laws is vital to survival, and rule of law should be respected and defended as a standard greater than personal feeling. * Individual rights are equally sovereign under the law, as are personal freedoms. I'm pretty sure that if all societies taught and preserved those values as part of the cultural foundation, we'd find it much easier to address other problems we face. The real danger of the conservative disorder is that it causes people to think and act in ways which do not support the goal of human survival, and are often contrary to that goal.