Posted on 09/29/2020 7:45:10 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Just as time is a one-way arrow, "the politicization of everything" is a one-way road to dissolution and collapse.
The essence of any Totalitarian society is the politicization of everything, as everything must be either supporting the status quo or it's a threat to the status quo.
There is no middle ground in a Totalitarian society and so everything--literally everything-- must be politicized to assess its true nature of being "for" or "against" the status quo.
In such a society, what cannot be politicized ceases to exist. It isn't counted or recognized, and so it fades into a netherworld of shadows, a dangerous realm where the mere act of attempting to recognize a non-politicized experience is itself a threat to the status quo.
You will of course be thinking of the former Soviet Union (USSR) and other Totalitarian societies. Here's an extreme example of how the politicization of everything works: a conventional worker in a conventional factory happens to mention to a co-worker that he dreamed Stalin had fallen ill, and this worried him. The co-worker reported this disturbing dream to the proper authorities, who instantly recognized the true nature of the dream and sentenced the worker to 10 years in the Gulag for having an anti-Soviet dream.
(A 10-year sentence in the Gulag was so common that it was nicknamed "a tenner.")
In America circa 2020, "a tenner" for the wrong thought, opinion or dream takes other forms. Indeed, even the claim that a dream might not have a political angle is itself cause for being sentenced to "a tenner," because the core of the Totalitarian society is the politicization of everything.
Every object, entity, image, document, historical "fact," person, thought, emotion, reaction, narrative, opinion, everything tangible or intangible, has a barely concealed political subtext in a Totalitarian society.
There is nothing innocuous, innocent or whimsical in a Totalitarian society, at least in the public sphere. In an era permeated by the cruel marriage of surveillance capitalism and the bitterly divided state, even the once-private sphere is subject to public exposure and shaming / sentencing.
As in an Orwellian nightmare, your "smart" phone, vehicle, TV or Alexa-powered doorbell can eavesdrop and record your private conversations and behaviors, and somebody somewhere has access to this data and can share it with others.
The ostensible justification is "your safety" or "to catch wrongdoing," but this is transparently false. The real reason is to discern your political crimes. You need not commit any crimes per se to be persecuted; all that's needed is some tiny bit of evidence that reflects your true beliefs which by definition must be supportive of the status quo via endless virtual-signaling; if not, then they are necessarily a threat to the status quo.
To remain confidential, everyday life must be treated as wartime. Your hand-written journal is safe, as long as you don't share it digitally. But since we've morphed into an engagement-based social order, your selfhood now depends on engaging others digitally via "likes," shares, etc. and sharing your most "engaging" images and experiences.
A non-shared, non-digital private life is now a form of non-existence that most people find painful and isolating. Hence the obsessive addiction to social media and "sharing" one's (carefully edited) life online.
Alas, even the most careful editing cannot conceal your true beliefs which will be revealed by the smallest detail: your location, the brand of items you're wearing, etc.
In a bitterly divided society, your beliefs will be political crimes to one camp or another. Any attempt to "find common ground" will be dismissed as a self-serving ploy, or more dangerously, as a hidden agenda of the forces attempting to destroy the Party.
Those furiously virtue-signaling to maintain their political righteousness within their chosen camp find the sands shifting beneath their feet. The most extreme virtue-signaling is rewarded until it becomes a new threat, and then those who strayed unknowingly beyond the invisible lines will find themselves cast out for political crimes whose definition is constantly changing.
Science has long be politicized, of course, but now it is being hyper-politicized as the stakes keep rising. Claims of neutrality are necessarily viewed as nothing more than clever facades to mask the real motives of self-interest and collusion.
Just as time is a one-way arrow, the politicization of everything is a one-way road to dissolution and collapse. Wishing it wasn't so doesn't make it so.
"The most extreme virtue-signaling is rewarded until it becomes a new threat, and then those who strayed unknowingly beyond the invisible lines will find themselves cast out for political crimes whose definition is constantly changing."
"Just as time is a one-way arrow, the politicization of everything is a one-way road to dissolution and collapse."
Gonna be unseasonably cool here in NYC next week.
That’s why they had to change global warming to global climate change.
As for this politicization of everything, I looked up an FBI profiler who narrates some crime stories and she Apologized for Being White on facebook!
I don’t get it.
Excellent post. Thanks
I would like someone to show me one real leftist/socialist/communist in the Democrat Party.
It’s all a smokescreen.
“I’m a socialist!” Screams Bernie.
From one of his three houses.
The Democrats are all greedy liars.
Does anybody, ANYBODY, think that Nancy Pelosi or Hillary Clinton want their grandchildren to enjoy the fun of pulling turnips at Turnip Commune #34?
You make a good point. I don’t see that, either. But they’re so bloody BRAINWASHED that they truly believe that the ills of Socialism will never touch THEM, while they inflict it on the rest of us.
You’re right; Socialism is a good way to gain total power over others. But then, you have to look out for your own relatives picking you off to usurp YOUR power. (Hello? Little Kimmie?)
They’re delusional. I challenge anyone to find a better way to live than in a Representative Republic. No wonder we’re so hated by those who want complete power/control. For the most part, ‘We The People’ are still calling the shots for good or ill. (Maybe I’M delusional? LOL!)
As I’ve said before, I’m glad I’ll be dead before we finish that march off the cliff to our Socialist demise! :(
Do you honestly think that Bernie Sanders or Nancy Pelosi are brainwashed at this time?
They were brainwashed when they were young.
They bought into all the socialist baloney.
Then, as they experienced more of life, they came to the realization that socialism doesn’t work. It will never work. It is ALWAYS taken over by greedy liars.
Remember in Gone With The Wind when Scarlett screams,
“As God is my witness, I will never be hungry again!”?
Hillary Clinton had a similar moment.
Hers was,
“As God is my witness, I will never be fooled or poor again!”
These enlightened socialists are the most mercenary people in the world.
They will say or do anything for wealth.
Agreed. It’s a great racket when you’re at the top of the Food Chain. Not so much for anyone below.
Of course, this only works in America where you have the FREEDOM to use Capitalism to fund and promote your Socialism.
Ironic, ain’t it? ‘By any means necessary...’ They don’t lie about that!
“To remain confidential, everyday life must be treated as wartime. Your hand-written journal is safe, as long as you don’t share it digitally. But since we’ve morphed into an engagement-based social order, your selfhood now depends on engaging others digitally via “likes,” shares, etc. and sharing your most “engaging” images and experiences.”
My “selfhood” is more inclined to dealing directly with family & friends.
#FightGenderOppression! Stories from the “Handmaids Tale”...
Husband to wife: “I order you to become a brilliant legal and constitutional scholar and Supreme Court Justice!” Wife: “Yes master!”
Really good article. We have really arrived at this in the good old USA. How very disheartening.
Politics trumps everything, all the time. It was always so and will always be so. The reason is because politics is first and foremost about self interest on a large scale.
The reason things seemed less political in the past was because people in this country were more in agreement about cultural values. Democrat or republican, pretty much everyone agreed about respecting the flag and military. People shared common cultural values. So politically we were on the same page with major issues.
With the advent of multiculturalism and “diversity is our strength”, the consensus on cultural values has disappeared, and that’s causing things to appear more politicized.
The real problem is the advent of multiculturalism and the breakdown of cultural shared values. .
“The real problem is the advent of multiculturalism and the breakdown of cultural shared values.”
*BUMP*
I disagree with this:
In a bitterly divided society, your beliefs will be political crimes to one camp or another.
Wecon servatives do not make dissent a crime, THEY DO!
Not disagreement, more a sharpening: Any attempt to "find common ground" will be dismissed as a self-serving ploy, or more dangerously, as a hidden agenda of the forces attempting to destroy the Party.
Finding common ground with people who do not share, in fact who HATE our values, is impossible any more.
I agree. I don’t give a rat’s rump about finding common ground with America hating Communists. :)
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