Decisive Role of Identity in Human Affairs
If you wish to understand someone, focus not on his ideas, but on his identity.
Since 2020, I’ve often been baffled by what strikes me as a widespread and obstinate belief in representations that do not stand up to critical scrutiny. Large numbers of people remain steadfast in their devotion to certain authority figures, organizations, assertions, and assurances, even when abundant information emerges that discredits them.
At a purely intellectual level, I have long understood that identity plays a strong role in human affairs. People believe what they identify with. This is one of the reasons why, as a young man, I thought the Count of Monte Cristo was such a fascinating character. In the Count, Alexandre Dumas created a character who is NOT beholden to any particular identity because, after Edmond Dantez escapes from prison, he CREATES an entirely new identity. I’ve often thought that an undeniable advantage of possessing wealth must be that it affords a man or a woman the leisure to see the world and other people, thereby transcending the identity that is imposed on most people by the circumstances of their particular place and time. Nobody knows the true identity or nationality of the Count of Monte Cristo, whose fabricated title derives from a tiny island off the coast of Tuscany. He speaks several languages fluently, including Greek, and his vast wealth has apparently placed him beyond the power of any particular state. What a cool guy!
Yesterday I listened to a fascinating podcast interview with behavior expert Chase Hughes in which describes precisely why identity is such a decisive driver of what most people believe.
The reason why people will obstinately maintain an attachment to a logically untenable idea is because whatever challenges the validity of the idea also challenges the validity of their identity.
The simplest expression of this is in people who strongly identify themselves as either Democrats or Republicans. If you identity yourself as a Democrat, you have an emotional investment in your membership in this club, and will therefore be reluctant to discard ideas that are championed by your fellow Democrats. The same applies for people who identify themselves as Republicans.
The personal identity afforded by membership in one of these clubs is amplified by the way both parties invite their members to adopt an Us vs. Them mentality, which is extremely appealing to tribal primates.
While the entire interview is fascinating, the key segment about identity begins at 15:26.
When 2019-2024 hit me like a brick up side the head! I have always considered myself a Democrat- the good guys- the ones for choice, freedom, the common sensers! Then I realized probably before this but in my defense as a teacher I could defend myself- not realizing what was happening in other classrooms or how much the young and apprehensive teachers were soaking in. The faculty meetings were rough the older teachers called them indoctrination meetings! At this point my democratic identity was stripped ripped off like a band aid! I was beside myself- super depressed and very cautious of those I worked with. These people flipped into the gestapo- the jabs the masks the testing! It was insane- to the point where a teacher actually said out loud - we should line up all the unvaccinated and shoot them! So the identity politics is real- how did the spell get broken for me and a few others? But not the majority. And so I have yet to find a group to identify with- mourn the loss and feel the shame of not noticing it sooner.
The role of identity in human affairs is a foundational tenet of eugenics. It is a belief that bloodlines determine status in life. Even by simply choosing which parts of one's bloodline to identify as. Like Kamala Harris identifying as her black bloodline, not her Asian bloodline. And even within her black bloodline she identifies with the bloodline of black slaves who were traded. Even though her bloodline is of black slave traders.
Thing is, identity and eugenics are both pseudosciences, useful and disposable in any given moment. Her slave trader black bloodline and Indian high caste bloodlines entitle her to trade slaves and rule the Untouchables (Deplorables) under eugenics theory. With her ability to simultaneously identify with slaves and untouchables to attain power with the consent of the governed.
A pretty amazing trick if you can pull it off. All the easier when your backers control the media. Pseudosciences are pseudoscience for a reason: they are devices of narratives cloaked in the language of science. Like masks, vaccines, climate change and gender. Identity is a narrative. That true believers cling to like religion. While the high priests amend and discard tenets central to an identity as needed to attain/retain power in any given moment.