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The Traitor Complex

Started by The Good Reverend Roger, November 07, 2013, 04:35:05 PM

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The Good Reverend Roger

Have you ever noticed that, when someone comes close to an ideology without quite matching it, they get dumped on hard by members of that ideology?  Example:  "mainstream GOP" being crapped all over by the tea party.  Or, for that matter, the way sectarian violence overshadows inter-religious violence?  If you were a Lutheran or a Calvinist in 1630, you weren't worried about Muslims, you were worried about Catholics.

A number of years ago, I was tossed out of the Arizona democratic party.  My card was invalidated, and I got a nice letter saying how I wasn't "on message".  This was because I argued that the dems should stop pushing gun control, and I had mentioned that I don't give a damn about Palestine.  Never mind that I am a huge supporter of single-payer health insurance, SSI, SNAP, Gay marriage, and just about every other item on the agenda.

I don't mind being tossed, really.  I didn't like them anyway.  But the fact is, you can automatically assume that the most vitriol aimed in your direction will come from people that are very close to you on the issue at hand, not the people on the other side of the aisle.

I call this the "traitor complex".  It occurs when people have their uniform buttoned up so tight that it interrupts the blood flow to their brain, causing them to rage out the moment anyone seems to be drifting away from the strict message represented by the uniform.  An outright enemy is a given, and can be accepted as such, but a heretic must be purged.

Example closer to home: 

Back during the privilege arguments, some people referred to other PDers as "Part of the Problem", which is fucking ridiculous on any scale.  Someone who hasn't thought things through says "women should probably learn self-defense", and suddenly THEY are part of the rape culture.  Shit, they're WORSE than the guy dropping rophynol in some girl's drink, or at least the EQUIVALENT, because they didn't understand part of the problem.  And then the same people that do this sort of shit shake their heads in disgusted amazement that people actually listen to Rush Limbaugh when he calls feminists "feminazis".  Of course the people called "part of the problem" don't run out and become dittoheads, but they probably aren't an ally anymore, either.  They tried to help and got their heads bitten off for it, so they just walk away, when an actual EXPLANATION would have solidified their support.

There are two reasons that this happens.  The first is that when people look for enemies, they look for them close to "the border".  Enemies in direct proximity.  This means that they see the very worst case when looking at someone who isn't in complete agreement.

The second comes back to huffing farts under the blanket.  The ideologue sees the heretic as a means to increase his or her standing with the other fanatics under the blanket.  Pointing out that the heretic is "part of the problem" allows them to gain standing with the fart-huffing crowd.

There's no real excuse for this sort of behavior in Discordianism. 
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

LMNO

Hear, here!


There's probably some sort of fancy psychology term for this sort of thinking, but I like yours better.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on November 07, 2013, 04:40:17 PM
Hear, here!


There's probably some sort of fancy psychology term for this sort of thinking, but I like yours better.

I had discussed this with Nigel, and she thought there was a term for it as well, but couldn't remember it.  I like this term, because it lacks any vestige of passive-aggressive labeling.

It's also accurate.  Treason is an attack upon the tribe by a member of that tribe.  It is one of the biggest taboos that humans have.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Cain

One possible reason I've considered is that it's because it's impossible to pretend the person doesn't know what they are talking about.  If they agree on 95% of the issues, then it's understood that they are conversant in the understanding of the group and its aims and its goals.  However, that deviation from the Party Line is more disagreeable than complete disagreement, as that can be explained away by ignorance, indoctrination etc.  Instead, this is someone who understands things almost exactly the way you do, but won't agree on those fine details.

That's much harder to explain away.  Much more difficult too, as this person inherently has more credibility than an opponent whose ideologically is diametrically opposed.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Cain on November 07, 2013, 04:54:05 PM
That's much harder to explain away.  Much more difficult too, as this person inherently has more credibility than an opponent whose ideologically is diametrically opposed.

This explains why the "concerned tea partier" troll works so fucking well.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

LMNO

Good point, Cain. The usual arguments won't work.

And if it's down to the details, wouldn't that also mean politics rather than ideas?

"The party says no-- Feminists can't wear fishnets."
-Jello Biafra

P3nT4gR4m

Excellently put. This is of the main reasons (second only to sheer laziness and apathy) that I don't do "movements"

On a long enough timeline, all movements will devolve into politics and fart huffing.

Doesn't matter if my ideology aligns 99% with feminism, anyone asks me if I'm a feminist, I'll tell them to go fuck themselves.

Not part of the solution or part of the problem. Ram your false dichotomy where only a traffic cop will find it :argh!:

I'm up to my arse in Brexit Numpties, but I want more.  Target-rich environments are the new sexy.
Not actually a meat product.
Ass-Kicking & Foot-Stomping Ancient Master of SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK
Awful and Bent Behemothic Results of Last Night's Painful Squat.
High Altitude Haggis-Filled Sex Bucket From Beyond Time and Space.
Internet Monkey Person of Filthy and Immoral Pygmy-Porn Wart Contagion
Octomom Auxillary Heat Exchanger Repairman
walking the fine line line between genius and batshit fucking crazy

"computation is a pattern in the spacetime arrangement of particles, and it's not the particles but the pattern that really matters! Matter doesn't matter." -- Max Tegmark

The Good Reverend Roger

" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

LMNO

Reason #270912 I sometimes love P3nt.

Reginald Ret

Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on November 07, 2013, 05:38:35 PM
Reason #270912 I sometimes love P3nt.
P3nt is great for the occasional loving, but you keeps those moments far apart. Your delicate bits need time to recover.
Lord Byron: "Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves."

Nigel saying the wisest words ever uttered: "It's just a suffix."

"The worst forum ever" "The most mediocre forum on the internet" "The dumbest forum on the internet" "The most retarded forum on the internet" "The lamest forum on the internet" "The coolest forum on the internet"

LMNO

All that salt water tends to chafe.

Payne

P3nT is an irredeemable asshole. I loath him with every pore of my being. It's why we are so good at drinking in each others company. He disdains my willow thin backbone and sniveling not-quite-lucid rambling, and I think he's an unreconstructed wanker.

I also know he could never accept me saying "P3nTs alright, yanno? He's a pretty cool dude!" 

LMNO

Quote from: Payne on November 07, 2013, 06:58:29 PM
I also know he could never accept me saying "P3nTs alright, yanno? He's a pretty cool dude!"

Because then he'd know you were lying.

P3nT4gR4m

Or ... exactly where I want him  :evil:

I'm up to my arse in Brexit Numpties, but I want more.  Target-rich environments are the new sexy.
Not actually a meat product.
Ass-Kicking & Foot-Stomping Ancient Master of SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK
Awful and Bent Behemothic Results of Last Night's Painful Squat.
High Altitude Haggis-Filled Sex Bucket From Beyond Time and Space.
Internet Monkey Person of Filthy and Immoral Pygmy-Porn Wart Contagion
Octomom Auxillary Heat Exchanger Repairman
walking the fine line line between genius and batshit fucking crazy

"computation is a pattern in the spacetime arrangement of particles, and it's not the particles but the pattern that really matters! Matter doesn't matter." -- Max Tegmark

Mesozoic Mister Nigel

"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."