lawnrrd | My Attempt at Cultural Analysis

ernunnos tipped me off a while ago to The Last Psychiatrist, a blog that describes itself as "about mercantilism and fourth generation warfare." A basic premise of the author is that our culture is dominated by pathological narcissism, and blog entries are often analysis of current events in light of that premise.

I agree with a lot of the author says, disagree with some of it. But this recent entry, about the reaction to government during the Obama administration, is really good. Or at least, it says a lot of things that I have tried to say before.

The larger political discourse in America isn't about philosophy or ideas. It's about what clubs you and the other guy are in. Is the other guy in my club, which is where the good people are, or is he out of it, which means that he wants to kill me/confine me/exploit me/take my guns/rob me/rape my kids/keep me from getting married?

I am emphatically not saying that differences aren't real or that they don't matter. But the differences that matter involve values and ideas. We are steadily losing our ability to discuss values and ideas in terms of words that we mean, instead lobbing only shibboleths back and forth. And until we become willing and able to move even a little bit in the other direction, the problems and the hysteria can only get worse.