This morning I'm thinking about the so called Conservative mind. Because its me, who can overthink a tea kettle, and because I get lost not just in trying to figure out what makes a person who calls them self a conservative tick, but what even is the definition of conservative. Should I apply the modern American understanding of the word, which is maybe a certain kind of tribal affiliation, maybe just branding? Should I talk about what they 'say' they believe, or what they do? Should I use the dictionary definition? And should I even be picking on Conservatives so much? Before removing the splinter from your friends eye, remove the plank from your own. You see, because I don't trust my own reasoning, precisely because I see so much unreasoning from others (who also see unreasoning in me), so why should I presume I'm smarter than anyone else.
Well, I'm not going to presume that, I'll just lay out my reasoning and let you decide. I'm at peace with being wrong. All it would mean is that global warming, the death of all global wildernesses, the end of democracy (if it ever existed), and all the problems of inequality in fortune and power are actually non-problems...
So let's start there, with this one thought: "Its not a problem"
You'll run into this with wealth inequality. "Prove to me that inequality is a problem." Now they aren't asking for evidence or reasons, they're asking for proof, and boy howdy do they mean it...kinda. Because obviously they don't really want a proof, they want to not change their mind. Now, being attached to your beliefs isn't surprising, and its not politically Conservative, not by any means; its a deeply human thing. You and me, we both get really attached to our point of view, because we identify that point of view as OURSELVES; to threaten a belief is to threaten the very identity of a person. Global Warming: not a problem. Racism: not a problem. Childhood poverty: not a problem. Or at least they're personal problems, to be fixed at a personal level; my heart goes out to good conservatives at this point, as they often are great problem solvers at a personal level, who genuinely care about the people around them, without concern for race or creed. When it comes to discussing it though, particularly with a Christian Conservative, these problems become a strange kind of means to an end: we don't help the poor because they're poor, but as a path to heaven.
But...maybe that's what Conservatism really is then, that attachment to order and regularity. And not necessarily to order and regularity in the real world, but the order and regularity of meaning.
I've mentioned this before. All those Confederate soldiers sending letters back to their loved ones, mentioning fighting the good fight for "states rights", but not slavery. They gobbled up that propaganda hook, line, and sinker. They were willing to kill for it; they were willing to die for it. But they were fighting for slavery.
Or how about this...we look down our noses at the medieval peasantry, who bought into the divine right of kings, maybe, but who just didn't question that authority, didn't question the order. And they'd plow their fields and march off to war at the whim of a tyrant, and proudly so. Long live the King! Long live Nation-State!
Why would a samurai ritually slice his belly open to be buried at the base of the first pillar of his lord's castle? There was meaning to it, that's why. He felt it. To die for his liege was his duty, and to fulfill one's duty was sublime.
Of course, that Samurai meant it. He put his money where his mouth was, so to speak. You can't get much more committed than ritual suicide. By comparison the attachment to the modern social order of Consumerism and Big Business Worship seems pretty, I don't know, insipid and uninspired. Maybe that's why the patriotism porn is ratcheted up to 90 with a lot of these folks; they smell the decay of their morality and mask it with a whole can of Axe Body Spray for Real Americans.
Meaning is what I believe it to be. And in a consumer society, I can buy it. I have a deep love and appreciation for my country, so how do I demonstrate that? By wearing the commemorative T-shirt.
Hardly slicing your belly to become the literal (and therefore metaphorical) foundation of a dynasty.
(aside: I find this reminiscent of Heidegger's 'Building, Dwelling, Thinking' at this point. The gist is by and large, that the best symbol is also something that is itself the reality. The sign matches the signified. I hadn't thought of that in ages. Way to go philosophy degree)
So, maybe at this point you're wondering about when I'm getting to the bigotry, and how things like very real racism fit into the conservative point of view.
They don't.
Its true that you're going to find all the white nationalists, so called, basically on the Conservative side of the spectrum. Of course, just because the vocal ones are there doesn't mean they all are. It doesn't mean that all racists are conservative nor that all conservatives are racist. But when it comes to discussing politics and social-justice in this world, what you are more likely to get from a Conservative than a Liberal is this: "It's not a problem."
And here's where you're about to be really disappointed. You've labored your way through my hodgepodge of thoughts to get to this point, hoping maybe that I had some kind of conclusion. I do, but its terribly, terribly unsatisfying.
Why do we get this, "Its not a problem."
Its simple.
Because that. Would. Change. The. Meaning.
And that is scary. Its scary, and its also, how do I put this...not heroic. Its not virtuous. And the whole ethos of the Conservative--who does a bang up job of personally taking care of their family, their community, their church, and those around them--is that they really do believe in virtue. And so when it turns out that their virtue is questionable, well...that's why you don't question it, isn't it?
I will die to protect my king, and moreso the idea of my king's rightful place, the idea of my king, because if you destroyed that idea, there'd be no meaning to my life. Destroy my ability to consume in a consumer society? Holy hell you are an evil, evil mind.
Again, I feel I gotta reiterate. I see this from my perspective because I'm not conservative (really I think of myself as a Left wing conservative, but I'm def not the popularly branded American conservative). And you can see the same kind of problem on the Left with things like the vilification of Syrian rebels and US involvement there in favor of the brutal Assad regime, because that keeps the meaning for those folks on the Left...that America is the most evil Imperial power today. It does happen...but it doesn't happen with climate change, racism, inequality, lack of healthcare, increased rates of auto-immune disease from industrial toxins and screwed up hormones from endocrine disruptors...with all those things, for the conservative brand, "Its not a problem."
But there's no king to be attached to. There's no great cause to find meaning in. There's just consumerism and pretending that being an American automatically makes you virtuous and superior, and that what we earn is what we deserve. And that's enough. And people will fight for it, kill for it, die for it, just so they can be lazy enough not to change their minds.
...
I thought that was a nice, bleak, cynical, and pleasantly final way to end the post. But I had an afterthought, so I'll ruin it all.
So why not change their minds? It is scary. I mentioned that before. It does threaten ones identity. But if I left it there it would be because I'm a westerner enamored with the self as the core unit of, well, the Identity of Western values, as it were. See, I got suckered into faulty reasoning myself. The real reason...well, the other real reason...that its so hard to change our minds is that we're not wired to find truth, we're wired to get along. We are hyper-social animals. Its made us really successful, adaptively. So when it comes to fitting into our groups, we subvert truth for commonality and togetherness. And who are the folks who really like groups? Who identifies most strongly with their team? With their church? With the notion of their Nation as God's great gift to the world? For whom does that group identity become their own identity, and the modes through which the group become a group...even if that's focusing on the importance of a lone figurehead? I'll leave it to the reader as an exercise.
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