Since reading that all strong political beliefs are motivated by existential fears (fear of not existing) and finding that to seem correct, the next logical step is to explain these political beliefs in terms of those existential fears.
The definition of "teleology" that I'm using here is "The use of ultimate purpose or design as a means of explaining phenomena."
So, for example, liberals instantly dismiss any attempt to show that Trump was actually very good for America because they fear the election of Trump was leading ultimately to their own non-existence in some sense.
Maybe they were really convinced by Chinese/CNN propaganda that Trump was somehow a Nazi and white supremacist (with Jewish grandchildren, lol!) who was going to usher in a fascist state and send them all to death camps in cattle cars. Everything he did seemed to them like a step on the "slippery slope", even eating two scoops of ice cream.
In reality, it is the union of global corporate and government power under the Democrats (and many Republicans), which is at this moment literally ushering in a fascist state, stripping the public of the Constitutional right to speak (via intimidation at work and via tech oligarch censorship) and the right to bear arms, our last resort defense against the negation of the Constitution by Democrats and the secret police (the FBI).
So everything becomes viewed through these lenses, which explains why Democrats continue to wear masks outdoors in spite of the irrefutable evidence of their scientific worthlessness. It also explains why most Republicans do not want to wear worthless masks. Most Republicans correctly see masks as one more step in the enforcement of a state of permanent fear and alienation from our fellow citizens so that China and the corporations that do business with them cannot be effectively opposed.
Democrats wear worthless masks as a badge of "anti-fascist" identity without ever looking at the root reasons why they are told to wear masks: profit and power for a tiny elite. They can't think clearly because they are too afraid - afraid of their own peers classifying them as "racist" or "fascist" more than anything else.
I bet you could go down through every political position on either side and come to this ultimate explanation for the position as motivated by existential fears.
Maybe this is all obvious, but I think it needs stating.
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The definition of "teleology" that I'm using here is "The use of ultimate purpose or design as a means of explaining phenomena."
So, for example, liberals instantly dismiss any attempt to show that Trump was actually very good for America because they fear the election of Trump was leading ultimately to their own non-existence in some sense.
Maybe they were really convinced by Chinese/CNN propaganda that Trump was somehow a Nazi and white supremacist (with Jewish grandchildren, lol!) who was going to usher in a fascist state and send them all to death camps in cattle cars. Everything he did seemed to them like a step on the "slippery slope", even eating two scoops of ice cream.
In reality, it is the union of global corporate and government power under the Democrats (and many Republicans), which is at this moment literally ushering in a fascist state, stripping the public of the Constitutional right to speak (via intimidation at work and via tech oligarch censorship) and the right to bear arms, our last resort defense against the negation of the Constitution by Democrats and the secret police (the FBI).
So everything becomes viewed through these lenses, which explains why Democrats continue to wear masks outdoors in spite of the irrefutable evidence of their scientific worthlessness. It also explains why most Republicans do not want to wear worthless masks. Most Republicans correctly see masks as one more step in the enforcement of a state of permanent fear and alienation from our fellow citizens so that China and the corporations that do business with them cannot be effectively opposed.
Democrats wear worthless masks as a badge of "anti-fascist" identity without ever looking at the root reasons why they are told to wear masks: profit and power for a tiny elite. They can't think clearly because they are too afraid - afraid of their own peers classifying them as "racist" or "fascist" more than anything else.
I bet you could go down through every political position on either side and come to this ultimate explanation for the position as motivated by existential fears.
Maybe this is all obvious, but I think it needs stating.