Don't underestimate how much they rely on external validation for their sense of worth.
I have a few crypto currency boards where I hang out that are inundated by radical leftists. I try to stay as neutral as possible while talking with them, but a recent experience really shocked me. When the shooting was first reported, they all jumped on the idea it was staged. (I was even able to engage with them to a small degree, because I happen to feel it was staged as well, just for different reasons than them.)
Yesterday, they were discussing how assassination attempts have affected presidents' popularity, and I pointed out that past attempts never had so many people that are skeptical the attempt even took place, so this time might be unique.
I was shocked when they all came back saying "no, any conspiracy theorists have changed their mind. Everyone knows the attempt was real."
I was dumbfounded. These people are so concerned about how others perceive them, they are such hopeless followers, that to a man they all dropped their belief that this was a staged attempt. Every single one.
I bring this up because if they even get a hint that their view is not the mainstream, they will go into a meltdown. They need continuous validation from society. If you take that away even a little bit...if you marginalize them in any way...they will scurry like cockroaches trying to find a new narrative that will give them the esteem they need to keep going. But they can't bring themselves to side with Trump supporters. So where do they go to get the daily validation they need if the leftist narrative collapses?
I don't think it is power. It is something much, much deeper. The same kind of brainless following that caused them to buy the deep state narrative at all, is now threatening to leave them without a source of nourishment for their fragile egos. And they are terrified of that.
Don't underestimate how much they rely on external validation for their sense of worth.
Oh, yes. Narcissists/sociopaths are like buckets with holes in them. There is no way to fill them up with anything good, so they demand more and more and more from the people around them - more attention, more praise, more strokes, more everything.
A normal person has self-respect and self-worth and self-esteem. Sociopaths do not - it's all external, as you said - and it's one of their hallmarks.
I agree it is not power. They concede any power and self sovereignty to the most convincing, coherent, authority message and image that does not deviate nor perturbe the accepted blob of common knowledge ("common knowledge" itself continually redefined in a closed feedback loop curated by social engineers).
In my own thoughts trying to reverse engineer this mindset, I can only think of a Venn diagram union of several channels and developments to make it inevitable. Of course Mockingbird Media is key in providing the details for what to believe. But minds fertile for Mockingbird messaging need to have been tilled a certain way. So for that I think the broader social imaginary is at work; specifically about this idea of assigning a higher value to identity groups over individuals. So for example, if an individual demonstrates critical thinking independent of or contrary to some top-down information messaging from some authoritative entity, to them this is a vice not a virtue. For them, the virtuous path is to maintain a coherent group identity, even if shifting and contradictory messaging is required to maintain it.
This is of course happening on a subconscious psychological level, but seems very real.
There's also the longer history leading to this The big trajectory seems to start with Hegel. TikHistory on Youtube has an excellent video breaking down Hegel's key ideas that shaped Marx and Socialism, and explains why the Socialistic intelligentsia since then tend to be intellectually incoherent and evasive about reasoning for their views. Recommended watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kzZoK5CtJ8
Don't underestimate how much they rely on external validation for their sense of worth.
I have a few crypto currency boards where I hang out that are inundated by radical leftists. I try to stay as neutral as possible while talking with them, but a recent experience really shocked me. When the shooting was first reported, they all jumped on the idea it was staged. (I was even able to engage with them to a small degree, because I happen to feel it was staged as well, just for different reasons than them.)
Yesterday, they were discussing how assassination attempts have affected presidents' popularity, and I pointed out that past attempts never had so many people that are skeptical the attempt even took place, so this time might be unique.
I was shocked when they all came back saying "no, any conspiracy theorists have changed their mind. Everyone knows the attempt was real."
I was dumbfounded. These people are so concerned about how others perceive them, they are such hopeless followers, that to a man they all dropped their belief that this was a staged attempt. Every single one.
I bring this up because if they even get a hint that their view is not the mainstream, they will go into a meltdown. They need continuous validation from society. If you take that away even a little bit...if you marginalize them in any way...they will scurry like cockroaches trying to find a new narrative that will give them the esteem they need to keep going. But they can't bring themselves to side with Trump supporters. So where do they go to get the daily validation they need if the leftist narrative collapses?
I don't think it is power. It is something much, much deeper. The same kind of brainless following that caused them to buy the deep state narrative at all, is now threatening to leave them without a source of nourishment for their fragile egos. And they are terrified of that.
Oh, yes. Narcissists/sociopaths are like buckets with holes in them. There is no way to fill them up with anything good, so they demand more and more and more from the people around them - more attention, more praise, more strokes, more everything.
A normal person has self-respect and self-worth and self-esteem. Sociopaths do not - it's all external, as you said - and it's one of their hallmarks.
Astute observation.
I agree it is not power. They concede any power and self sovereignty to the most convincing, coherent, authority message and image that does not deviate nor perturbe the accepted blob of common knowledge ("common knowledge" itself continually redefined in a closed feedback loop curated by social engineers).
In my own thoughts trying to reverse engineer this mindset, I can only think of a Venn diagram union of several channels and developments to make it inevitable. Of course Mockingbird Media is key in providing the details for what to believe. But minds fertile for Mockingbird messaging need to have been tilled a certain way. So for that I think the broader social imaginary is at work; specifically about this idea of assigning a higher value to identity groups over individuals. So for example, if an individual demonstrates critical thinking independent of or contrary to some top-down information messaging from some authoritative entity, to them this is a vice not a virtue. For them, the virtuous path is to maintain a coherent group identity, even if shifting and contradictory messaging is required to maintain it.
This is of course happening on a subconscious psychological level, but seems very real.
There's also the longer history leading to this The big trajectory seems to start with Hegel. TikHistory on Youtube has an excellent video breaking down Hegel's key ideas that shaped Marx and Socialism, and explains why the Socialistic intelligentsia since then tend to be intellectually incoherent and evasive about reasoning for their views. Recommended watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kzZoK5CtJ8