The New Discourses Podcast with James Lindsay, Episode 14
In a recent long-form essay on New Discourses, James Lindsay explained the origins of totalitarianism in a single word: psychopathy. There, he explained that totalitarianism arises from people who cannot cope with reality as it is, and yet who are content to manipulate others, constructing a “pseudo-reality” in service to a vision of the world that serves their needs. That pseudo-reality holds as its North Star a Utopian vision that aligns with artificial resolutions to their inability to cope with reality as it is, and it thereby attracts others who have similar issues. By constructing a false logic (a paralogic) and a false morality (a paramorality) to define and enforce the pseudo-reality, they can gather supporters in a cult-like fashion. In the end, those ensnared lose the ability to distinguish reality and pseudo-reality almost entirely and become functionally psychopathic, and if they gain enough social, cultural, economic, and political power, they can hold hostage entire societies that are, in effect, on the march to totalitarianism and, eventually, total catastrophic collapse.
The essay is an important read, but it is also a difficult one. In this episode of the New Discourses podcast, James seeks to explain the essay in easier language and to flesh out its ideas one by one. He sees this process of unpacking the essay as his next major work, and in this podcast, he begins the process of linking the concept of “ideological pseudo-reality” to more familiar examples, not least Wokeness. Critical Race Theory, for example, is a pseudo-reality that positions racism as the ordinary state of affairs in society, not an immoral aberration from them. Queer Theory is a pseudo-reality in which being normal with regard to sex, gender, and sexuality is a problem while being in some way deviant (which is not the same as being gay or even trans) is elevated as normal. Communism is a pseudo-reality that deems socially engineered command economies as effective and efficient ways to maximize human flourishing. Covid-19 is a pseudo-reality built to enact control around a genuine and serious virus called SARS-CoV-2. These topics and more are presented in this episode of the New Discourses podcast to help people understand and, hopefully, able to see reality for itself again.
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5 comments
This is spot on. The part about shepherding people into revolution gave me chills. I was watching the Jordan Peterson / Slavoj Zizek debate and Zizek said the white liberal left “denigrates own culture and blames white eurocentrism (racism/capitalism in our case) for our evils. Self denigration brings a profit of its own: renouncing their roots, multicultural liberals reserve for themselves the universal position, graciously soliciting others to assert their particular identity.”
The white liberals are (mentally) stepping out of society and are racially engineering a pseudo reality fundamentally based on race. What do you think the “woke” are really awake to this fourth time around? You mentioned it was wokeness, so political correctness but I wonder what comes next. Quick note: the worst disconnect of paramorality and morality I could think of was during the holocaust: ratting on families who helped Jews vs hiding them from the government. Thanks for the great content!
Miguel-
You may be interested in reading what Adorno himself wrote on fascism, authoritarian personalities, and psychology. The writing of members of the Frankfurt school are readily available to anyone who wants to read them. Here is a link to Adorno some of his ideas: https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/4421-the-authoritarian-personality. By the way, Adorno developed the “F scale”. That is a personality test.
You may be surprised by what you read. Some of the ideas (re: fascism and psychology) sound like some of the notions James presents. To be clear, I only said “some”.
By the way, fascists traditionally have authoritarian or totalitarian governments. It’s interesting to read Adorno condemn the very thing today’s critical theory supports.
Also, suggest reading the original works of other CT members. Eric Fromm is widely published. He, of course, subscribed to psychoanalytic theory. His writing on the “alienated person” are relevant today. Ask yourself, who do you see there? A critical theorists or classic liberal?
Finally, also suggest you read Hannah Arendt on the topic of evil. She discussed how it becomes normalized and people don’t question it. Her explanation is concise and compelling. Arendt spent much of her career studying the Nazis; and she wrote a book, The Banality of Evil, about Eichmann.
I’ve been reading these all day today! Thank you for the suggestions.
Psychopaths are good at controlling their emotions, most woke followers aren’t. I’ve heard it said that psychopaths are born, sociopaths are made. I’m no expert on the topic, except I believe that while the leaders of the movement may be psychopathic, most followers of the Woke religion may be more sociopathic. They often have difficulty regulating their emotions and lack impulse control. This seems to be in contrast to the cold, calculating psychopaths orchestrating the movement in a slow, methodical fashion.
Pair this with C.J. Hopkin’s “The Covidian Cult” for a better understanding of what we saw unfold in 2020 and what we continue to see unfold into 2021.
https://consentfactory.org/2020/10/13/the-covidian-cult/