The dangers of ideology

Daniel Larison:

one of the attractions of ideology is that it seems to offer “a schema for predicting the consequences of events.” I would emphasize that ideology only seems to do this, because one of the key features of any ideology is its horrific powers of oversimplification and its impressively narrow perspective on historical events. That is, ideology will not reliably predict consequences of events, but it will condition the mind to force every event into the mold provided by the ideology. If a person approaches the world with an ideological frame of mind, whatever events dominate the historical memory of his fellow ideologues are perceived as constantly recurring again and again as part of a progressive narrative of successive triumphs, each one more important than the last. The simple framing, the certainty of victory and the quick and easy interchangeability of extremely different groups as different faces of the same enemy are all very useful for purposes of propaganda and the acquisition and exercise of power.

This is one reason why so many ideologues express great confidence that History will judge their endeavors to have been worthwhile and why they always avoid accountability for the consequences of their own policies and actions: their grasp of historical contingency is poor, and their knowledge of history is usually limited to a narrow range of approved opinions about major events.

I think everyone is guilty of this to some degree, not just idealogues.  Grappling with opposing views and giving them a fair hearing takes a lot of discipline -- especially, in my view, when one is accustomed to reaching for the intellectual clarity of libertarian principles.

One reason I started this blag rather than just writing a private journal and bookmarking crap that amuses me was to hold my opinions and thinking up to some scrutiny.

If I can persuade you to agree with me about things that's great — but now that the number of people reading this appears to exceed a single digit I'm also itching for countervailing views.

So if you click a post title, you can use its comment box. It's free! =]