Eh. Conservatism does exist but, it’s never been what it’s claimed to be. It’s all about establishing and enforcing hierarchical power structures in society by any means necessary. Almost universally, the adherents desire to have power over others, so, even if they’re not at the top, they get to be cruel towards their “lessers” and that makes them feel better about themselves. Through the lens of their philosophy, things like hypocrisy are privileges of those higher in the hierarchy with which to taunt their “lessers”.
Additionally, they do not believe in objective reality but, subjective reality that bends to their will (when it doesn’t, they deny the delta and pretend that it does). This applies to morality as well; moral correctness is relative to one’s place in the hierarchy, not their actions (ie supporting a convicted felon, rapist and pedophile is ok because he’s rich and supports hierarchy).
The reason, I think, that the belief system has been able to stick around so long (beyond the propaganda) is that its followers do gain some mental health benefits. They are able to reduce their cognitive load through deference to their rulers and reduce potential for anxiety and depression by avoiding self-reflection and embracing the Just World Fallacy.
Isn’t narcissism a likely root cause behind needing to have lessers to dominate, and to have hierarchical structures throughout society? If you know in your heart that you are a higher tier of human being than <random “other”>, or even if you are just desperate to prove to yourself and others that it’s true, then the correct society must obviously reflect that hierarchy of human worth.
Eh. Conservatism does exist but, it’s never been what it’s claimed to be. It’s all about establishing and enforcing hierarchical power structures in society by any means necessary. Almost universally, the adherents desire to have power over others, so, even if they’re not at the top, they get to be cruel towards their “lessers” and that makes them feel better about themselves. Through the lens of their philosophy, things like hypocrisy are privileges of those higher in the hierarchy with which to taunt their “lessers”.
Additionally, they do not believe in objective reality but, subjective reality that bends to their will (when it doesn’t, they deny the delta and pretend that it does). This applies to morality as well; moral correctness is relative to one’s place in the hierarchy, not their actions (ie supporting a convicted felon, rapist and pedophile is ok because he’s rich and supports hierarchy).
The reason, I think, that the belief system has been able to stick around so long (beyond the propaganda) is that its followers do gain some mental health benefits. They are able to reduce their cognitive load through deference to their rulers and reduce potential for anxiety and depression by avoiding self-reflection and embracing the Just World Fallacy.
You’re describing shared narcissism.
To a degree, yes, but there are more defining features, like zero-sum thinking that aren’t necessarily for narcissism.
Isn’t narcissism a likely root cause behind needing to have lessers to dominate, and to have hierarchical structures throughout society? If you know in your heart that you are a higher tier of human being than <random “other”>, or even if you are just desperate to prove to yourself and others that it’s true, then the correct society must obviously reflect that hierarchy of human worth.
Possibly. There does seen to be a strong correlation.