🧵 As a former Republican consultant who left in 2015, I'm often asked why Trump and his minions are willingly destroying science, K12 education, universities, international organizations, public broadcasting, and social welfare institutions.

Matthew Sheffield

#Science and democracy need each other, and it's also no coincidence that reactionaries hate both. This is why Trump and his band of totalitarians have been de-funding them and attacking them.

Much more on how and why here: https://plus.flux.community/p/science-is-under-attack-because-it

Matthew Sheffield

Science, democracy, and art all go together. And so does sexual freedom. They're all ways of knowing ourselves.

We've known these truths among ourselves, but we have not talked about them nearly enough to the broader public.

That must change. https://plus.flux.community/p/the-right-wing-wars-on-science-and

Matthew Sheffield

I'll be publishing a lot more on how cognitive science and philosophy apply to politics so please follow if this is of interest to you. Also please follow @discoverflux

I could sure use your help boosting the first post of this thread as well. Thank you!

/end

News & Opinions

@mattsheffield
Sorry but I must use the f-word here!
"Fascist politicians justify their ideas by breaking down a common sense of history in creating a mythic past to support their vision for the present. They rewrite the population’s shared understanding of reality by twisting the language of ideals through propaganda and promoting anti-intellectualism, attacking universities and educational systems that might challenge their
ideas." pg. 10, How Fascism Works
https://blackbooksdotpub.files.wordpress.com/2021/05/jason-stanley-how-fascism-works_-the-politics-of-us-and-them-random-house-2018.pdf

Matv1

@mattsheffield
I heard #GoreVidal once define an intellectual as someone who understands an abstract.

I understand how a society would want to arm itself with assault riffles, having things like this being said right in the open.

eostelis

@mattsheffield No, no, no, no, no!!! They don't struggle with abstract thinking at all, nor that the problem is ppsychological. They intelligently and lucidly target whatever is a material obstacle to their fascist political agenda.

Nahmia

@mattsheffield many reasons, yes. real reason - he's a tyrant. each of these encourages independent thinking. that works against tyrants and encourages independent thinking. tyrants only want those who agree totally with them. look at all the yes-men in his cabinet and how few there are who will actually challenge him.

Matthew Sheffield

@Nahmia I get into that very thing later in the thread. They want to believe their personal prejudices are rational, and so they seek to suppress extrinsic thought.

WesDym

@eostelis But you need to ask, why is that?

The reason is that they want simple, easy answers. They prefer that because it relieves them of the burden of abstract reasoning. Fascism is an expression of this very mindset: Simple, clear answers that don't rely on challenging debate or reason, just gut feelings.

Put another way, your own argument validates this. They want an 'ordered' system that meets their gut feelings, and that excuses them from having to prove their arguments.

DonCC

@mattsheffield
"struggle with abstract thinking"...
ie- they are unintelligent and immature

Pennie_525

@mattsheffield Trump is the least educated president that we've ever had. That's why.

65dBnoise

@mattsheffield
Interesting. Though you seem to ignore economic interests and the need for assertion and preservation of power by the oligarchy in a rigged political system coming to a crisis, both environmental and political, where the accumulated enormous inequalities hang like the sword of Damocles over their heads, making their need to act now urgent. Scientists, intellectuals, their institutions and anyone who can think straight are no allies in such conditions. Isn't that reason enough?

Matthew Sheffield

@65dBnoise I'm going a layer deeper than your idea here. Why would oligarchs want such things? They go against the evolved nature of humans as cooperative beings--except to a small minority with differing cognitive habits.

65dBnoise

@mattsheffield
Sure, but going deeper, say to subatomic level in physics, doesn't mean that macroscopic reality is non existent, does it?

When trying to balance the forces at play, much is unclear of missing in your idea: one can't ignore real measurable forces and their dynamics in favor of non measurable subconscious urges. Economic and power forces are real and an end in themselves; not all powerful people are "inherently terrified of most things", some enjoy intellect and wisdom,
1/

65dBnoise

@mattsheffield
yet they want to and keep their grip on political power nonetheless.

2/2

Phogna Bologna

@mattsheffield @discoverflux this "quick response" thinking leads to deeply insecure men because men (in fact almost no one) aren't good at it. This is where Jordan Petersen's and Ben Shapiro's Gish gallops and goal post moving comes from. They hope they can speak quickly enough for no one to notice they're wrong or at best vacuous.

Oma_Trisha_F

@eostelis @mattsheffield

I was a conservative evangelical christian for almost 50 years. YES, they struggle with abstract thinking. They need concrete ideology that never wavers. "Blacks are subhuman. Brown immigrants are going to take our jobs and rape our wives. People who think everyone deserves an equal shot have never been robbed/raped/mistreated by someone they see as inferior." Critical thinking -- and, in fact, independent thought of any kind -- is highly discouraged.

Oma_Trisha_F

@eostelis @mattsheffield

They need people to objectify and hate in order to make themselves feel strong, superior, and elite -- as if everyone else lacks a critical component that makes them human.

Muslims. Women. Trans people. Buddhists. The Chinese. The educated. Thinkers who don't limit their cognitive skills to theologizing & apologetics, making excuses for their exclusionary ideology. Addicts. The poor. The homeless. The disabled. The vulnerable. Those who do good for the sake of good.

Ginette Dincar

@mattsheffield

Paleolithic atavism.
At 73, I'm more and more convinced that the genetic traits from that prehistoric era still exist in a number of individuals among the human species.

They are what the DSM5 calls sociopaths/psychopaths, functionning on mostly reptilian brain structures, strictly aimed at preserving individual survival, to the detriment of anyone/thing that's in their way.

The only intelligence I credit them with is duping tactics, derived from instinct, not from thought.

Sharp Leaves

@mattsheffield @discoverflux if it's not beyond the scope of this thread and you have the time, two questions:

Do you have a similar profile of the left? It would be flattering to assume the underlying biases of the left are 'they're smart, they're correct and they're good looking', but being an enormous mass of people I'm sure it's not that.

And secondly, if the way of thinking you're describing is unhealthy (I think so), how do people or societies become healthy and walk away from it?

Wandering Adventure Party

🧵 As a former Republican consultant who left in 2015, I'm often asked why Trump and his minions are willingly destroying science, K12 education, universities, international organizations, public broadcasting, and social welfare institutions.