We’re just far enough left to see that “hierarchies aren’t self justifying” extends to reality too. We don’t accept realist defeatism. Realism is an infant ideology of avoiding responsibility for reality, and saying “it’s not my fault, it’s reality”.
Just because authoritarians pretend that the status quo is inevitable and immutable doesn’t mean that reality itself is a human invention made to justify it and other assumptions.
Likewise, conflating defeatism disguised as realism with the concept of reality itself is not just a giant leap of logic. It’s a giant leap AWAY from anything resembling logical thought.
Reality isn’t fake because it’s defeatist, it just happens to be both fake and defeatist. It’s fake because it was invented by rich white men in the 1600s to justify colonialism. And it’s defeatist because most people today acknowledge those rich assholes were wrong about how the world should be, but not about how it is.
[Reality is] fake because it was invented by rich white men in the 1600s to justify colonialism
Damn. That take is just as batshit insane as the right wing’s worst conspiracy theories! Not anywhere near as malevolent and harmful, of course, but just as divorced from any sense.
And it’s defeatist because most people today acknowledge those rich assholes were wrong about how the world should be, but not about how it is.
Acknowledging the current state of affairs as existing is not only not defeatism, it’s absolutely CRUCIAL in order to effect any positive change.
Saying “it is” doesn’t equal saying that it has to be. You can’t effect positive change if you don’t first acknowledge what the things that need to change are rather than pretend that it’s all a shared hallucination.
Sure I can effect positive change while believing the bad stuff exists only in our heads. Our heads are where we live! Of course I want people to have better illusions in their heads. For example, if Trump wins then a bunch of queer Americans will experience a subjective sensation of being oppressed. That’s horrible, so I’m asking Americans to vote for Biden.
Sure I can effect positive change while believing the bad stuff exists only in our heads
Nope. That’s literally impossible.
For example, if Trump wins then a bunch of queer Americans will experience a subjective sensation of being oppressed
Nothing subjective about it. Pretending otherwise is minimizing their real suffering and tantamount to victim blaming.
That’s horrible
So is telling victims of oppression that they’re only imagining it. Thus implying that they can just choose to stop being oppressed.
This is where your nonsense theory goes from childishly frivolous thought experiment to being actively harmful to the people whose best interests you claim to have in mind.
Okay, so the difference between what I believe, and what you’re saying I believe, is that I believe there are rules to how the mind works. You’re saying if the mind were responsible for everything, then we would all have total control over our subjective worlds because a brain never did anything a consciousness didn’t want. But I actually understand what psychology is, and that the conscious mind has its limits. Soulism is about gaining the tools to overcome those limits through hard work, not about instantly changing everything with wishes. Now, are you willing to accept the premise that the mind has limits, or are you going to continue along this assertion that soulism recognises no barriers to overcoming oppression?
We’re just far enough left to see that “hierarchies aren’t self justifying” extends to reality too. We don’t accept realist defeatism. Realism is an infant ideology of avoiding responsibility for reality, and saying “it’s not my fault, it’s reality”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Construction_of_Reality
You’re mixing a lot of unrelated concepts here.
Just because authoritarians pretend that the status quo is inevitable and immutable doesn’t mean that reality itself is a human invention made to justify it and other assumptions.
Likewise, conflating defeatism disguised as realism with the concept of reality itself is not just a giant leap of logic. It’s a giant leap AWAY from anything resembling logical thought.
Reality isn’t fake because it’s defeatist, it just happens to be both fake and defeatist. It’s fake because it was invented by rich white men in the 1600s to justify colonialism. And it’s defeatist because most people today acknowledge those rich assholes were wrong about how the world should be, but not about how it is.
Damn. That take is just as batshit insane as the right wing’s worst conspiracy theories! Not anywhere near as malevolent and harmful, of course, but just as divorced from any sense.
Acknowledging the current state of affairs as existing is not only not defeatism, it’s absolutely CRUCIAL in order to effect any positive change.
Saying “it is” doesn’t equal saying that it has to be. You can’t effect positive change if you don’t first acknowledge what the things that need to change are rather than pretend that it’s all a shared hallucination.
Sure I can effect positive change while believing the bad stuff exists only in our heads. Our heads are where we live! Of course I want people to have better illusions in their heads. For example, if Trump wins then a bunch of queer Americans will experience a subjective sensation of being oppressed. That’s horrible, so I’m asking Americans to vote for Biden.
Nope. That’s literally impossible.
Nothing subjective about it. Pretending otherwise is minimizing their real suffering and tantamount to victim blaming.
So is telling victims of oppression that they’re only imagining it. Thus implying that they can just choose to stop being oppressed.
This is where your nonsense theory goes from childishly frivolous thought experiment to being actively harmful to the people whose best interests you claim to have in mind.
Okay, so the difference between what I believe, and what you’re saying I believe, is that I believe there are rules to how the mind works. You’re saying if the mind were responsible for everything, then we would all have total control over our subjective worlds because a brain never did anything a consciousness didn’t want. But I actually understand what psychology is, and that the conscious mind has its limits. Soulism is about gaining the tools to overcome those limits through hard work, not about instantly changing everything with wishes. Now, are you willing to accept the premise that the mind has limits, or are you going to continue along this assertion that soulism recognises no barriers to overcoming oppression?