Atavistic Autist
Intersectional autistic supremacy
★★★★★
- Joined
- May 28, 2018
- Posts
- 9,317
In the wake of the Trumpist riot at the US Capitol, there have been deafening recriminations between leftists and rightists regarding supposed double standards. Leftists allege that the police treated the rightist rioters too well, whereas rightists feel as though they are finally standing up for themselves despite their inherent bourgeois timidity and respectability, and are being cracked down upon harder than leftist rabble would be in the analogues situation.
For example, many leftists shared old posts by conservative commentators such as Charlie Kirk boasting about how "when rightists don't get their way, they never riot unlike the left does," to point out the hypocrisy they see in the situation.
But it must be acknowledged that what provoked the riot at the US Capitol is distinct from what provokes leftist groups like BLM and Antifa to riot. In the case of the far-right crowd at the US Capitol, what motivated them to take action and risk their lives was clearly a sense of impending loss. They were convinced that the country was being stolen from them, and this kind of ideation has been analyzed by many a leftist commentator as fuel for far-right beliefs.
The clinical term for it is loss aversion and it relates to a slow life history strategy as typical of OCPD personality traits, which is known to correlate with far-right ideology. Those with a slow life history strategy are typically disinclined to take risks (having high inhibition or timidity), and have a future-oriented outlook which is manifested as conscientiousness, industriousness, and social conformity (respectability). But when they feel as though their long-term investments and accrued resources are being threatened, they become existentially imperiled, and lose their aversion to risk-taking.
I postulate that this is exactly what happened at the US Capitol. Bourgeois boomers who are otherwise highly conscientious and inhibited became convinced that everything they value and have worked for in life was about to be stripped away, which caused them to rise up. Donald Trump, himself sharing OCPD characteristics (such as high disgust sensitivity), promoted this impression, which caused a perfect storm.
Compare the psychology of a right-wing riot as described above to BLM/Antifa riots, which can legitimately be described as psychopathic in essence. A Black criminal gets shot after committing robbery and assault, and it is said to be an atrocity which warrants retaliation and rectification, not unlike how US imperialists might leverage a dubious incident in a foreign country (e.g., of insurgents being gassed in Syria) as war propaganda and casus belli.
To be sure, the idea that Trump lost his re-election campaign due to voter fraud is just as false as the idea that pathological criminals such as Mike Brown are victims of brutality -- both being examples of externalization of blame and narcissistic rage. But the psychology of a far-right crowd and a Black/anarchist crowd differ, and they are driven to violence by different considerations.
It can be said that White, far-right rioters are compelled to violence through the desire to maintain their status, while Black/anarchist rioters are compelled to violence through the desire to increase their status. Note the fundamentally "conservative" temperament of the former, and the social-climbing aspect of the latter.
What rustles the White, far-right is the impression that they are losing their rightful social status, and what rustles Blacks, for example, about one of their own getting shot by a police officer is the impression that this reifies their inferiority and that they must take action to become socially superior (such that a Black criminal is free to do whatever his impulses make happen). The dichotomy is roughly between OCPD and psychopathy, compulsiveness and impulsiveness.
For example, many leftists shared old posts by conservative commentators such as Charlie Kirk boasting about how "when rightists don't get their way, they never riot unlike the left does," to point out the hypocrisy they see in the situation.
But it must be acknowledged that what provoked the riot at the US Capitol is distinct from what provokes leftist groups like BLM and Antifa to riot. In the case of the far-right crowd at the US Capitol, what motivated them to take action and risk their lives was clearly a sense of impending loss. They were convinced that the country was being stolen from them, and this kind of ideation has been analyzed by many a leftist commentator as fuel for far-right beliefs.
The clinical term for it is loss aversion and it relates to a slow life history strategy as typical of OCPD personality traits, which is known to correlate with far-right ideology. Those with a slow life history strategy are typically disinclined to take risks (having high inhibition or timidity), and have a future-oriented outlook which is manifested as conscientiousness, industriousness, and social conformity (respectability). But when they feel as though their long-term investments and accrued resources are being threatened, they become existentially imperiled, and lose their aversion to risk-taking.
I postulate that this is exactly what happened at the US Capitol. Bourgeois boomers who are otherwise highly conscientious and inhibited became convinced that everything they value and have worked for in life was about to be stripped away, which caused them to rise up. Donald Trump, himself sharing OCPD characteristics (such as high disgust sensitivity), promoted this impression, which caused a perfect storm.
Compare the psychology of a right-wing riot as described above to BLM/Antifa riots, which can legitimately be described as psychopathic in essence. A Black criminal gets shot after committing robbery and assault, and it is said to be an atrocity which warrants retaliation and rectification, not unlike how US imperialists might leverage a dubious incident in a foreign country (e.g., of insurgents being gassed in Syria) as war propaganda and casus belli.
To be sure, the idea that Trump lost his re-election campaign due to voter fraud is just as false as the idea that pathological criminals such as Mike Brown are victims of brutality -- both being examples of externalization of blame and narcissistic rage. But the psychology of a far-right crowd and a Black/anarchist crowd differ, and they are driven to violence by different considerations.
It can be said that White, far-right rioters are compelled to violence through the desire to maintain their status, while Black/anarchist rioters are compelled to violence through the desire to increase their status. Note the fundamentally "conservative" temperament of the former, and the social-climbing aspect of the latter.
What rustles the White, far-right is the impression that they are losing their rightful social status, and what rustles Blacks, for example, about one of their own getting shot by a police officer is the impression that this reifies their inferiority and that they must take action to become socially superior (such that a Black criminal is free to do whatever his impulses make happen). The dichotomy is roughly between OCPD and psychopathy, compulsiveness and impulsiveness.
Last edited: