Origin
What is the “cause” or “root” of the Left-liberal ideology? I can think of:
- Simple network effects (what dominates the ideological aether remains so – because of status quo bias and the Cathedral pushing it)
- Fundamental human instincts — suicidal empathy, counter-signalling, bonoboism etc.
- Big-braining, i.e. contrarianism to (and indeed inversion of) traditional morality
- Immediate self-interest of the noble savage groups that Leftism represents, due to democratic incentives (Leftism doesn’t actually serve anyone’s interests, but democracy might create game-theoretic incentives for it)
- People simply yearn for a smart man to confidently tell them things. While Classical liberalism, Socialism and Left-liberalism were all sons of the Enlightenment; in continental Europe the latter two murdered the first, monopolizing the intellectual elite.
- Fundamental rhetorical ease of defending leftist beliefs
- Taking “polite fictions” seriously
- Christian influences — “meek shall inherit the earth” etc.
- The wealth created by the industrial revolution removed Darwinian pressures against suicidal ideologies
In what ratios is each factor relevant?
Concept: “Luxury beliefs” are not real at the individual level, but are real at a societal/evolutionary level, in that the wealth and peace of modernity has removed the selection pressures against suicidal ideologies.
Why did the plebs never rebel against their elites in feudal times, but keep doing so in industrial times
Is it because they are chagnon-pilled
…
I mean all the left-wing social movements (socialism, race communism, feminism, wokeness, various “populist” movements) count as the latter.
Oh I see: maybe such ideas always existed, but the surplus created by industrialization removed the selection pressures to weed them out.