Thread by @sunnshiiny

Still think this isn’t about fascism?

Think again.

Some people are clearly incapable of thinking about anyone but themselves.

It’s fascist to mandate safety? It’s appropriate to wish ill upon a child activist?

It’s an extreme example, but this is the far right mindset.

These types are just the loudest examples.

I often wonder if people who say this kind of stuff out loud have the capacity to understand the level of repugnance they generate in the rest of society. I don’t think they do. Honestly, who could be this disgusting and self aware?

It’s absurd how lacking in self awareness these people are. Imagine gaining joy from using swastikas to smear reputations or wishing a child dead because she’s an effective communicator.

This is pure egotistical hedonism. Depravity, turpitude, vulgarity.

How do people get this broken?

How does modern society produce such maladaptive examples of humanity?

It’s a combination of genetics and environment.

We can’t change genetics.

But toxic levels of stress can alter brain and physiological development.

developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/upl…

Most people understand childcare is important, but few understand the crucial difference good childcare can make in the development of the brain & personality. Or how social policy impacts child development and family cohesiveness.

But it is common knowledge in research.

It’s not a mystery why LPC is choosing childcare as a primary focus of covid economic recovery. It’s not just economics this policy will impact. The whole foundation of society, (support networks and child development) will be altered with the addition of quality childcare.

It’s also no mystery that conservatives reject this policy ideologically.

Conservative & libertarian ideology are large contributors to poor child development outcomes. through focus on austerity, removal of public programs, increasing income inequality & promoting nationalism.

So it’s no surprise that as libertarian beliefs have become more popular and widespread, governments that implement libertarian social and economic policies tend to produce more and more maladapted adults that originated in high stress conditions during early & middle childhood.

Who is promoting libertarian beliefs?

NDP promote left libertarianism and CPC promote right libertarianism.

The libertarian beliefs and values are altering social culture.

To a child’s brain and personality development during early childhood, beliefs & values are crucial.

What will the effects be in 20 years? Will Canada resemble US or UK? Both have promoted libertarian beliefs in the wealth class for generations. Producing people like Trump, Cruz, McConnell, Johnson, Farage.

It’s not the only contributing factor, but these are not healthy minds.

But libertarianism is now being promoted in mainstream society. Replacing humanist, liberalism & nurturing egoism during brain development.

The effects will be profound. It’s frightening to imagine a society where people are only concerned about their own needs & finances.

It’s unnerving to think people will only focus on decentralized and tribal groups. I grew up in a Canada that had social cohesion, compassion and interdependence. It wasn’t perfect. There were lots of selfish jerks. People who thought they were superior to others.

It was the social cohesion and interdependence that helped those of us targeted to cope with those selfish and arrogant jerks.

But we won’t have that after this increase in libertarian ideology being promoted. I won’t inherit that society. And that makes me happy.

But I’m disappointed my children and their children will inherit that reality. I remember cliques from jr. and sr. high school. I remember the damage of exclusion and shunning and how it impacted me and my peers.

I imagine that libertarianism will make that worse and carry on into adulthood.

Who but those at the top of the hierarchy believes this is good for democracy and social cohesion?

Libertarianism is extreme hubris. To believe that you and you alone are all that matters to you. No one else worthy of consideration exists in your world but you.

How is this belief being propagated and adopted?

How are adults being transformed from compassionate caring individuals with vast social networks and pro social behaviour to self centred libertarians who reject all social obligations and believe the world is there solely for them?

I know how. I watched it happen.

People thought I was nuts when I said shows like Jerry Springer should not be aired. The irresponsibility of permitting people to yell at, swear and degrade each other on tv for entertainment is repugnant. To me at least.

I grew up in an environment that often resembled a Jerry Springer episode. I spent the better part of my teens and my young adulthood ensuring I didn’t live that way as an adult.

While many laughed at these mentally unhealthy people exhibiting violence, they were desensitized.

Desensitized to verbal insults, violent outbursts, crass base behaviour. As entertainment.

Same with reality tv. Every reality tv show I’ve ever attempted to watch has backstabbing, subversion, betrayal and selfishness as it’s central theme.

I hate these shows.

We’ve allowed entertainment to socialize us and our children into normalizing this behaviour. But it’s not just tv. It’s movies, books, the news, court cases, government cuts, religious intolerance, and all the far right norms have been promoted. Selfishness, avarice, hubris.

I like old movies. As a kid I grew up watching movies from the 1930’s to 1960’s because I liked how corny they were. The acting was bad, the special effects horrendous, but the rhetoric was positive. Fantasy escape gave reassurance that change was possible & good people existed.

If only in the movies.

But then the “cool” element began to emerge in entertainment. Glorification of the extreme asshole who didn’t care about anyone but him/herself. This was the standard held up for everyone to measure their “coolness” factor.

Nice guys finish last.

Only the strong survive.

It’s a dog eat dog world.

Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

We shifted to personal responsibility away from social interconnectedness and interdependence.

No man is an island, but trying to be an island was cool.

Self reliance.

The ability to sway others to do your bidding. ‘Street cred’ for not giving a fuck. That became the norm.

We permitted this to happen. We consumed that entertainment and normalized that reality. To be cool is to be indifferent and aloof, wealthy and an asshole.

We elevated the corporate asshole to revered leader. We permitted the intentional harm to people through policy to go unnoticed. If those poor people would just get a job, they’d be better off. Welfare Queens and Low social status con men became entertainment, not a social issue.

As a teen I read Stephen King’s “The Running Man”.

Not the movie, the novel, was a stark reality. Little did I know King was describing the future. Pretty sure he didn’t know either. The book is set in 2025. But it could have been written last week. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Runni…

I thought the book was a warning. An allegory to remind readers to remain guardians against the shift to self centred interests. If you were alive and cognizant in the 1980’s, you know exactly what I mean.

I didn’t think then it was an instruction manual.

But some people did want a world where they profited and all others suffered.

We let those people convince us that you’ve got to be cruel to survive and always look out for number one. I read that book when I was 16 years old. I had no idea the world would adopt this reality.

It still disturbs me that many enjoy watching unhealthy interpersonal conflict as entertainment. What have we become?

Finding joy in others misfortune, mental illness, personal overwhelming stress. It doesn’t make sense.

That “entertaining” maladaptive behaviour is what people do when they’re desperate, unable to make or influence change and trying to fend off learned helplessness. You’re watching a mind collapse in on itself. How is that entertaining?

How did we get from heroes who were average corny people who did the “right thing” & helped others to hero worship and cheering on the most violent characters who destroy, kill and torture?

Indoctrination to libertarian beliefs and values.

Abbot and Costello, The Three Stooges, Little Rascals were all portrayals of silly situations where unlikely heroes were made by chance, circumstance and kismet. Charlie Chaplin, Mickey Rooney, Doris Day were caricatures of social expectations.

The hobo, the eager beaver and the good girl. All of their stories revolve around helping others and humble self consciousness regarding their hero status. It was kitschy and reinforced our interconnectedness. It didn’t encourage brutality and sadism or amoral egocentrism.

Those people existed. And they were often portrayed in these corny adaptations. But they were the antagonists. Not the heroes.

Now we have anti heroes like Trump, Proud Boys and Steve Bannon. People who promote how to be a wealthy jerk or beat up everyone who isn’t like you.

The past was not perfect, but it was generally easy to discern what was expected of good upstanding citizens: be respectful, especially of your elders, stand up for those being abused, follow the rule of law, pay your taxes and maintain your honesty and integrity.

So many Citizens now are disrespectful, especially to women, BIPOC and LGBTQ, abuse or disregard the vulnerable, choose the laws they think are worth following, cheat on their taxes, lie like thieves and are sceptical of all strangers.

How has this been the progress of a complex diverse society? It’s not.

It’s regression. It’s developmental regression of organized civilization. That’s what libertarians do to society. They represent the subversion of pro social behaviour and promote egotist hedonism.

I have no desire to reinstate past happier times. But I do have the desire to expose the bastardization of common decency, the destructive nature of disrespect, the destruction of social interdependence, and the veneration of the least deserving.

We must debunk the libertarian mythology that selfish is good, greed is better and the strongman white male is the anti hero who makes the best defender of society. Because none of that is true, honest or has any integrity. But that’s what libertarians believe and value.

We are what we consume. Repeated salacious scandal and cynicism are not political entertainment or the basis of a valid worldview. Those are harbingers of social collapse, the breakdown of civilized life.

That’s where Canadian society is heading if the public keeps adopting libertarian beliefs and values. It’s not cool to “own” someone. It’s not good behaviour to disrespect people, regardless of their faults. Disdain is disrespect.

Cancel culture is another form of bullying. Mob rule is the basis of lynch mobs.

Change starts with changing the person who states back at you in the mirror. Stop acting like the anti heroes and start being the change you want to see in the world.

Libertarianism is a maladaptation. A personality disorder. An abomination and adulteration of pluralist complex societies’ foundations. We must stop the insidious creep of libertarian beliefs and values. Before we destroy ourselves marvelling at how wonderful each of us is.

There are no moral absolutes. There is no such thing as liberty free from responsibility or consequences. Each one of us depends on everyone else to make a cohesive society.

So start acting interdependent instead of playing the role of the anti hero in your own self made drama.