The Toxic Horseshoe

A recent glut of foolishness on my social media feeds has once again got me wondering what's wrong with people. While I've speculated about such things many times before, likening some of it to cults and anti-cults, and of course good old-fashioned cynicism, here I must go further. Lately I feel that some kind of line has been crossed, that this is all... too much. You people need to get a hold of yourselves. You badly need the proverbial splash of cold water.

Two examples will suffice, which I will not link to. First, the usual pointless comparisons between Trump and Biden, as though the two were in any way similar. Biden isn't a perfect democrat*, so the tired old rhetoric goes, so therefore he isn't democratic at all**; he doesn't do the things I want so he's of no use. And then one that really set me off : the BBC made a mistake in a translation, so therefore supposedly aren't impartial or even truthful.

* Leaving aside whatever the hell "perfect democracy" even means, there being many legitimate ways to call something democratic.
** I'm not American of course, but much the same thinking has been applied to Starmer in the UK, though rather less of late since Labour are wiping out the Tories in polls and by-elections alike.

FFS. Generalising from one example like this is morally and intellectually absurd. These kinds of judgements, coming from the kind of people that find Al Jazeera (!) to apparently be the only acceptable news outlet, are self-righteous, sanctimonious nonsense. As, of course, is saying that the anti-Trump perspective is only due to a white middle-class academic background. Diverting the discussion from the legitimate question as to just how fascist a second Trump term would be into the nuanced problems of Biden's relationship with the unions... snap out of it ! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT !

This kind of stuff leads me to speculate that naivety and cynicism may be different ends of the same horseshoe. The underlying beliefs might be legitimately different, but the effects are the same or similar. "Things aren't going exactly the way I want", say the hopelessly naïve, "so therefore I hate them and even want to destroy them".

Whereas the devotedly cynical say... "the system is hopelessly corrupt and everyone is in a war against all because of the very nature of the man the beast", and this of course, leads into, "and therefore I hate the system and want to destroy it". 

Others instead are merely content to sit back and take no action because any attempts would be pointless. Neither the naïve nor the cynic are ever content, because neither will be satisfied with any mere improvement less than absolute perfection – and neither ever wants to do the legwork, just bitch and moan about it. Naivety slides all too easily into cynical inaction when perfection proves elusive.

It is not, however, that I find the underlying moral intentions of such people to be questionable. With one or two exceptions, far from it : I think most of you are indeed fighting on the right side, just in an apparently pointless and counterproductive way.

This of course all builds on the previous post about techno-Utopians versus optimists. To develop that a little further, the word utopian can have many different connotations. On the one hand to have utopian thinking can be something laudable, when someone has a clear goal and a direction as to how to get there. One does not need to actually reach the Emerald City to at least be grateful that one has escaped the clutches of the Wicked Witch, or better yet to at least made it to somewhere genuinely nice to be even if it's not actually paradise. When one is conscious of improvements, striving for more but not falling into misery because of any remaining deficiencies, taking pride in progress while continuing the good work... this is healthy. This is productive. 

Continually whining that it doesn't fit your ideal of perfection is not. This is when utopian thinking, absolute insistence that things can and should be only one particular way and no other, becomes a pejorative term.

Fighting for a particular cause can of course be an entirely noble purpose, and to some degree criticism is a necessary engine for progress. I wouldn't trust someone who never complained about anything, who never had any political or moral or social cause they felt the need to promote. But equally, I'm deeply suspicious of those who are permanently in Activism Mode. All posts, or very nearly so, must be about moral causes ! Everything must be framed in the negative about how bad things are ! Nobody can be allowed to enjoy anything so long as a single person is suffering ! There's a distinctly Puritanical, joyless Calvinism about all this, a determination that anyone not in a state of misery needs to experience some kind of perverse enlightenment with the utmost urgency.

This kind of activism is toxic. It poisons the mental health of everyone it touches, not least the activist themselves. Perpetually preaching to the converted* (as is the norm on social media) through self-righteous, chest-thumping memes accomplishes nothing. It persuades nobody. The single effect of it is to remind everyone that things are bad. I repeat, this is toxic. If you want me to take action about something, tell me what I can do. Otherwise, sure, I totally get the need to vent and rant from time to time. But if that's all you ever do... seriously, go home and rethink your life. 

* Or indeed unconverted in the case of the devoutly irreligious. 

Closely related to this of course is compassion fatigue. Most of the causes and problems highlighted seem to be things about which ordinary people are capable of doing very little, so what's the point of dwelling on it ? You can't persuade people to stop believing in God by simply declaring him a fiction; you aren't going to stop climate change by constantly reporting on the mass deaths of penguins or whatever*.

* Although to be fair, lately there have been quite a few more posts about successful environmentalism actions, and this is vital. An uninterrupted stream of catastrophism posts leads to a self-fulfilling belief that we're all doomed, a view I reject with every fibre of my being.

Look, if you really care about people's mental health, as is quite rightly in vogue right now, the best thing you can do is dial it all back. Not to zero ! But back, quite a lot. When you've started making ludicrous claims about the BBC... you aren't acting as a necessary stinging gadfly to avoid complacency. You've started with good intentions, but you're a good way down the road to hell. Remember, those who fight with the abyss should take care not to stare at monsters, or something like that.