[ExI] fanaticism, more

[William Flynn Wallace]

SR, what you are describing is called compensation.  What I described is
called overcompensation, in which the conscious and unconscious things are
the same:  the 100 lb weakling becomes a strong man. bill w

On Sun, Jul 5, 2020 at 6:10 PM SR Ballard via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> Oh, I understand the fanaticism. I was a bit of a fanatic at one point.
>
> It is as was described. You have a deep-seated fear you are covering up.
>
> But the fear doesn’t have to match the action. Like if you’re strongly
> religious it doesn’t have to be from religious doubt, it could be a doubt
> about your physical health. You could be strongly anti-gay because you have
> an eating disorder. And so on.
>
> A classic is anti-gay because of sexual abuse of a boy by a man.
>
> SR Ballard
>
> On Jul 5, 2020, at 11:56 AM, William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> Eschew taking extremist views.  There is too much risk of realizing
> someday that you have invested most of your life fighting passionately for
> the wrong side.
>
>
>
> spike
>
>
> I don't think that any of us can understand the fervor of these people.
> They have to go all out or they will punish themselves for wimpy efforts.
> In other words, they are driven to extreme positions.  Why didn't some of
> the people who were burned at the stake recant and live longer?  Because
> they could not live with themselves if they did that.  I feel quite sure
> that that was the case with Giordano Bruno.   bill w
>
> On Sun, Jul 5, 2020 at 10:44 AM spike jones via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
>> Excellent post BillW.  I will leave it all in there without trimming a
>> word of it.
>>
>>
>>
>> I have long suspected extremists in anything are a mixture of people
>> struggling to talk themselves out of their own self-doubt, plus false
>> flaggers, plus people who just like taking some extreme position.
>>
>>
>>
>> My view on it is this (free spike-ism (you’re welcome.)):
>>
>>
>>
>> Eschew taking extremist views.  There is too much risk of realizing
>> someday that you have invested most of your life fighting passionately for
>> the wrong side.
>>
>>
>>
>> spike
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> *On Behalf
>> Of *William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat
>> *Sent:* Sunday, July 5, 2020 8:25 AM
>> *To:* ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
>> *Cc:* William Flynn Wallace <foozler83 at gmail.com>
>> *Subject:* [ExI] fanaticism, more
>>
>>
>>
>> Fanaticism is said to have many sociological roots, and you can find
>> those all over the web.  But I didn’t find much on psychological causes, so
>> here’s a few thoughts:
>>
>>
>>
>> The obsessive is capable of making very fine distinctions.  One book
>> about it features a man who discovers he is 1/32 Negroid and he is
>> subsequently ostracized.  (Kingblood Royal -Sinclair Lewis).  This will
>> also make the person a bit of a purist - things just have to be a certain
>> way and even slight deviations from it are not permitted.
>>
>>
>>
>> If you pair this with paranoia, then deviations can be imagined rather
>> than real.  Anything slightly indicative becomes a certainty.  If you pair
>> those with religious content, you get a person who will try to make others
>> believe and act the same as him, even if they have to be forced, like
>> Islamists and Christians did a few centuries ago.  Or just killed.
>>
>>
>>
>> A recent study of people who were extremely antihomosexual were found to
>> have unconscious tendencies to it themselves, just as many people imagined
>> that they did.
>>
>>
>>
>> A further factor is overcompensation and reaction formation:  if you are
>> a latent homosexual but do not realize it you are very likely to be a
>> powerful, even violent antihomosexual.  The inner feelings have to be
>> powerfully defended against by conscious feelings of the opposite (which is
>> often called reaction formation).
>>
>>
>>
>> So many fanatics are not what they think they are.  If religious, then
>> the strong doubts about the validity of the religion have to be powerfully
>> opposed by the conscious opposites.  Does this mean that some of the people
>> ranting about racism are unconscious racists?  Of course it does.
>>
>>
>>
>> bill w
>>
>>
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