It is said by many that Politics is subjective. This is something I am not going to argue with in this blog entry, but let’s just say that there would be no point in holding a political opinion if we were not trying to make it as objective as possible. It is my belief that it is the subtlest of differences that separate Conservatives and Socialists. The events we witness alter the composition of our minds leading to different beliefs; it is metaphorically like kicking a ball down and a hill and watching how it takes a different path, coming to rest in a unique final destination on each occasion. There is a potential conservative in everyone, and given the right tools it is possible to reach into the subconscious and drag it to the forefront. Being a former socialist this is something I have personal knowledge and experience of, I have talked about my political past in a previous blog entry and intend to elaborate a little more right now.
When I was attending sixth form I classed myself as an anarchist. I listened to punk rock in an elitist manner and harboured allot of anger and frustration towards the world. There is not much more to tell about this period in my political history, as I literary didn’t hold many opinions let alone enough to justify my ideological position. It was within the first two months of university that I made my first attempt to apply objective thinking. I sat down in my chair and had a deep thought about whether or not anarchism was practical, and even if it was I deduced that I never had the understanding that was essential for supporting it. I made a categorical error, but a forgivable one for someone so young and naïve, because I thought the next best thing by default must then be socialism. At the time I did not realise that I had swapped an ideology focused on absolute freedom with one which was fundamentally authoritarian.
Looking back in hindsight has led me to conclude that the left are just as good at policing the opinions of their allies as they are at policing their opponents, so it was not until I left university that I final started to doubt these left wing views. I believe it accelerated when I found my hatred of Peter Hitchens shifting to a more neutral fascination, something I believe is fundamentally down to the serious attitude he takes towards politics. You at the very least get a feeling that he believes every word he says, which is something my left wing friends agree with me on (at least the ones who have decided to remain friends following my change of heart).
My second most revolutionary moment was when I again sat back and decided that I must try and follow a completely objective approach to analysing issues. A process I compare to that of Aliens analysing human civilization from orbit, or to a lesser extent David Attenborough analysing a pride of Lions. This form of thinking opened up a tear in my world of which I have been sucked through and am unable to resist the gravitational pull. Formulating political opinions of what is not just possible, but what is also the most practical within human nature is for me the principle difference between my younger self and the present. Many things can be deduced from this method of analysis, most importantly for me was the concept of ‘in-group’ preferences in which you discover that the majority of humans are not much different from any other form of social animals. It reveals that countries are advanced versions of biological design, similar to that of a pride of lions as mentioned earlier. The psychology of people draws them to others of the same preferences as a defence mechanism, making rubbish of arguments against patriotism and in favour of mass immigration. I will at some point write an extended piece on what I have just explained complete with all the arguments for why it proves dangerous to attempt the perversion of biology/psychology too much.
Reaching into the subconscious and exploring doubts buried deep within is no easy task for anyone. Humans long for pleasure more so than they understand the necessities of responsibility, and information painting a bleak picture of the world is much less desirable than one of hope. The truth is unpopular precisely because it is not something anyone wants to be true, myself included.
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