Ideology

From dKosopedia

In some contexts an ideology is just a system of ideas, but in the global political context an ideology is a political theory that combines a sense of moral outrage with a theory of what to do about it, including a Utopian ideal of the perfect society and a justification for war on the perpetrators of outrages, their supporters, and any other opponents of the ideology. The combination of ideology and nationalism can be particularly poisonous.

The outrage can be over genuine ills or over sins defined by one religious sect or another. The political theories and Utopian ideals are invariably nonsense. The appeal of ideologies is clear. For those who are outraged, the fact that the ideologues in question have diagnosed the ills of the world correctly as they see it leads to belief that the ideologues must also be right in their proposed solutions. Ideologies commonly lead to overt war and major oppression when dominant, and to major political strife when not in power. Examples of important recent ideologies include

• Marxist Communism, and its numerous offshoots under Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Mao, and many others. Chinese Communism since the adoption of market economics is increasingly non-ideological.
• Theocracy, with many Muslim and Christian variations, as in Iran, and Christian Dominionism
• Market Fundamentalism Oppression of corporations and their rich owners by government regulation and taxes
• White Supremacy and other forms of racism Currently, the alleged outrage is oppression of white majorities by minorities and their Liberal supporters.
• Religious racism, including branches of the Christian Right in the US, Hindutva among Hindus in India, and Sinhalatva among anti-Tamil Buddhists in Sri Lanka.
• American Exceptionalism, which holds that the US should be and remain the sole superpower and the world's policeman, and that those who believe otherwise are not Real Americans.
• Anarchist-Nihilism, which has lost almost all of its force, holds that evil societies must be completely destroyed in order to build the ideal society on their ruins. Responsible for much bomb-throwing in an earlier period.

An ideology can also be a confused mixture of bits and pieces drawn from several sources. The Republican party has combined increasingly strident racism, support for various Christian Right ideologies, and Market Fundamentalism for several decades. The Democratic Party also has a confused mixture of ideas, but is far less Utopian and far less violent about them.