11-26-2022, 08:34 AM
Tribalistic people like Classic X'er cannot recognize the validity of the aspirations of people outside their narrowly-defined group. They see some superficial distinctions between very large groups such as race, religion, or linguistic heritage as paramount as differences of experience as trivial. Thus "I am involved with horses", "I play the cello", "I read Russian novels", "I listen to jazz", "I see Obama as a model of how to conduct oneself as President", or "I love Japanese art" can be a far greater distinction than "I am white".
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.