Two Perspectives: Moral Panics and Hysteria | TER Post Woke

It's a universal problem we need to talk about more

Welcome to TaraElla Report Post Woke, where we consciously aim to move beyond the woke vs anti-woke culture wars, and towards a post-woke model of culture and politics.

Perspective 1: As a progressive, I am dismayed at the way our culture is evolving. Twenty years ago, progressives used to be the cool ones. Conservatives used to get upset about everything from hip-hop music to gay marriage, from video games to Harry Potter, and we used to laugh at that. In recent years, many people say that we have become like how the conservatives used to be like, and I honestly can't disagree with that. As an old-school progressive, I think that overreacting to everything and having a problem with people having fun is stupid, because it makes us unpopular and discredits us. I wonder how we became this way.

Perspective 2: As a conservative, my biggest problem with mainstream conservative politics is its tendency to embrace collective moral panics and hysteria over artificially amplified non-issues. This also seems to happen in cycles. For example, the 90s and 2000s conservatives were really bad in this regard, but things got more rational in the 2010s. I fear that we are seeing things turn bad again now. I wonder if there is a way to break free from this toxic tendency.

I guess the tendency towards collective panic and hysteria is present among both progressives and conservatives. While there have been better and worse times in the past for both sides, it seems that, right now, both sides are getting worse. Therefore, it really is a problem that we need to actively address. The fact that it is on both sides makes it somewhat easier, because this means we won't be targeting only some people in our criticisms.

The first thing we need to do is to acknowledge that the problem exists in the first place. We need to talk about it enough, so that it is firmly in the consciousness of most people. This way, when certain people want to encourage more hysteria for whatever reason, enough people can consciously say no to it, and put up a resistance that hopefully gets stronger over time. We also need to remember that, history has taught us that it takes bravery and courage to take a stand against moral panics.

The other thing we need to do is, of course, to address the problem of echo chambers. In the past, I've said quite a lot about the need to break the echo chambers and how we might do that, in the context of addressing political polarization. Breaking the echo chambers is also important for addressing collective hysteria, because it is easiest to build hysteria in an environment where everyone is under pressure to agree with certain viewpoints. I guess this is why the problem is getting worse on both sides, with the echo chamber effect being made worse by social media. This is why the hysteria problem is ultimately linked to the many other problems affecting the social and political landscape of the Western world right now.

We're all Conservatives, to Some Extent. And that's a Good Thing. | TE Cons Report

Why the c-word is unfairly maligned, and why this must change.

Welcome to the new TaraElla Cons Report, the counterpart to my Lib Lib Report. In the Lib Lib Report, I talk about liberal and libertarian ideas and visions, and how we can apply them in the 21st century West. In this new series, I will focus on conservative philosophy, in a similar way.

I think one of the things the early 21st century West is lacking is a robust and healthy intellectual discussion on conservative philosophy. Now, some of you might be surprised that I am saying this. After all, I have identified as a liberal, a Moral Libertarian, a moderate, a centrist, a practical progressive, but I have never identified as a conservative. Moreover, I have many disagreements with what is considered conservative politics in the contemporary West. So why would I have any use for conservative philosophy?

Let's be honest. If you are a moderate or a centrist of any kind, you are at least partially conservative, because you essentially believe in balancing conservatism with progressivism. If you are a liberal, then you are committed to be open-minded to conservative points of view, and if they are indeed the most sound views, you would allow them to win in the marketplace of ideas via the natural process of competition. If you consider yourself an evidence-based person, then you have to at least acknowledge that institutions and values based on many centuries of evidence at least count for something. Finally, if you are a practical progressive, you would base your progressive ideas at least partially on what has worked well in the past. Therefore, one can certainly be liberal or moderate and still be conservative to a significant extent. Indeed, without acknowledging the conservative parts of our philosophy, we would be left with a very weak defense against those who want to radically remake society using untested and unsound theories.

I guess the reason so many of us are reluctant to acknowledge the conservative parts of our philosophy is because conservatism doesn't exactly have a good reputation in intellectual circles right now. Indeed, I have the feeling that, if I told some of my acquaintances that there is a conservative part to my philosophy, they might react all weird, like 'so you're a conservative'? In the minds of many people out there, the word 'conservative' is associated with racism, homophobia, and other forms of bigotry. However, this does not have to be true. It is only this way because reactionary politicians have had a near monopoly on the term 'conservative' for too long. And this monopoly is undeserved too, because in recent years, reactionary politics have often been anything but conservative, in the original sense of the word.

Another reason why we shouldn't shy away from acknowledging our own conservatism, is that the ongoing lack of a healthy appreciation for conservative philosophy has led to the rise of a deeply reactionary style of 'conservative' politics. This is actually the biggest reason why I am speaking out on this topic now. Conservatism is part of the natural temperament of many people, and if it isn't allowed to be acknowledged and respected in a healthy way, it is going to be expressed in a deeply reactionary way, one that reflexively blocks all proposals for progress, and even yearns to turn the clock back by decades. The lack of a healthy conservatism, one that can reassure people that the fundamental things about their society are safe, will leave many people with no option but to embrace a reactionary attitude.

I think the lack of a healthy intellectual conservatism is not just a coincidence, nor is it just an accident of history. Rather, back in the 1960s and 70s, a generation of students became so disillusioned with society, they thought that everything radical was great, and everything conservative was evil. Some of them eventually became very influential among intellectual circles, and their efforts shifted the Overton Window there so far to the radical side that any kind of conservatism essentially became marginalized. I believe it's time we addressed this error, and actively seek to welcome a healthy dose of conservative philosophy back into mainstream intellectualism.

Our Culture is Meaningless. Let's change this. | TaraElla Culture

Why challenging popular culture should be part of the post-woke mission

Welcome to TaraElla Report Culture, where I take a step back from the more political talk, and look at things from the wider cultural perspective.

To explain the purpose behind this new series, we need to start by acknowledging the fact that political, philosophical, and sociological debates do not occur in a vacuum, but are immersed in, and strongly affected by, the mood of the wider culture. Of course, the process goes both ways, for example the toxic culture wars that originated in politics have also had a negative effect on the wider culture. The important thing is, the wider culture, including the popular culture, is an overlooked potential site of action, if we want to end the toxic culture wars.

When I first started blogging nearly 20 years ago, I actually focused on popular culture. As a singer songwriter, I was very plugged into the news of the music world. From there, it was natural to also be plugged into the world of movies, television, celebrities and so on. When I was a teenager, I actually thought these things were having a positive impact on people, simply because it made them happy, and made life easier for people in difficult times. I thought that, by somewhat 'participating' in that world and making it even better, I would be contributing to making people's lives better. Back then, I thought that the adults were underestimating the value of popular culture.

As I grew older, I became more passionate about important social issues. The 2003 Iraq War, which I strongly opposed, was the first time I passionately got involved in politics. Soon after, I also got passionate about several other things. The politics around the Iraq War got me interested in the impact of religion on politics, which was part of what led me to become passionate about gay marriage. There was also this big evolution vs intelligent design debate back then, which made me realize the importance of respecting scientific facts. I also realized that I really liked being immersed in these debates, which were debates about fundamental worldviews, morals, and truth. For me, these meaningful debates contrasted sharply with the lack of such meaning in the popular cultural world, and as the years went by, I gradually drifted away from popular culture.

During the late 2000s to the mid 2010s, I actually drifted in and out of popular culture for a while. While in earlier times, popular culture would generally avoid the big controversial questions of our time, things appeared to be changing by 2008 or so. More and more, movies and TV shows started dealing with these questions, and some celebrities started to take strong stances. At that time, I honestly thought it was an improvement. But later on, I would be disappointed again, because a lot of this would be superficial and therefore even counter-productive sometimes. In the case of celebrities taking stances, it honestly felt like virtue signalling a lot of the time, whether this was their actual intention or not. I realized that the superficialness of our popular culture meant that we couldn't actually be having truly meaningful debates within it. This was when I finally 'gave up' on popular culture.

Since then, popular culture has only gotten more superficial, with the rise of viral videos, meaningless trends, and influencers who don't stand for anything. In this world, popularity is about how you look, and not what you stand for, and taking a stance on anything would only alienate your fans. Some people have said that this is an inevitable consequence of the internet. However, is this superficial culture really inevitable? Or could we try to turn it around? I believe it's worth at least trying, because I think the toxic woke vs anti-woke politics ultimately stems from our culture being very superficial. I once thought that I could escape the superficialness by leaving popular culture behind, but now I realize that the superficialness is everywhere, because culture, politics and intellectualism are not separate things. This is why I believe the antidote to the current polarization is to bring back in-depth thinking and discussion. We need to do it across all of our culture, especially popular culture, which remains a strong influence in many people's lives. I still believe we shouldn't underestimate the value of popular culture, in terms of healing the social fabric, after all.