Part 3: Collingwood on "Yahoos" from his New Leviathan

More about "Yahoos" from R.G. Collingwood, taken from his The New Leviathan. 

30. 62. The Yahoos would not be solitary. They would not, of course, be social, not having free wills; but they would be gregarious. They would find pleasure in each other’s company. They would crowd together with animal delight in propinquity. They would join together gleefully in hymns of corporate self-praise and praise of their adored leader. 

30. 63. They would quarrel, no doubt, and enjoy quarrelling; but only within limits. If their quarrels went so far as to endanger the corporate strength of the herd, which the leader, thinking in terms of enmity towards other such herds, would conceive as his own strength and cherish accordingly, the leader would check it. 

30. 64. Further, the Yahoo is more imitative than Hobbes knew. 

30. 65. There is a kind of imitation quite independent of any intelligent appreciation of the action imitated; and the Yahoo herd would be as imitative as a herd of monkeys. 

30. 66. If the Yahoo herd was surrounded by intelligent human societies it would certainly imitate their ways, though without sharing the intelligence on which these were based. If they cultivated the earth, sailed the sea, and the like, it would do the same; not because its members had the intelligence to invent these and other arts for themselves but because they imitated the actions of those who could. 

Collingwood, R. G.. The New Leviathan. Read Books Ltd. Kindle Edition. 

Reflection on Thomas B. Edsall, "White male conservatives," "purity," "loyalty," etc.

Thomas B. Edsall

As usual, Thomas B. Edsall of the NYT has written another fascinating column based upon contemporary social science research (which should always, IMHO, be taken only in carefully measured & monitored doses). But with that caveat in mind, let's start with his conclusion spiced with my comments following

Ditto [the name of a social scientist] puts the matter succinctly: “In 21st century American politics, truth is tribal.”

SNG: No, "truth" isn't tribal; "opinion" & "belief" are tribal. Truth is often elusive, hidden, shifty, and so it can point us towards conclusions that it doesn't support. Thus, we need to keep our BS detectors on high alert ALWAYS.

In other words, the pandemic has become another example of Trump’s mastery over his most loyal subjects, his ability to manipulate them into violating their own instincts. It is this power over a substantial bloc of the electorate that has put him in the White House — and continues to make him so dangerous.

 SNG: It's really amazing, isn't it, that loyalty toward the demagogue can trump {sic} even attitudes such as concern for health, family, and purity. Purity is a distinctive "conservative" value, according to the research and conclusions of Jonathan Haidt). So can we then surmise that loyalty--even to a false idol--trumps {sic} concerns for purity?

Because many on the political right see the lockdowns as impinging “on their liberty, the free market’s workings, and their financial well-being,” he continued, “many conservatives want the lockdowns ended as quickly as possible.”

[SNG: Of course, some of our freedom of movement has been impinged upon & our financial well-being compromised, but whom does this adversely affect? All of us!

In addition, Wilcox noted, “some (especially male) conservatives see the lockdowns and mask wearing as expressions of cowardice that they reject as unmanly.”

SNG: Did they not get the memo? A mask provides minimal protection to the wearer, but it helps cut potential transmission from the wearer. It's not about how tough you are (or young), but how much you are willing to respect the well-being of the more vulnerable: the elderly the sick, the doctors and nurses and delivery guys, etc.

They [a team of social scientists] found, for example, that 71.6 percent of white males conservatives who claim to understand global warming very well agreed that “recent temperature increases are not primarily due to human activities.” Among all conservative white men, the percentage in agreement fell to 58.5. Among everyone else, the percentage dropped to 31.5.

 SNG: Wow, the more profound the denial of scientific consensus, the greater the confidence in the opinion held. And what's with "conservative white males"? It can't be all of them--I'm a while male, conservative (in temperament) and older, to boot. Why is ethnicity & gender so distinctive here?

If you are a conservative, a key tenet of your ideology is that unregulated markets naturally produce good; they are the most efficient way that humans have ever seen for distributing goods, services, wealth, etc. Any attempts to regulate, intervene upon, steer, etc. an economic market will make it necessarily less efficient. A government driven by some sense of altruism — ‘dogooderism’ by ‘bleeding hearts’ — will only muck up the functioning of an efficient market.

 SNG: Amazing! That some business-types brought up on the Mt. Pellerin ideology of Friedman (Milton) & Hayek and the Chicago School, etc., I can understand the attachment; the well-to-do are less hurt & less yield to the collective well-being of all. But for so many Trump supporters, who live in areas in steep decline by neo-liberal policies, these attitudes are completely at odds with their well-being. Both Democrats and Republicans contributed to all of this, but while Democrats sipped from the poisoned cup of market ideology, the Republicans chugged it. Maybe Mr. Marx was on to something with "false consciousness"!

The partisan divide over how to respond to the coronavirus pandemic has deepened over the past few weeks.

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Opinion | When the Mask You’re Wearing ‘Tastes Like Socialism’

The partisan divide over how to respond to the coronavirus pandemic has deepened over the past few weeks.