Identity vs Character

“Fascism should rightly be called corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power.”

Benito Mussolini (speaking of corporate fascism)

We live in a time of mass indoctrination.

Media no longer speaks for us, but rather, the media monitors and manipulates us. In this new world we are “commodities to corporate systems of power, ones to be used, fleeced and discarded.” [Hedges] It is important to understand the role of identity in the process of indoctrination. The only antidote is Character.

Freedom and CharacterFascism and Identity
Character: Moral strength; integrity of an individualIdentity: group strength, conformity to strict doctrine.
Critical Thinking: based on facts, verifiable, repeatable evidenceCritical Theory: based upon perceived persecution
Sceptical: given to doubt toward claims that are belief or dogmaCynical: a general distrust of the selfish motives of others
Questioning AuthoritySubmission to Authority
Facts, repeatable, ScienceFaith, blind submission
Toleration, liberty constitutional law, separation of church and stateIntolerance encouraged by Leaders, revelation, superstition,
Narrative of the EnlightenmentWoke Narative, Davos Narrative

Our front line tool for dealing with the world is our personality. While there is no generally agreed-upon definition of personality most agree it is the interrelated behaviours and emotional patterns one exhibits that can predict ones behavior.

“First we shape our tools, then our tools shape us”.

Marshall McLuhan

In today’s world of monitored and manipulated media that prediction is of primary financial importance for the data whores who own social media.

Our personality is many things including our identity and our character.

Our identity refers to the condition of being a set of characteristics defined by a group that has become a distinct, persisting entity. For example my identity is…

Your identity shapes you and that process is tightly controlled. Every click, post, email, text sorts us, categorized by personality type and the ideas we hold dear are reinforced. We then become recipients of custom messaging designed to shape our behaviour to the needs of political, economic or military ends.

WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

George Orwell Nineteen Eighty-Four Chapter 2, published in 1949.

The first step in successful indoctrination is to fall for the notion that you are your identity, a mostly static ideal, be it:
-Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or Taoist
-Canadian, Chinese, African, Mexican and so on…
-Maoist, Anarchist, Libertarian, Socialist, Liberal or Conservative
-Vegetarian, Paleo, Mediterranean or just like Mom and Dad
-A God, Guns and Christ loving redneck or a Black Lives matters activist, F150 vs Dodge, Strait or Gay or Gender confused it matters not.

The only defence to manipulation is your character. A strong character is the opposite of having a personal identity, it is about growing and developing, thinking critically and seeing the world thru you eyes and not the expieriences of others. A person who is part of a larger struggle working for a sustainable and just society perhaps.

Our Character is the combination of mental characteristics and behaviours that distinguishes a person from a group. The distinguishing nature of an individual is a person’s inner strength and integrity.

Character is not determined by race nor ethnicity, but your race and ethnicity can affect your character. Your culture is a form of imposed identity. Your supposed gender or sexual preferences are not part of your character either. These are trivial things not much more than moods.

Character is defined by your actions;

Honesty: Do what you say.
Integrity: Acting in private as in public.
Loyalty: Faithful to your pledge.
Generosity: Expecting nothing in return.
Humility: Lacking ego, Not caring for status.
Perseverance: Weathering the storms of life.
Compassion: a desire to alleviate suffering.
Hardwork: Tasks performed on a consistent basis.
Forgiveness: Letting go of anger.
Politeness: Showing respect to all.

By focusing on your identity as opposed to your character you become narcissistic and self centred instead of capable of working for broader social change. To develop an expanded sense of self and to see yourself as more than yourself is the beginning of maturity.

Even when they became discontented, as they sometimes did, their discontent led nowhere, because being without general ideas, they could only focus it on petty specific grievances. The larger evils invariably escaped their notice.

George Orwell Nineteen Eighty-Four Chapter 7, published in 1949.

When identity supersedes character

Firstly: Whatever you think you are, by striving for a brand or identity you forgo the opportunity to be more than your own petty grievance or recent purchase and you are open to manipulation by the power brokers in our society. The goal of those in power is of course to have confusion and segmentation “…to call for an inclusive revolutionary politics, which became possible when black women organised autonomously…” (1) In other words divide and conquer, if you can convince a subset of a progressive group like feminists that the only way you can achieve equality is to organize autonomously then you have as the power broker in society achieved your end. You have divided the women s moment on racial lines. Task complete, they are no longer effective; Roe vs Wade was overturned when this happened in 1977 not 2022 by the supreme court.

The alternative to having an identity is to grow and organize having come to an understanding of the process that creates the divisions in our society using critical thinking skills.

The second problem is Group think, the nuances of any debate and the growth of ideas only comes from reflection and changes in thinking as people develop variations on ideas as situations change.

Yet proponents of Identity Politics would claim the opposite. They often claim that a group’s experience is defined by their group identity, and that the actual content of their experience is identical to other members of the group. Moreso, proponents of Identity politics encourage members to interpret their experience in similar ways, and shun individuals who refuse to conform. ” (2)

If you don’t conform, you’re not a true believer.

The third problem with clearly defined identities in society is not new.
~India has a well developed system of identity; the Caste system,
~if European you come from a system of identity where royalty received privilege and the commoner was destined to always “be in his place”
~The Russian Noble and Souther Gentleman loved the knowing of place of thier serfs and slaves.
~All primitive societies have clearly prescribed roles and responsibilities for all members of society. Everyone had an identity, an identity of subservience.

Retreating into a dissected specialized identity, or brand, (brands are for cattle and ketchup) is to retreat to a primitive mentality or the shackles of a herd or brand identity.

If there is any sense in deploring the growth of corporate and collective art forms such as the film and the press, it is surely in relation to the previous individualist technologies that these new forms corrode.

Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964), p. 258

The Alternative

The alternative to “having an identity” is to develop your character. Be good, be kind, be honest. Work on character. Think, grow and organize, not your selfish subset of needs but for a broader good. See yourself as more than your grievances. As long as you are some made up inter sectional identity you are divided and conquered.

To have a scientific perspective; the essential criterion being your theory is observable and repeatable and to then think carefully about root causes of the exploitation we all face, and then work towards just solutions to our collective problems is to turn you back on an analysis of oppression as a racial or gender based issue.

The Doof

October 2022 Thanks giving dinner with the family, a lovely fall day, the leaves in full bloom, a buck photographed by a trail cam.

Oct 2023 updated with chart.

(1) Quote from https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/5342/the-problem-with-identity-politics

(2) Quote from https://www.thepublicpen.com/2020/11/the-problems-with-identity-politics/

Woke Narative, Davos Narrative

On the right the identity narrative goes something like this; “globalists elites control the puppet strings of a New World Order. These Zionists or Rothchild bankers are the party of Davos. They put a Muslim in the white house and the only solution is a return to religious fundamentalism for “our” race and the elimination of all others to create a true Ethnostate after a racial cleansing.”

On the left the identity narrative goes something like this; we need social transformations to counter our colonial history. Our oppression is at the intersection of the exploitation of women and the racial / gender underclass [BIPOC and LGBQT2+]. This oppression is caused by hierarchy and capitalists; we need leaderless groups. This oppression supported by assumptions of privilege by whites are difficult to see and measure yet are synthesized in critical theory. A failure in proof only explains the hideous truths underpinning all exploitation.

Narrative of the Enlightenment

The Age of Reason, was an intellectual and philosophical movement that occurred in Western Europe. The Enlightenment included a range of ideas centred on the value of human happiness, the pursuit of knowledge obtained by means of reason and the evidence of the senses, and ideals such as liberty, progress, toleration, constitutional law, and separation of church and state. The Enlightenment was preceded by the Scientific Revolution and the publication of René Descartes’ Discourse on the Method in 1637,