American Extremist by Josh Neal

Author:Josh Neal [Neal, Josh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Psychology, Political Science
Publisher: Imperium Press
Published: 2021-01-29T00:00:00+00:00

The Folly of Centrism

Whether we call them “moderates”, “independents”, “the middle class”, or “centrists” (for simplicity’s sake I shall use “centrist” and “centrism” henceforth), psychologically we find that we are in fact discussing the same phenomenon. That phenomenon, of course, which defines the political and spiritual character of the centrist is inertia. Though he is in motion, he moves only to stay in place, to maintain his current paradigmatic stance. Ultimately, he is a static figure, anxious not to lose his prosperity while also desperate to improve his social standing at all costs (a tragic illusion by which he is hopelessly ensnared). Something of an ahistorical political subject, possessing all manner of material and social wealth that few before him enjoyed, the centrist belongs more to the realm of the Imaginary than the Real. Understanding this in a Lacanian sense, the centrist, eager to differentiate himself, and thus strongly egocentric (even narcissistic), is preoccupied with notions of control and coherence which are maintained by certain ego defenses. His ego defenses operate to preserve these images of the self and to stave off confrontations with the Real (the dimension which—at least initially—exists beyond language, beyond our ability to symbolically integrate experience into our cognitive schemas). Such traumatic confrontations would expose the depth of his narcissistic middle-class delusions, namely those of independence and freedom, of choice and significance, and of just and sane institutions concerned only with merit and the truth.

As a result, he is especially vulnerable to the psychological manipulations of the pathocracy, constantly being nudged from one direction to the next like a pawn across the chessboard. The centrist, therefore, is the ideal American: irrationally rational, dispassionate and spiritually bereft, dependent on the wisdom of experts, and wholly captured both by the political myth of democracy and the psychological lies of fairness, hard work, equality, and objectivity. The fact of his psychological entrapment, being restrained by the Skinnerian incentives pulling at his nervous system and denied the vital social relations of intimacy and belongingness, renders him spiritually incapacitated and unable to reflect on his circumstance, much less to understand it. It is the centrist for whom the hedonic treadmill rolls.

So, in addition to the arborescent (or hierarchal, vertical) controls which establish and reinforce true antisocial extremism, centrism is the rhizomatic (or de-centralized, horizontal) social force that enables the pathocracy’s paradigm of false extremism. Psychologically speaking, centrism is the energy within the American electorate which obfuscates the relationship between the politically banal and the taboo. Because the center seeks the approval of the high (and ultimately, desires a seat alongside them at the table) they accept the symbolism and word-craft of the pathocracy, and thus cannot be considered trustworthy observers of the political scene. They lust for the lifestyle of the high, and in their madness, become subservient to those members of the privileged class. To the degree that they can discern true problems from the political volleyballs of misdirection, centrists will readily accept prefabricated solutions which only serve the interests of the pathocratic class (e.

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