Connor Beaton argues that as traditional sources of meaning erode, people increasingly anchor their identity to political ideology. When your sense of self depends on ideology, you become easier to manipulate and control. Without deeper, non-ideological sources of meaning, he warns, people will struggle with disconnection from reality.
more and more people are going to experience symptoms of psychosis. People are going to be more and more disconnected from reality. And when you see this, the sort of structures of our culture, of our society that have always given meaning to people, those things are collapsing more and more, and they're being consolidated into political ideologies. And when you're sense of identity, your sense of self, your sense of meaning, your mental health and wellbeing are contingent on political ideologies, but it also makes you very malleable and pliable. You're much more easy to control, to coerce, to manipulate. Individuals whose identity has become swallowed by political ideology are really going to struggle because they are disconnected from the things that have largely been giving us meaning.
How to Raise Strong, Unshakable Boys in Today's Culture, with Dr. Shefali Tsabary
