Monday, June 26, 2017

Update to the Glossary: Added Clusters.

(In the ongoing process of improving the Narrativist Framework Glossary section I have now added a new page with a more formalized definition for Narrativist Clusters. This is meant as a general introduction to the concept of Clusters and not as the final word on Narrativist Clusters. I have included the new section below to make it easier for readers to stay up to date.)




Within Narrativism in the United States (and probably all populations with a sufficiently developed number of Narrativists) these individuals tend to organize themselves into groups aligned along commonly held . These group Inner narratives are aligned first by reaching a general agreement over whom the group perceives as the Enemy and then filling in the blanks for the rest of the Grand narrative as appropriate.

Narrativist groups (or groups that are not necessarily Narrativist in origin but happen to have lave a large percentage of Narrativists in them) can be broadly spoken of as belonging to one of four "Clusters"- which can be classified by the general format of who they perceive as their great Enemy. That is to say that Narrativist Clusters are classified not so much by [i]Who[/i] they view as the Enemy but rather the underlying aspect of human behavior/society that they are most afraid of and then declaring that the solution to the any and all problems is the destruction/subjugation their chosen Enemy. There are four such Narrativist Clusters (Racist, Religious, Economic, and Paranoid) and each shall be examined in some detail below.

  • Racist Cluster: Examples of Narrativist groups in this Cluster would include the KKK, Neo-Nazi's, Confederate apologists, and various aspects of the Alt-Right. Racist Cluster Narrativists are obsessed with external physical differences in human beings and build their entire Grand narrative around setting strongly enforced levels of acceptable/unacceptable differences in human beings. A Racist Cluster Narrativist often views their own DNA/Blood/Skin as their God force and will declare their physical body as proof of their membership in the Elect as well as their direct connection to the God-Force. Racist Cluster Narrativists always desire to set their own particular group (those who posses whichever physical features they have deemed in their Inner narrative to be "pure") as a ruling class over tiered system of "lesser" groups that they view as useful for work but requiring supervision. At the bottom of this tiered system will be the group possessing whatever physical traits that have been deemed to be the Enemy, and in social structures wherein Racist Cluster Narrativists have taken control they will often exorcise Narrative dysphoria in their community through the public torture/execution of one of the Enemy rather than engage in a Compaction cycle against one of their own. 
  • Religious Cluster: Examples of Narrativist groups in this Cluster would include both Christian Dominionists and ISIS (although ISIS is much more highly compacted the structure of their Inner narratives is virtually identical) as well as Jehovah's Witnesses and various groups of Southern Baptists and Christian Fundamentalists. The Religious Cluster is obsessed with both human behavior and human belief and seeks to create social environments wherein "incorrect" behavior or beliefs are punished viciously and publicly. Religious Cluster Narrativists always see themselves as divine messengers of the God-Force and seek to create a strongly controlled social hierarchy based upon a combination of correct beliefs and behaviors. The more correct your beliefs/behaviors the higher your place in a social environment dominated by Religious Cluster Narrativists. Conversely, behavior and beliefs are what distinguish the Enemy and Religious Cluster Narrativists will obsess over every phrase uttered by their Enemy as well as how every belief their Enemy holds about the world is wrong/dangerous. Religious Cluster Narrativists are also obsessed with the idea that incorrect behavior or beliefs can make one "impure"- unworthy somehow (perhaps permanently) of either the love of the God-Force or basic human dignity.
  • Economic Cluster: Members of this Cluster are obsessed with the way that resources are distributed within society and always choose as their Enemy some sort of "takers"- or group that takes more from society than it returns and will thus consume society out of existence. Objectivists, An-Caps, and Libertarians are the goto examples for Economic Cluster Narrativists. This Cluster normally has some sort of abstract concept as their God-Force with the two most common examples being the "Free Market" or the "Non-Aggression Principle" and always declares themselves a member of the elect (e.g. "Captain of Industry) because of their claimed "true" understanding of and obedience to this abstract principle. Economic Cluster Narrativists are notably less likely to become high-compaction than other Clusters as a result of their tendency (within the modern zeitgeist) to attract highly individualistic and ambitious individuals. As a result Compaction cycles tend to fracture Economic Cluster Narrativists easily (e.g. virtually every An-Cap group, ever) or tend to have a very hard time attracting anything more than a small core of dedicated followers (e.g. Stephan Molyneux). Economic Cluster Narrativists are always pre-occupied with ensuring that their chosen Enemy has no access to any of societies resources (including food) and often views poor people as a sort of pestilence that threatens to wipe out society unless the poor themselves are either put down viciously or at least kept out of sight. Economic Cluster Narrativists associate possession of resources (which in our modern culture has been reduced simply to money) with proof of good character and obedience to the God-Force and desire a social environment that is dominated by those who control the most resources.
  • Paranoid Cluster:Conspiracy Theorists ala Alex Jones and David Icke would be the classic examples of Narrativists from this Cluster. The Paranoid Cluster always views the dominant social structures of the society within which the Narrativist exists as the Enemy, that is to say that the Paranoid Cluster sees itself oppressed by the structure of society itself first and foremost and therefor constructs its Inner narrative around this theme. Opposition to whatever is viewed as the true power secretly controlling society is a central theme of the Paranoid Cluster. They are consummate synthesizers of Outer narratives- holding no particular affinity for ideology or origin of an Outer narrative- so long as it attacks the dominant social structures in some way a Paranoid Cluster Narrativist is more than happy to either use it directly or re-purpose (very common, e.g. the John Birch Society's Blue Book is essentially just Russian anti-semitism with the word "commie" scribbled over "Jews") it in some way. The Paranoid Cluster is a bit of an oddball in that in any given society they are often the first to break word or suss out genuine misdeeds by the powerful within their society- however they are also unable to distinguish fact from fiction and often rapidly discredit themselves in the event they do uncover an actual conspiracy. The Paranoid Cluister always sees themselves as possessors of special insight (and very often special or supernatural powers) that marks them as superior to the rest of the population who accepts the dominant social power structure. Often the Paranoid Cluster's God-Force is an abstract concept like Freedom! (shouted at the top of ones lungs), variations on the God-Force as some sort of "ascended" intelligence sending instructions through a priest to guide the planet into some sort of Gaia state are frequently found within the Paranoid Cluster as well.

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