Greetings gentle reader and welcome to a most unusual work. Herein you will find a very detailed/unique (and well documented) analysis of the various complex psycho-social factors that are manifesting in dramatic fashion during the Presidency of Donald Trump- as well as America's startling descent into authoritarianism/fascism. This work has been constructed with both the American and non-American reader in mind, as it is the belief of the author that what we see playing out in America is a problem that all Western Democracies will have to confront in the coming decades*.
*probably much sooner than that.
Owing to the complexity of the individual factors at play (multiplied by the complex ways these factors interact with each other), as well as the complex (and little understood) history behind these factors; this work will be of considerable length. Despite that fact- this work has been constructed with brevity in mind and I have consciously attempted to be as concise and succinct as possible- however it must be stated up front that that this will of necessity be a dense and complex work- covering a very novel take on an incredibly complex/abstract topic. It is the belief of this author that the work contained herein is worth the investment being asked on the part of the reader- as there really is no other work quite like this one, and whether you agree with the arguments presented herein- they are very well sourced/demonstrated, and the conceptual frameworks used to describe extremist behavior are both internally consistent as well as quite extensively thought out.
It is important that I start this work by explaining the particular angle from which I am approaching the topic; I am not a credentialed academic and this is not a scholarly work- rather this work approaches the topic of extremism from the perspective of one who was raised in (and escaped) the particular form of politicized extremism that has come to dominate American politics in recent years. The following claim will certainly sound like hyperbole to those not familiar with the inner workings of either american evangelicalism or Christian Dominionism- but I was (quite literally) raised to be an obedient office drone; meant to be a footsoldier in a conscious political campaign to transform America into a Christian theocracy.
I know, that sounds insane right? Well, let me introduce you to Accelerated Christian Education- the curriculum utilized by the rural "Christian" cult-school was primarily responsible for my first nine years of education:
(This is an actual advertisement for Accelerated Christian Education. While watching this insanity please keep in mind this is how they choose to present their system to the world.)
The following is a sample of actual materials from the above curriculum. Note the blatant nature of the political programming- as well as the emphasis on mindlessly obeying "Godly" authority figures.
I will have much more to say about Accelerated Christian Education (in particular the complex political forces behind its creation/legalization) in a later section- for now it was important that I demonstrate the otherwordly and completely detached from reality ultra-right-wing-christian-dominionist mindset that I was raised in- as it set the stage for my early adult life.
At the age of fourteen I rebelled against this system, got myself a Social Security Number*, and enrolled myself in a public school. Due to a combination of going through puberty as a transwoman in addition to having no idea how to socialize with regular children- I soon found myself mostly alienated. Over time however I fell in with a crowd of kids who (despite considerable socioencomic differences) had one important thing in common: severely dysfunctional homes that were as abusive as they were skilled at putting on a false front of normalcy.
*My parents believed that Social Security Numbers were a "precursor to the mark of the beast"
This group of kids developed a strong interest in the occult and began to construct our own mythology about ourselves- influenced heavily by the Web 1.0 internet Otherkin/occult community. During this period of time I encountered (both online and offline) variations of the behaviors that have now become typical of the alt-right*, and participation in these activities (primarily during our late teens through mid 20's took a heavy toll on the lives of all those involved.
Over time (through a combination of factors detailed in later sections) this initial group fell apart- however I soon found myself involved with one type of extremist group after another. Over the years I floated in-and-out of being a UFO believer, a 9-11 Truther, a "David Icke's 4th dimensional blood drinking Reptilian Aliens** secretly control the world" believer, and a hardcore Illuminati researcher***, (and for a time a somewhat financially successful Tarot reader), among other bizarre belief sets.
*An obsession with preparing for an impending war via participation in underground fight clubs, stockpiling weapons, and fantasizing about winning an insurgency would all be quick examples
**An odd case of a madman perpetuating white supremacist conspiracy theories whilst being genuinely unaware of doing so.
***This means I spent an embarrassing amount of money on intellectual snake oil peddled by shameless fabulists.
Throughout this process the Internet (and in particular early social media like EZBoards and Meetup.com) played an important role in connecting a previously unthinkable amount of individuals with these kinds of belief sets*- of what I call and after these connections were formed groups formed which inevitably began the same cycle of abusive behaviors that I had been caught in throughout my whole life. Also over the years I often ran into the same people (over the years) in a variety of these Internet-created groups. For example: there was one person in particular that I first met when he identified as an Otherkin in 2001, in 2006 I ran into him at a local 9-11 Truther meeting, then in 2007 as a fervent Ron Paul supporter, and then the last time I met him was at a David Icke lecture in 2011. (He is not the only individual I knew in my local area that could chart a course like this for.)
*
Help for me came in the form of a 7 month stay in the "In House Wellness Program" at the Haven for Hope in San Antonio, Texas. This was in effect an experimental residency program targeted at treating homeless individuals who had a formal diagnosis of significant mental illness. As a result of my participation in this program I received a formal diagnosis (after struggling silently for years), extensive medication support, a weekly appointment with a trauma therapist, and 15-20 hours per week of group therapy sessions covering a tremendous variety of subjects. While this program had many strengths- the greatest by far was that (generally) everyone in the program wanted to be there. This made group therapy sessions particularly productive and provided me an unparelled view of how a variety of mental illness/personality disorders impact cognition.
Perhaps the biggest distinguishing feature of the population in this program was that (by and large) we were all self-aware that we were mentally ill and needed help. We had all spent at least a year homeless and most of us had made significant sacrifices to get ourselves onto the waitlist and into the program. As a result frank introspection and reflection on how one's particular illness impacted their experience of reality were commonplace in most* of the group therapy sessions that occurred throughout the week.
*the exceptions were group therapy sessions lead by credentialed individuals who were there to collect a paycheck and punch out. These group sessions were universally terrible.
During this time I reflected very deeply on the various delusions that had ruled my life- as well as how I had managed to time-and-again fall into the exact same dysfunctional social dynamics that I had been trying to escape since adolescence. I started to hone in less on the specifics on the various (often completely contradictory) belief sets I had held- and I began to focus instead on the structure of the story that those beliefs told about the world. I also spent a great deal of time in therapy during this period reflecting very deeply on a few peculiar abuse cycles that had reappeared in each of the various cult-like groups I had been involved with over the years. I began to assemble these ideas initially to help myself understand where I had gone wrong and to prevent myself from falling back into this trap in the future- however I decided to try and form these ideas into a semi-coherent "theory of authoritarianism".
In early 2015 I began to publish portions of these theories on a paywalled webforum, and what followed was an unusual effort in collaboration. I was very upfront about my mental illness, my lack of formal credentials, and my unusual past. A small community of individuals willing to put the time and effort into understanding my (exceedingly rough at the time) explanations of my theories formed, and this began a multi-year dialogue in helping me not only substantially improve my theories- but to find far superior methods of communicating them. (If you've seen the original "Decoding Authoritarians" thread then you know how barely-comprehensible and dense most of it is.) This unusual effort first bore fruit in the form of the creation of this blog in mid 2017, and has now returned (in considerably improved and updated form) in the work you are now reading.
Before I delve into this work though there are a few disclaimers I need to make up front about how I view this work and my purposes here. I am not a scientist and I am not trying to be a scientist- I am the psychological equivalent of a hack working out of their garage. I generally refer to my works as "frameworks" because I do not view them as proper theories, but rather the foundational concepts that a properly credentialed academic/s could use to create a formal* theory.
*and importantly testable/falsifiable
My theories are also still very much works-in-progress; subject to modification based on new/better information or a convincing counterargument. I want to emphasize that invaluable role that good-faith feedback has played in developing my ideas to this point, as well as my hope that good-faith feedback can continue to be a source of improvement for my work in the future. What you see written here then should not be thought as the be-all end-all point for my work, but rather the best formulation of my work that I have yet managed to achieve.
I therefor view this present work in a light akin to how Ben R. Rich saw the development of the SR-71. After months of individual departments working on their own particular piece of the plane he hit a point where he said something to the effect of "Gentlemen we have this plane about 80% figured out, but we won;t figure out the rest until we actually start trying to see how it all fits together". He then ordered his engineers to simply slap everything they had so far together come-what-may. This present work then is my "80% figured out" and I am (more than anything else) trying to lay my ideas out here in as coherent and reasonable a manner as possible- so that 1.) the utility of certain concepts can be utilized by those seeking to understand/resist authoritarianism ("High-compaction" Narrativism appearing within a significant portion of the population of the US)
With all that said I will be making as strong a case as possible for the validity* of my ideas, and I will be investing considerable effort in providing multiple clear-cut examples of each described behavior. (Wherever possible this will be accomplished by posting a right wing example, a left wing example, and a non-political example. This will not always be possible- however as I become aware of new examples from across the ideological spectrum I will be editing this work to add them in**.)
*or at least the potential validity
**If anyone out there is aware of what you feel is a valid example of the concept being described on a particular page (that I have not mentioned), then please list it in the comments and I will investigate and update the page.
One final note before I delve into the fundamental concepts of the Narrativist Framework- from here on out I will be referring to capital N "Narrativists" and it is important to clarify precisely what I am attempting to describe here. Narrativism is a specific behavior pattern (driven by an specific underlying belief structure); Narrativism is not a specific belief. (bolded and underlined for a reason) Narrativism is (and I really must emphasize this) a behavior pattern driven by the adoption of certain subconcious habits of processing information. I call this the "Narrativist" framework because all forms of Narrativism tell a story with a specific, identifiable structure. (
It is more appropriate to conceptualize Narrativism as a behavior pattern that can be spread socially (that is to say, via social interactions) within the context of any particular belief set; something more akin to an invasive parasite that gradually invades, seizes control of, and eventually kills the host. (Where the host here is any ideological group.) Often when Narrativism appears within a group that adheres to a particular ideology- the Narrativists will go to great lengths to distinguish themselves as the only "true" practitioners* of whatever ideology they are invading/misinterpreting.
*and they never ever are
It is my contention throughout this work that any and all ideologies are equally prone to developing Narrativism; because what I am discussing here is a specific behavior pattern- and the potential for developing that behavior pattern resides within all of us. (as described later social factors/social alienation and reliability of access to "Identity-Building Resources"* resources are the primary drivers of Narrativism developing within a given population) Despite the extensive references to political events in the United States throughout this work; Narrativism can also develop in completely apolitical contexts/ideologies**.
*A concept developed in great detail later on- but for now consider an "Identity-Building Resource" to be any resource either required by necessity or social conditions to feel socially normal/accepted. (e.g. both a job and a car were often Identity-Building Resources in the late 90's for middle class white teenagers.)
**For demonstrations of the this particular concept I would cite the infamous "Final Fantasy Seven House", or the "anti-shipping" phenomenon on Tumblr. I regard these both as examples of the basic pattern of Narrativism appearing within completely fictional belief sets; demonstrating the inherently apolitical nature of the behavior pattern being described within this body of work.
Of the particular behaviors that will be described in this work- the most publicly visible/observable behavior a Narrativist* group engages in (to an outsider) is the regular/ritualistic casting out of less extreme members by more extreme members- what I have termed the "Compaction Cycle".
*or a group/ideology that is being gradually infiltrated/taken over by Narrativism. (This process will be extensively discussed in a later section.)
Continue on to part 1: The Compaction Cycle: Decoding the engine of radicalization.
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