Ideology: A weapon of mass destruction

Excerpt from the newest City-State Short story. It has no title as of yet. But the message is clear…

Ignatius Chessolm was Supreme Judge Harkin’s mentor in the super-secretive Cult of Ultros. Here is what Chessolm said to Harkin about the use of ideology to control the people.

“But there are those in City-State who choose to actually be human. They choose to use their minds and think. We have to control these people more so than the masses. People who think are dangerous. They become human. They start to innovate, create, invent, and before you know it, mankind is on its way to becoming a thriving race.”

“How do we stop them from thinking?” Harkin queried, concerned.

“By making them think they are thinking, when they actually aren’t!”

“Ideology,” Harkin replied.

“Yes,” Chessolm smiled. “Thinking for yourself is hard work. That’s why we offer the somewhat- intelligent-but-too-lazy-to-actually-think people an ideology. Ideology is easy. Thinking is difficult. Ideology pre-provides you the causes of all the problems in the world, so you don’t have to find them out for yourself. Ideology also gives you a list of all the solutions to all the problems in the world, so you don’t have to worry about coming up with them yourself. You see? You’re somewhat intelligent. You can see that these problems are the real problems. And that these solutions are the real solutions. You’re smart, you know this. There is no need to look elsewhere. You’ve found the right answer.

“Once you’ve adopted an ideology, life becomes less about identifying real problems and more about eliminating anything that defies your ideology. Anything that defies the ideology is a problem, and the solution is your ideology. We call it ‘spin.’ Anyone who doesn’t go along with your ideology is unintelligent. Anyone who defies your ideology is suspicious. Why can’t they see that your ideology is the only solution? Ah, it’s because you’re smarter than they are. They just don’t understand. They need your ideology. Even if they don’t want it.”

“Now you’ve adopted an ideology and determined that everyone else needs your ideology, you have to use the power of the government to force others to adopt your ideology. It’s the only way you can save them. They won’t accept it willingly, because they are not as smart as you. They must have it rammed down their throats in order to understand how great it is.”

“Which ideology does this to people?” Harkin asked.

“All of them,” laughed Chessolm. “They all do. That’s why it’s such a beautiful weapon. I could explain this to the Senate and the political elites and they would simply assume I was talking about the other political parties. Conservatives, Progressive, Liberals, all of them are guilty of this behavior. And all of them see the others doing it, but they never see themselves doing it.

“Which brings me to my last point about this incredible weapon. The most important aspect of any ideology, is to demonize, belittle, and fight against the other ideologies. Each ideology has such a narrow view of the world, that they can’t see the whole picture. They can’t see that they are being used to tear this country apart. They think the other ideologies are trying to tear the country apart, but not themselves. Remember: It’s always them. Always they. Never me. Never us. We aren’t destroying the country. They are.”

A valuable lesson…