The power of the ideology
Why is it that the people who are most successful are the ideologists and why do they fall so far from their ideal?
Che Guevara and Fidel Castro
First and foremost you may, or may not, have noticed that the blog recently changed its name to ‘the thought foundation’. Previously the title had just been a placeholder but in this new name I think there is a reflection of what I am really interested in writing about. The thought foundation is about this blog being a place to produce thoughts, a place that earth can be washed to reveal rough diamonds. It isn’t a place where the final answer can ever be found. It is the beginning of the conversation and not the end.
As well as the new name there will be a slight change in writing style (if I can achieve it). Hopefully there will be far more first person writing and far more of a personal style. It will obviously be on a trial basis. Expect more conjecture, expect more philosophy and expect more drivel.
It seems to me, anyone who really did anything had an ideology. Whether it was a revolutionist or a political reformer, I think what drives people to seek ultimate authority is the power to implement an ideology. I know for my own experience the times when I look to put myself in a position of power it’s because there are things I wish to change. I think successful people (in terms of leaders) are bigger picture thinkers which means that they like to take a root and branch approach to life. Editing the small things in life does not work if you are looking to implement big change. Therefore we have the basic need to develop an ideology.
Think of a tree, if it produces bad fruit you look at the roots. If a house is falling to bits the first thing you look at is the foundations. This is where ideologies come from. An ideology is simply the world-view that seeks to apply a whole ‘ground up’ approach. Ideologies like the green movement say that from the ground up it is important to value the earth and its resources. Political ideologies like socialism say that you build your world-view based on treating everybody with dignity and respect.
The trouble is, we have to ask ourselves are ideologies tenable. Is it possible to build a government using green ideology. Is it possible to build a society around socialism for example.
I think it is.
I think it becomes harder and harder, I think you only have to look at communism to see where people have tried to build a socialist society but failed. I think that the effort you need to put in at day one is nothing compared with the effort you need to put in at day one thousand but I still think it’s possible.
I think that there are some ideologies that are worth fighting for and they can be realised without the need for compromise.
I guess we fall so far from the original idea when we become too lazy to fight. With the exception of ideologies that include racism or other negative qualities as central tenants I’m not sure that anyone sets out to be malicious. Yet it seems when people reach power they struggle to do everything they can to hold onto it and never realise their ambition. In that respect I guess that is what happens when you put the weak in charge. They don’t have enough strength to hold onto their idea and so they let it go and seek other things to motivate them with power itself becoming the primary idol.
I guess ultimately it has to be about the idea and not about you. It has to be bigger than you and to has to be self selling.
You cannot be the idea.
Martin Luther King was not equality. Neither was Nelson Mandela. I guess in some sense it is only worth fighting for an ideology that doesn’t need fighting for. If your ideology is too complicated or difficult for people to understand and agree with you are either a genius or you are wrong. The thoughts we think, if they are worth thinking, should be able to stand on their own. This does not mean we do not justify them. Without explanation our thoughts are meaningless to both ourselves and society and we should strive to explain ourselves as much as possible for our own refinement and for the broadening to those we converse with.
I guess we need to be people with an ideology, people who have thought about what we want the world to look like. I do not believe it is justifiable to not have a world-view, pragmatism is just another way of saying mentally lazy. If you are not thinking you are not choosing to live in this world but merely just to exist. If we do not wish to change the world we see then there is something wrong with us. Let’s start with an ideology that is worth fighting for and be strong enough to hold on.
