What do Marxists, fascists, Islamists and liberals have in common? This is not some cheap joke. There is one thing. They all exaggerate the scale of people’s loyalties, to their class, their race, their faith and, well, their fellow man; everything beyond their families, friends and neighbourhoods. Humans care about these things. They care a lot about them. They tell us who we are and what it means to be alive. But if peoples or if faiths are extended families, ask yourself: how much more do you care about your brother than your second cousin?
Ideologues who ignore this are doomed to frustration. Even Muslims, with their firm, aged, divinely-mandated sense of the oneness of the Ummah, cannot shed their tribal and sectarian impulses. Mass society is a peculiar modern thing. Man cannot be monolithic any more than atomised.
See also, “A Note on Ritual and Scale”.
Wandering Near Sawtry 
As Blake said, “The crow wished everything was black, the owl, that everything was white”.
I guess if you are ideologically committed to a particular world-view and a course of action, then a fantasy that others share them is psychologically advantageous. And note how they all have theories as to why some people are not committed to the same extent. They are victims of a false consciousness, have been “got at” by the media, are less educated or discerning, infected by a meme, or possessed by devils, etc.
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Heh. Indeed. And they mock everyone else’s theories.
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Just seen you “Ritual and Scale” note. Excellent.
Those rituals for people who like people are an absolute joy. I suppose these things resonate when one finds the balance that suits.
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