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Post by the Scribe on Jun 29, 2020 8:15:48 GMT
the DOMINATOR hierarchyconservativemyths.com/Dominator-Hierarchy.html
What ties all conservative issues together? What do they all share? What is the central, but hidden, theme of conservatism? What is it that they are really always "conserving?" This is it!
by Rusticus
Most people are clueless as to the common theme of all conservative ideology. This includes, unfortunately, many very well educated people, even so-called "experts" in the field of sociology, psychology, economics and politics. It is not individual liberty, or small government, or strong military, or low taxes that conservatives enshrine above all, as they often claim. Liberals also believe in these same things, though just not with the same calibration of discernment. There are few liberals who do not want the maximum amount of liberty that the "common good" can withstand, or a larger government than is necessary to operate a huge, complex and powerful state, or a military that is less strong than needed for defense of our county and to assist our allies in times of need, or taxes that are any higher than necessary for the operation of that very large governmental entity and its full responsibilities.
Then what is the common theme to conservatism? To many, including some very erudite conservatives, there is none. They like to believe that conservatism carefully ponders each issue, turning it this way and that to examine its characteristics and qualities, or lack thereof, before making a reasoned judgment and staking a position. Balderdash! The dictionary definition of conservative is one who "conserves" traditional beliefs, customs and institutions. In attempting to understand conservatism we would do well to hew closely to this spot-on and time-honored definition. Perhaps the longest-running institution and tradition in human history is the Dominator Hierarchy (DH). Behind every conservative position, on every issue, lurks its support for the maintenance of one or more of the columns of the Dominator Hierarchy.
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Post by the Scribe on Jun 29, 2020 8:17:30 GMT
What exactly is this "Dominator Hierarchy?"The Dominator Hierarchy is a socioeconomic status ranking system, a continuum or scale, based upon innate and relatively arbitrary individual characteristics, that advantages those with higher ranking and disadvantages, and actually dominates, those people or social groups with lower ranking... including all animals and the rest of the planetary biosphere, which are at the lowest rank. The rankings themselves are not entirely rigid, and become less so the higher the rank. The rewards of higher ranking are substantial: greater socioeconomic privilege, better opportunity and choices, higher self-esteem, advantages which can be parlayed into climbing higher on the scale. Yet the system becomes ever more sticky as it descends, more oppressive, exploitative, unjust, undemocratic, un-American, and contrary to some of the basic principles of every religious system and universal virtue. The DH seemingly endures forever (so far) because it very effectively manipulates the primal emotions of fear, greed and prejudice... and because so many people find it extremely helpful to their own sense of self-worth and that of their clan or "in-group."
The whole Dominator Hierarchy is comprised of at least 10 separate columns or strands of hierarchical domination, nine "human vs human" columns and one very large one involving humans vs nature. Everyone is familiar with these categories, but may never have thought of them as a hierarchy of innate social status and power. Any particular individual can rank relatively high on one strand and rather low on another. So the Dominator Hierarchy is itself a complex system with many working parts leading to great ignorance and confusion, as well as broad acceptance of its hidden-in-plain-sight control and influence in our cultures.
The primary categories are:
1. The gender hierarchy (male subjugating female, cisgender subjugating transgender)
2. The skin tone hierarchy (lighter skin generally valued higher)
3. The wealth hierarchy (the richer the better)
4. The beauty hierarchy (beauty above lesser beauty)
5. The language hierarchy (local language is advantaged)
6. The religious hierarchy (the local religion is dominant and often oppressive)
7. The sexual orientation hierarchy (hetero over anything different)
8. The ability hierarchy (physically or mentally abled over less abled)
9. The age hierarchy (usually older oppressing younger, but sometimes the opposite)
and, of course, the biggest and saddest of all,
10. The matricidal, anthropocentric hierarchy of man over nature.
These are the "Big Nine (human vs. human) plus One (human vs. nature)" columns of advantage and disadvantge, all blending into the overarching socioeconomic Dominator Hierarchy (capitalized because, oh, is it ever a singular and powerful thing) which goes a long way in establishing the totality of our human societies. The strength and power of any particular column will vary from time and place with gender, skin color and wealth being generally the most insidious.
These 10 ways in which the overall Dominator Hierarchy is deployed are so intertwined within human culture that they just seem to blend together and seamlessly with the rest of societal "norms." This blending is how the Dominator Hiearachy as a system of oppression, prejudice and injustice is so well camouflaged that even experts don't recognize it. It's just culture. It's just the way things are. But no, it's not "just culture" or "the way things are." Upon close observation (some of which is occurring now in our societies... i.e. the "Me Too" and "Black Lives Matter" movements), these strands of entrenched and accepted inherited advantage juxtaposed with domination and subjugation are revealed as a long-running pathology, a societal cancer, a malignancy that, in fact, another part of culture's body - liberalism - has been fighting against for millennia. Orienting ourselves to how this back-and-forth struggle has been waged over human history is the key to perceiving the Dominator Hierarchy lurking right under our noses, and still getting away with harming individuals, communities, nations, the human family and the precious planet.
Racism, misogyny and sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, bullying, religious intolerance, subjugating, discriminating against, unkindness or uncaring toward someone for things they cannot control... all of these arise from the Dominator Hierarchy and serve to perpetuate it. Children quickly attune to their parents' emotional disposition and are infected by their culture's patholigies. Most of us have experienced at least some of this oppression, and quite likely intentionally or unintentionally, consciously or unconsciously, participated as oppressor. And that's just us regular folk interacting with one another, routinely engaging in bad behavior and creating an amoral mess. Then stir in the overpowering advantage and privilege of great disparity of wealth. Finally, ladle in a big batch of humanity's self-assumed, speciesist right of "dominion" over the Earth and everything that stands on it, and you have a recipe for, well, the End Times, but before that a whole lot of pain and anguish and sin and misery.
As with most everything in the Universe, the Dominator Hierarchy arrays in a spectrum of intensity and morphs from country to country, culture to culture, era to era, to accommodate localized bias, such as when Islam replaces Christianity as the advantaged and dominant religion, or French replaces English as the priviliged language. The localized DH will be a stronger or weaker brew depending upon societal traditions, orientations, sense and sensibilities. Still, the DH remains remarkably intact, with all the very same categorical advantages in evidence in virtually every culture. For instance, even in countries where dark brown or black skin prevails, it is often the case that the lighter version of these tones is culturally advantaged, such skin color being assumed, in a conveniently self-fulfilling manner, to accompany higher class and power. Such lighter skin tone bias is quite evident in cultures such as India and much of Latin America. The Indian caste system may have started within the skin tone column of the Dominator Hierarchy and then expanded into a ranking system that encompassed virtually every individual and all ways of life. The word varna is used in the oldest Hindu texts to detail such a social stratification system; varna means "color." The caste system is one of the clearest examples of the Dominator Hierarchy, indeed, one of the most onerous and inherently unjust hierarchical systems ever developed by humanity. We can see how it elevates and castigates (the word is related to "caste") each individual based upon sheer circumstances of birth. Upon arrival in the world, individuals are assigned to one of five broad caterories: Brahmins (priests and teachers), Kshatriyas (rulers and warriors), Vaishyas (farmers, traders, merchants), Shudras (laborers), and just for bad measure a lowest class, Dalits (outcasts, "untouchables") who do the dirtiest work. India has tried hard to dismantle this rigid and counter-productive, banning discrimination based upon caste, but it lingers on, perpetuated by those dutiful protectors of bad tradition: conservatives.
Dominator Hierarchy, Indian outcast
An Indian "Dalit," or "untouchable," sweeps the street, and earns public reprehension as his rank within the Dominator Hierarchy of the Indian caste system. Before he took his first breath, his future was shackled by an evil tradition.
The Indian caste system nicely protects and privilges those at the top, safe and secure and enjoying all manner of things that the lower ranks will never experience. Yet, though stark and clear, it is not so very different from the dominating hierarchies in almost every other society. To be sure, many individuals with higher rank never asked for it, don't need it or want it, and may even actively oppose the very concept of such unfair hierarchies. Such selfless persons would usually be liberals. Yet, whether they want the hierarchical advantage or not, they still get it... because it is not up to the individual where they rank, it is up to society as a whole. So long as culture accepts as reasonable these gross disparities in personal worth baesd upon some innate, difficult or impossible to change characteristic, then the dominating hierarchical system continues happily along, dealing a better hand of cards to certain infants right out of the womb and/or largely on the basis of happenstance, while doling out a doleful, pre-determined, disadvantaged struggle for many more others.
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Post by the Scribe on Jun 29, 2020 8:22:34 GMT
Are these hierarchies "natural?"No. Certainly not on the scale they exist in human culture. Now this does not stop the people who love the Dominator Hierarchy from claiming that it is natural. Every single discrimination in the world has been justified because it is the "natural order." But they are wrong. There is no social order in nature remotely as unfair as the human Dominator Hierarchy. Nor were prehistoric human hunter-gatherer societies or even early neolithic towns nearly so laced with subjugation and oppression as the larger societies that would emerge as the agricultural revolution unfolded with mighty chiefdoms and, eventually, empires holding sway.
Don't get your hierarchies confused. It is important to understand that not all hierarchies are dominator hierarchies. Animals that live in groups need a social order. The more intelligent those animals, the more complex that social order may become. Most often a Cooperative Hierarchy (CH) will emerge. These are organizational structures that are helpful to the group as a whole, and usually based upon some sort of meritocracy. We see Cooperative Hierarchies in such social animals as whales, elephants, wolves, horses, elk, parrots, crows and in our closest animal kin, chimpanzees and gorillas. The exact structure of the group can vary between species and even between individual groups. These are hierarchies based on qualities such as competency, talent, skill, leadership. In such hierarchies, though someone may be the "alpha" or "boss," the real purpose is not domination but cooperation; everyone within the hierarchy shares the group's common goal of flourishing, and therefore are all (theoretically) pulling for each other. Though there can be some relatively minor amount of "domination" and "subordination" involved in such a Cooperative Hierarchy, the rankings and positions upon the hierarchy are quite malleable depending upon merit. Upward movement is quite possible, often expected. The runt of a wolf litter can grow to become alpha male or female of the pack.
With each member having a rank within the group, a wolf pack is a hierarchy, but a Cooperative Hierarchy not a Dominator Hierarchy. Every member is beloved and cared for, they all share the same objective, spoils are shared relatively equitably, rankings are flexible, and the omega (last, lowest) can become the alpha (highest).
Cooperative Hierarchies are common in the animal world, and Homo sapiens simply expanded upon the concept through our cultural evolution. Our societies are riddled with hierarchies. Almost every business and governmental enterprise involves a Cooperative Hierarchy. A position on the hierarchy is (theoretically) earned by merit, not by some innate characteristic such as gender or skin color, or possibly totally arbitrary trait such as wealth or religion or language or disability. That's why it can be a shock when someone unqualified somehow breaks through, say the CEO appoints his stupid son as vice-president, or Donald Trump nominates Scott Pruitt as head of the EPA; everyone understands that the meritocracy has been punctured, and substandard performance and damage to the enterprise is likely.
The inferred fairness of a business Cooperative Hierarchy is also seriously called into question when those at the top begin drawing far more than any reasonable merit-based share of reward from the enterprise. In extreme cases, a supposed Cooperative Hierarchy can actually shade into a Dominator Hierarchy-like shop of misery and unhappiness among most of the workers while doltish managers, some with lesser skill and humanity than those they lord over, cavort and splurge on themselves. Yet in a well-run organization there is an expectation within its culture that merit is rewarded and demerit is not; fairness and respect prevails from bottom to top. One may reasonably expect to move up the CH through skillful merit or other aspects of character, and not be held back because of non-goal-related attributes. A buck private can rise to become a general in the military. The mailroom clerk can ascend to become CEO of a company. Someone born black can become President of the United States.
The Dominator Hierarchy is totally different. It has no common purpose or goal that all the members of the hierarchy share. In fact, from top to bottom its members have directly conflicting goals. The Dominator Hierarchy exults in rigged competition, which is largely a zero-sum system (i.e., if I win, you lose). It ranks individuals according to traits which, for the most part, they had little or no choice or control over. It seeks to reward those at the top while punishing those at the bottom. Although upward movement becomes easier as one manages to scratch or scramble to a higher rung. Those who rank higher find it easier to advance, or at least maintain, their rank by using their leverage over those below. But below the higher tiers, the impulse of the Dominator Hierarchy is to fix the worth of the individual permanently. Thus, while the CH unites, the DH aspires to segment and divide. This serves to offer a head-start and continual lesser resistance for those with higher ranking while interjecting obstacle and actual subjugation of those below.
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Post by the Scribe on Jun 29, 2020 8:25:40 GMT
Why is it conservative?The Dominator Hierarchy arose out of human culture as it became more complex. It goes way back thousands of years. It certainly didn't liberate anyone or anything, so it's not liberal. It's based on emotion, primarily the emotions of selfishness and fear. So you can certainly say that in that regard it's traditional. And guess who is enamored of tradition for tradition's sake? That's right, the conservatives.
However it began, conservatives quickly appreciated how useful it could be. It is conservatives who are the force behind the enduring power of the Dominator Hierarchy. The "father of modern conservatism," Edmund Burke, clearly identified it. He did not call it a Dominator Hierarchy, his phrase was a "Chain of Subordination." He heartily approved of this chain, indeed, he thought it was absolutely necessary for an orderly society. Conservatives have always believed that there is a "natural order," in which certain individuals are born to rule, and others are born to serve. This chain of domination turns out to be an extremely important precept of conservative ideology. In fact, the most important. It is from this basic idea that accepts and justifies inequality, superiority and inferiority, that conservatives find a system ideal for their chronic selfishness, greed, prejudice and fear. Unveiled, this is the "tradition" and "institution" that they place at the very center of their mindset and worldview, whether they are consciously aware of it or not. Of course, most are as blind about their support of the Dominator Hierarchy as a fish is of being in water. Such blind fish conservatives are often those who actually rank lower on the Dominator Hierarchy, ignorantly supporting it even though the vast majority of them are penalized, themselves, by the Dominator Hierarchy in one way or another. Meanwhile, most of those higher up on the rankings know exactly what is going on, at least with the strands they rank high upon, and have no interest in loosening the power that keeps them privileged and advantaged.
Liberals, however, even if they have never heard of a Dominator Hierarchy and also don't comprehend the full scope of this institution and tradition, are continually chipping away at its various columns, hoping to at least loosen the bindings. They have done a good job of raising the socioeconomic status of many different groups of people: the poor, women, people of color, workers, consumers, LGBT people, the disabled (physically and mentally), prisoners, as well as animals and the environment itself. Liberals have sought protections and assistance programs for each of these traditionally lower members of the Dominator Hierarchy. They have put cracks in the Dominator Hierarchy, but not yet seen it crumble.
We also clearly see the Dominator Hierarchy weakened or softened in more liberal countries and cultures, while it hardens and strengthens in conservative cultures. Thanks to liberal democratic principles, the Swedish and Dutch Dominator Hierarchies are far fairer than that of the conservative regimes of North Korea or Saudi Arabia or Somalia. But this does not mean that any modern culture is totally without a Dominator Hierarchy. It may be more pliable, equitable and lax in some places, but it is still there... ever being "conserved" by the local conservatives.
The Dominator Hierarchy emerged as human culture became more complex. The first strand to become evident was Man vs. Nature. This is the oldest and worst strand of the DH. After fashioning stone spearpoints and taming fire, our ancient ancestors were ready to start bullying other animals. They occasionally would set the forest and grasslands ablaze to flush out game. They would sometimes send entire herds of animals to their deaths. Staunch ecologists these people were not. They had determined that their own worth was superior to all other forms of life. This belief absolved them of any guilt over their domination of the rest of nature. Sometime later, quite conveniently, their newly invented God confirmed this presupposed truism by giving them "dominion" over the Earth and all its creatures. Humanity has rarely wavered on that long-ago conviction.
Cooperative Hierarchy
Hunter-gatherer social order is a Cooperative Hierarchy, not a Dominator Hierarchy.
The basic early human group of around 50 individuals or less was likely rather egalitarian in social structure, not terribly dissimilar to those of hunter-gatherer bands living today. Females often have more rights in these groups than they do in modern democracies, much less in the conservative theocracies of Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan. Things were mostly peaceful within the group. There may well have been strife between distinct groups. Somehow the other species of Homo went extinct. Was this because sapiens killed them, out-competed them, or wiped them out through disease? No one knows for sure, but there is little evidence for warfare among early human groups or even involving the first small towns. Indeed, there is much evidence that they peacefully traded with each other. Of course, they were all still busy wiping out animals species, while capturing and enslaving some other animal types. The Man over Nature strand of the Dominator Hierarchy was thriving.
Human domination strands of the Dominator Hierarchy come fully into view around the time of the Agricultural Revolution. Suddenly, instead of small bands where everyone is more or less equal in most ways, human social order morphs to include hundreds, even thousands or tens of thousands of individuals, now separated into specific task-groups, the vast majority being assigned the job of manual labor. Although these planters of seed and laborers of the pyramids were ostensibly entangled in the same cultural goal, principally its survival, they were infinitely less privileged than those lucky ones at the top of the hierarchy, utterly oppressed, abused, stolen from and quickly sacrificed if need be by their "superiors." They had become pawns and chattel that the old hunter-gatherer clans could not have imagined. Slavery arrives in human culture at the same time. The Cooperative Hierarchy between members of the same clan had been contorted into the Dominator Hierarchy of the age of "civilization." It is from this starkly divided cultural "tradition" that the Dominator Hierarchy became so omnipresent and pervasive in almost every human society.
And so the Dominator Hierarchy was passed down through the ages, enforced by ever increasing technology, becoming more complex as populations grew and new challenges and existential threats emerged. These dominating systems were willingly accepted by a critical mass of the citizens of each culture, all of these people expecting some gain from their participation in the domination, whether it be material gain, social status, self identification as part of the great culture/nation and/or the safety and security the culture could provide from the many dangers of the outside world.
Just as with those peasants and pharaohs of the Agricultural Revolution, the modern Dominator Hierarchy is based largely on no real merit or virtue, but rather the luck of the draw, happenstance. If you are lucky enough to be born into a "superior" culture, in a "superior" gender, with "superior" toned skin and perhaps other attractive (i.e. "superior") and adequately functional features and abilities (certainly superior to those which may be disfunctional), congratulations, you are one day old and you just won the lottery.
Even in America, supposedly the land of the free and equal, if you are born female, black, poor, gay or transgender, ugly, handicapped, of the wrong religion, or can't speak English, the Dominator Hierarchy will assign you to a lower rank on these specific scales. Every other culture has a similar Dominator Hierarchy scheme, some looser, some tighter. In many countries, God help you if you are a poor, black, gay, ugly, handicapped, female of the wrong religion and unable to speak the local language. You are friggin' screwed! While if you are born male, light skinned, handsome, wealthy, straight, believe in the dominant religion, speak the privileged language and are able-bodied, why you just won your ticket to the tippy-top of the Dominator Hierarchy. Don't waste the grand privilege, son. Start dominating! You may well get away with it. Your papas and grand-papas and great-grand-papas sure did.
Every human being in the world today is enmeshed in these various dominator hierarchies, whether they want to be or not. It's not simply tyranny of the majority: often a smaller minority dominates a larger majority, as with wealth over lesser wealth, beauty over lesser beauty or even male over female. There are more women in the world than men, but that doesn't stop men from trying to dominate them. It's everywhere. It's inescapable. It's unfair. It's uncivilized. And it's downright mean. If you are of lower rank on multiple strands of the human Dominator Hierarchy, even as an omega, last in line, you would be more free and more equal in that wolf pack... by far.
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Post by the Scribe on Jun 29, 2020 8:29:04 GMT
"I Earned My Prestige and Privilege!" Now wealthy people may immediately object and claim they weren't given this advantage and prestige, they earned it. Actually, most them didn't. The majority of wealthy people inherit their wealth, and with their money most if not all of their power and prestige. Sure, they may add to their fortune and fame, as Mitt Romney and Donald Trump have, but they received advantages all along that the average person can only dream of.
You've probably heard the baseball analogy: "that guy was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple." It's largely true. If not third base, then perhaps they were born on second or first base, or thanks to Daddy's influence all the players in the field are playing ultra-soft, letting little junior think he got a hit with a slowly rolling grounder that the shortstop somehow muffs (wink-wink). That was George W. Bush, as, with Daddy's pulling of strings, he squeaked into Yale and then Harvard, cut in line to get into the Texas Air National guard and thus skip out on going to the Vietnam War, and was continually rewarded as he bankrupted three different oil companies. Meanwhile, the folks who get no help from the trust fund or other familial connections, must stand at the home plate in the game of "success" and face the 100-mile per hour fastballs and wicked curveballs coming at them from capricious culture. It's a rigged game, and the wealthier and better connected you or your family are, the easier it is to play.
A recent study by United for a Fair Economy did some research into this and found that just 35 percent of the Forbes 400 (all billionaires) came from a background where they had to face the heat. Sixty percent of them enjoyed "substantial privilege" from childhood. It broke down to about 22 percent of these richest people were born on first base, around 11.5 percent opened their eyes on second base, and seven percent came out with their thumb in their mouth on third base. Wait, that leaves over 20 percent of these billionaires unaccounted for. What is their background? Oh right... these people were born on home base, not up to bat... but scoring bigtime as they came out bloody and screaming into the world! They each inherited over a billion dollars!.
So much for the "It's my money; I earned it," mantra we hear from so many filthy rich people.
Rich Jerk, Dominator HierarchyBut, hey, let's give him the benefit of the doubt and say Mr. Rich really did lift himself up by his bootstraps. Good for him. Now he's ready to be a dominator, himself. Getting into the rich club not just gives you more money, it gives you more benefits all around, it gives you more prestige; it gives you ever-increasing advantage over competitor and partner alike. You would not believe how much free stuff these millionaires and billionaires get. You may be able to imagine the slavish attention and adoration they receive. They have beautiful women (or sometimes men) throwing themselves at them, they have bankers begging them to take more money, they have tony clubs ofering them free membership, fancy restaurants offer them prime tables and, often, complimentary dinner and drinks, they get free stuff like cars, clothes and gadgets from companies interested in the publicity their promotion may generate. They love being acknowledged as a V.I.P. - "Very Important person," the subtext of which is that most of us are wholly unimportant. Then, of course, we all know wealth comes with power... power over individual people, and power within society. Indeed, the wealthy do not belong to the society we do; they belong to an alternative society, the society of the beautiful people, the society of privilege. They waltz through culture as if they were a Mughal raja. They skip to the head of the TSA line at the airport, and then board their own planes; they disregard misdemeanor laws because the fines are nothing to them, take full advantage of a legal system that tilts very favorably to the rich, they pay far less percentage tax than you do - in fact they quite likely pay no taxes at all - and, of course, if they want they can buy off a politician, or two, or three, or a whole political party. Now Mr. Rich can say he's a self-made man, but he would never have the kind of wealth and privilege without the entire structure of society itself... and now that he's made it, if he's indulging in all of these many privileges unavailable to the common man, then he is a full player in the Dominator Hierarchy. It is the very rare wealthy bird who can turn away from the temptation to luxuriate in this panoply of privilege.
The top level of any strand of the Dominator Hierarchy percolates in its own privilege and presumed superiority. This entire upper region of the hieararchy becomes an echo-chamber, a feedback loop, of belief and behavior. It's very remindful of the cliques of middle or high school, which often feature vicious "micro" Dominator Hierarchies. The wealthy keep to themselves, hoard their assets, and calculate their worth. The beautiful people keep to themselves and contemplate their gorgeousness. Males dominate females, or at least try to... their self-esteem in the making. "Thank you, God, for not making me a woman," the old Jewish prayer, could serve as the mantra for every man who revels in his dominator status. Whites congregate together with a knowing wink concerning their self-evident superiority, even if some would be abashed to openly discuss such closely held beliefs. Religions are based on their superiority to rival religions, while sects within a religion bicker about their own proclaimed righteousness. And just about everyone indulges in an ocean of blood in gobbling down billions of innocent animals each year (and altogether killing around a TRILLION per year), while continuing consumptive behavior that is burning and choking the entire biosphere.
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Post by the Scribe on Jun 29, 2020 8:32:06 GMT
What Are Some Real World Examples of the Dominator Hierarchy & How Conservatives Conserve It?
Pick an issue that conservatives are adamant about. Go ahead. Any issue.
Civil Rights? Conservatives have opposed civil rights, i.e. equal rights for African Americans, Native Americans, gays, transgender and other racial or ethnic minorities. This is conserving primarily the skin tone strand of the Dominator Hierarchy, but also includes the gender, religion, language and sexual orientation strands.
Equal Rights for Women? The conservatives oppose equal rights for women. Here they are conserving the gender strand of the Dominator Hierarchy.
Gun control? Conservatives oppose gun control legislation. They think they may need their guns to protect... the Dominator Hierarchy and their ranking upon it from external threat. Conservatives are very fearful people, at odds with the world because of their Dominator Hierarchy. How are they going to defend their "way of life" (i.e. the Dominator Hierarchy) without serious weaponry? They also need guns to confront nature, thus conserving the man over nature strand of the Dominator Hierarchy. They love shooting and killing things, and don't want anything interfering with their "sport" of killing any animal that wanders into their sights.
Taxes? The conservative stance on taxes is that they don't want to pay them. They support other people paying taxes, just not them. This is true of SoCon and CorpCon. Here they are conserving the wealth strand of the Dominator Hierarchy. You've heard them say, "It's my money; I earned it; why should the government take it." No matter how much, or how little wealth they actually have, they know that someone wants to take it... probably the government... and they are determined to resist. Another reason they love their guns.
Environmental Protections? Conservatives generally oppose environmental protections, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Endangered Species Act. Here they are conserving the man over nature strand, and to a lesser degree, the wealth strand in the false belief that environmental protections harm business and the economy.
Deregulation? Conservatives are for deregulation, of just about any kind. They believe government should put no constraints on business or industry. Here they are conserving the wealth strand of the Dominator Hierarchy, even though only a tiny percentage of CorpCons will benefit from such deregulation while the bulk of conservatives will actually be harmed by it. But whatever position liberals take on any issue, SoCons will fall in line with their CorpCons "superiors" in solidarity to conserve the Dominator Hierarchy. This is one of the most stupid, self-defeating things they could possibly do... but that's the power and toxic appeal of the Dominator Hierarchy.
Legal Abortion? Conservatives are against abortion in general, many opposed to any kind of abortion. Here they flip-flop on their supposed (but fake) opposition to Big Government, wanting it to impose a tenet of their dominant religious system upon all of society. Here they are conserving both the Male over Female gender strand of the Dominator Hierarchy, as well as the dominant religion strand.
Healthcare? Coneservatives believe that government should not be involved with healthcare, and that it should be managed entirely by for-profit corporations, including Big Pharma and Big Insurance. Here they are conserving the wealth strand of the Dominator Hierarchy, again, which benefits only the CorpCon and will end up sending many SoCons into bankruptcy and/or an early grave. Again, the Dominator Hierarchy demonstrates its amazing manipulative power to convince individuals to believe (and vote) against their own, real, best interests.
Gays? The conservative stance on homosexuality is that it is a sin. This supposedly comes from the Bible, even though Jesus considered the subject so unimportant he didn't mention it. Here conservatives are conserving both the sexual orientation strand and the dominant religion strand of the Dominator Hierarchy, determined to impose their religious views on this long-oppressed minority.
Transgender Rights? As they have with all formerly marginalized or oppressed groups, conservatives oppose extending equal right to transgender individuals. Here they are conserving the gender strand of the Dominator Hierarchy, and some believe that transgender people are also transgressing God's will, so conserving the dominant religion strand comes into play.
The Americans with Disabilities Act? Conservatives are opposed to any governmental interference with the free market and individual liberties. Here they are conserving both the wealth strand and the ability strand of the Dominator Hierarchy. Why should a business have to put in costly ramps and elevators to accommodate those in wheelchairs and otherwise disabled? Of course, these costs will simply be passed on to the consumer, and why would consumers want to pay for this either? Disabled people should simply take responsibility for their disability and stay away from dominant culture.
War? Conservatives are often in favor of going to war... except, perhaps, if the liberals want it... then they may well oppose it because they cannot support anything that the would-be destroyers of the Dominator Hierarchy support. But normally they are, literally, gun-ho! (pun intended) for war. Depending upon the particular circumstance of the war, such wars may involve the wealth strand of the profiteers (almost invariably conservative corporations such as Halliburton, General Electric, Raytheon, Blackwater, etc.), with potential mixing of skin tone, religious, language and even beauty (because the enemy is invariably ugly) strands into a toxic mix of sicko patriotic conservation of the Dominator Hierarchy. And, of course, nature always takes a beating in war, so that's an added bonus for the conservative mind.
See? Every issue, no matter how dissimilar it may be from some other issue, dovetails right back into conservation of some aspect of the Dominator Hierarchy, if not defense of the entire DH itself.
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Post by the Scribe on Jun 29, 2020 8:35:59 GMT
"Why Doesn't the Dominator Hierarchy Crash and Burn?"
It may someday, but not yet. The resilience of the Dominator Hierarchy is largely explained by how well it works for a critical mass of people. It's not just the toppermost of each strand who benefit. Many of those far lower in the rankings still perceive they are superior to someone, and that makes the hierarchy itself valuable to them. First off, if they are male, they have already won one Dominator Hierarchy strand's lottery. What male in their right mind would willingly give up innate superiority over more than half of the world's population? Well, OK, any male with "right mind" would do this, but that leaves out all greedy and needy men, which accounts for most of them. So the male over female strand of the Dominator Hierarchy is still going strong well into the 21st Century. Who with greater wealth would not want it to count for more than those with lesser wealth? I don't need a billion dollars; if I have 100,000 and you have 50,000, hey, I'm the more successful, i.e. superior, person. The beautiful people know who they are, because everyone tells them, and thoroughly enjoy the wealth of prestige and privilege this brings them. Two people of the same gender interview for a job; all things else being equal, the more attractive person gets the job. White people have advantages, well, everywhere, all the time. Such people have every selfish reason for wanting such privilege to continue unabated.
So it turns out that billions of people have some stake in conserving the Dominator Hierarchy.
You can can rank lower on one strand but higher on another, and thus not be motivated to attack the overall Dominator Hierarchy. If you are a woman, but you are rich and/or beautiful... you have a place of superiority. If you are a woman and poor and brown, but you are of the right religion, you still may find a position of some superiority somewhere in a society where that religion has some built-in advantages. And so it goes.
So we see that the Dominator Hierarchy is self-reinforcing. Even individuals well below the halfway mark on some strands find it useful because they are still way above many others. And even if you are disadvantaged in one strand, you may be privileged in another. Only if you score lower across all strands will you find that society continually attempts to thwart your progress. But hey, you still have nature to dominate. And isn't that fun?
It is certainly not just conservatives who actively support and are advantaged by the Dominator Hierarchy. What differentiates liberals is that they at least sometimes, on some issues, break with the DH and even constrain their own advantage by opposing its ranking system. It is liberal ideology that stands up to defend women, racial and ethnic minorities, the disabled, the freedom to worship or not worship as you see fit. It is liberal ideology that seeks to nurture and defend nature. And it is only liberal ideology that has ever been interested in taming wealth and power.
What we can say is that when liberals support any aspect of the Dominator Hierarchy they have become conservative in that regard. They are no longer liberals because liberality does not accept the basic inequality and subjugation of the Dominator Hierarchy, or the concept of "merit" based on unearned attributes inherited from birth.
But conservatism does. Sure enough, conservatives are far more adamant about supporting every single strand of the Dominator Hierarchy. Indeed, it is the Dominator Hierarchy that gives conservatives their name. They are conservatives. What is it they are conserving? The dictionary says tradition. But that's not quite right. There are traditions, like truth and virtue and compassion, and our planet home, that they have shown complete disregard for on a regular basis. It is one "tradition" in particular: the Dominator Hierarchy. In almost every case of their passion, every issue, if you peel back the outer covering you will find a strand, or several strands entwined, of the Dominator Hierarchy snarling back at you that conservatives wish to conserve.
So this is the one essential "traditional value" that conservatives desperately wish to conserve. They take their one great idea - that Some Things Need to Be Conserved - and pervert it on preserving - at all costs - the Dominator Hierarchy... and anything that goes along with it, while opposing anything that might threaten it.
Unfortunately, for them, the opposing force is commonly known as "progress." What we see through the long lens of history is that the Dominator Hierarchy, itself, has to evolve with the changes. Since the Enlightenment, in particular, the DH has been hit hard. Science has pummeled it into begrudging admission that many of its most precious tenets are based on nothing but myth. Meanwhile the rise of democracy has provided a multi-front governmental and legal attack that has rendered it much less poisonous than it used to be. Alas, this has not helped the millions who still live in totalitarian dictatorships or theocracies around the world, still enmeshed in the Dominator Hierarchy's full decadence.
Racism equals the Dominator HierarchyEven in liberal democracies, however, the Dominator Hierarchy is still defiantly hurtful. But as "universal values" slowly but surely replace "traditional values" in human culture, the DH will continue to soften and shrink in power. From the vantage point of our modern Western democracies, we can look back at human history and see chunks of the old Dominator Hierarchy lying as junk along the side of the road - officially santioned slavery, the divine right of kings, utter female subjugation, indentured servitude and utter subjugation of workers, child labor, debtor's prison, abject persecution of indigenous peoples, segregation, lynchings, banning of interracial marriages, thoughtless pollution, wanton extermination of species. So we know we are making progress. The old Dominator Hierarchy ain't what it used to be. But look! Here come the conservatives running after the ship of progress with pieces of junk that we thought we had jettisoned that they are determined to reattach: sexism, racism, voter suppression, limiting contraceptives, making abortion illegal, white supremacy, the divine right of corporations (the new kings), and more. They just won't quit. They are programmed to protect the Dominator Hierarchy, and slander everything that opposes it as "liberal lunacy," "communism," or "political correctness."
If they could, they would restore the Dominator Hierarchy fully, complete with a strong authoritarian at the tippy-top, an aristocracy, a merged church and state, and putting women, the poor, and all "others" back in "their places," the old term for their lower ranking on the Dominator Hierarchy. Some would welcome the return of slavery. There are still places like this in the world. Think Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea... yes, all socially conservative theocracies or dictatorships... precisely what many American conservatives would leap at the opportunity to transform our country into.
There is nothing preventing them from doing so except real American values... and a critical mass of people determined to "conserve" them. These would be liberals, and the "moderates" and "conservatives" who are a lot more liberal than they think. You see, knowing what to "conserve" is something liberals do far better than conservatives. It has been liberals who have "conserved" universal values such as love and compassion and forgiveness, truth, integrity, honor, equinimity, thoughtfulness, creativity, rationality and wisdom down through the ages. It has been liberals who have staunchly advanced American values of liberty, equality, justice for all and pursuit of happiness. Conservatives have a clear record of deceit, distortion, bullying and violence, and conserved only one thing, something that opposes and is opposed by all universal values and virtues: the Dominator Hierarchy.
There is every good reason to believe that liberals and their allies will prevail. In particular we place great expectation upon the younger generations who are not rotely buying into many of the "traditional values" of conservatism. As our human cultures continue to intertwine and cooperate, we can predict that tensions will lessen, and thus the "fear factor" so important to keeping the Dominator Hierarchy in business will fade, as too may the greedy materialism and selfishness that has never proven to be the true pathway to personal or collective happiness. It may seem we are in a dark time now of conservative ascendancy. But it's highly probable that this is a very temporary setback. The ARC (accelerating rate of change) is bending strongly toward liberal values. Unless something goes terribly wrong, that ARC should only pick up momentum in our favor.
So the dream is that today's still harsh and strict disparity of opportunity, justice, compassion, and ability to pursue happiness, will continue to contract, and just like the kings and lords of old, the dominators of today will find themselves melded back into a far more egalitarian culture in the not-too-distant future.
Now you know about the Dominator Hierarchy. You are in better position to witness how conservatives rally to "conserve" one or more of its strands time and again, and how liberals and their allies continually push to limit its injustice. Now you are better able to assess how you and your family and friends participate in, benefit, or are punished, by the great Dominator Hierarchy, a hurtful system of conservative "traditional values."
What are you going to do about it, yourself? Are you part of the problem, or part of the solution? We need as many good hearts and clear minds as possible to figure out what is going on, examine their own beliefs and behavior, apply discernment and then assist in pushing our cultures forward into a better future for all of humanity and the rest of the living beings on this planet.
It's very easy to orient yourself. Remember that liberals liberate; conservatives conserve. What do liberals liberate? Universal values. What do conservatives conserve? Traditional values... wrapped up a nice tidy package that can be described as the Dominator Hierarchy.
Any time you support the Dominator Hierarchy, you are a conservative. Anytime you oppose the Dominator Hierarchy, you are a liberal. If you want to be on the side of truth, justice and the American Way, fight a monster, and be on the winning side in the end, join with us. There is one thing that the Dominator Hierarchy fears the most... the first words in the U.S. Constitution: We the People! If the people of America, or better still, the world, ever unite. The Dominator Hierarchy, and conservatism with it, are toast.
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