Some time ago, I posted on how persuasion works (both self-persuasion and persuasion from without). My goal was to explore in part why otherwise rational people can come to the point where they believe in the very core of their being in really weird things (like extraterrestrial visitations, crop circles and that the earth is flat). And, of course, why people can persuade themselves that a utopian world based on the notion of Animal Rights is possible, much less desirable.
In short, the answer to why people believe weird things lies in a mixture of inclinations and tendencies that are part of being a human (i.e. there is a biological basis for coming to believe weird things), and specific techniques that hucksters can and do use to exploit that biology. I based that post on the exceptionally good article by Anthony Pratkanis entitled: "How to Sell a Pseudoscience."
In a new book entitled "Intellectual Morons: How Ideology Makes Smart People Fall for Dumb Ideas" Daniel J. Flynn explores the role of ideology in blinding otherwise intelligent people to facts and logic (he includes a chapter on Animal Rights and Eco-extremist ideology), even when such blindness arguably directs true believers towards self-destruction (see his thoughts on RatherGate below). This is from a review of Flynn's book:
When ideology is your religion and truth becomes just a matter of opinion, anything goes. "There is great danger when lies are institutionalized as truth," asserts Daniel J. Flynn.
In his new book, Intellectual Morons, Flynn provides us with abundant examples of dangerous ideas that intellectual "gurus" have dreamt up and convinced others to embrace. He exposes a number of cognitive elites whose "idiotic theories, beliefs, and opinions" have attained mythological status, despite the lack of objective and rational analysis of these ideologies' origins and implications. In lifting the veil of secrecy and ignorance surrounding these individuals, Flynn provides a clear and sobering look into the madness and hypocrisy lurking in the minds and pasts of these demagogues.
Intellectual dishonesty and duplicity exist across the ideological spectrum, alleges Flynn. He argues that the problem is not so much a political leaning as a lack of rational thought and ignorance of the truth. However, with such a large volume of lunacy coming from the Left, Flynn cannot be faulted for including many more examples of liberal idiocy in his analysis. . . .
Flynn's comments during a recent interview are of more interest to me than the review because they give me some insight into how his mind works:
FP: What motivated you to write this book? What, in general, has led to your interest in the Left and in its mindset?
Flynn: My purpose in writing Intellectual Morons is to get more people to think with their brain rather than their ideology.
The endless stream of recent scandals involving intellectuals rationalizing dishonesty in the service of a cause—Rigoberta Menchu, Betty Friedan, Michael Bellesiles, etc.—motivated me to write the book. It’s one thing for used car salesmen or politicians to lie. It’s sort of a staple of those trades. But the mission of the scholar is to find the truth. Unfortunately, truth has taken a back seat to political agendas among intellectuals.
My specific interest in the Left stems from the Right’s general disinterest in the Left. Outside of conservatives who once were on the Left—like the publisher of this site—there aren’t a lot of people on the Right who really know a whole lot about the Left. Intellectual Morons vaccinates readers against getting sucked into ideologies and gives them a better understanding of Marcuse, Foucault, Derrida, Chomsky, and other figures of great influence.
FP: If it is possible to say so briefly, why do supposedly smart people fall for stupid ideas?
Flynn: The main idea behind Intellectual Morons is that ideology acts as a mental straitjacket. It blinds adherents to reality, breeds fanaticism, and rationalizes dishonesty. It makes smart people stupid.
It doesn’t matter how intelligent you are if you don’t use your brain. Intelligent people aren’t necessarily rigorous thinkers. In fact, many of them are mentally lazy. Ideology provides a way for lazy people to respond to issues, ideas, people, and events without thinking. For the ideologue, ideology is the Rosetta Stone of everything. Why think when the system provides all the answers? Ideology is attractive to smart people because it flatters them by suggesting that a single idea from the mind of an intellectual has the power of explaining all of history or ordering the affairs of whole nations. No person is that smart; no idea that good.
FP: How do you think the Rathergate scandal meshes with the thesis of your book?
Flynn: My book is about how ideology overrides common sense among intellectuals. The Rathergate scandal is about how ideology overrides common sense among newsmen. The pattern is the same. The players are different.
How did a massive news organization with enormous resources and all that manpower miss something that lone bloggers exposed almost immediately? The answer is that the CBS eye was blinded by ideology. CBS’s documents purporting to show Texas Air National Guard officers feeling pressured to sanitize George W. Bush’s service record are as real as Harry Potter. Rather and company believed the documents were real because they wanted to believe the documents were real. Had they come across information damaging to John Kerry, they would have acted in a more careful manner. If Dan Rather’s reaction—stonewalling, belittling opponents, avoiding the charges—seems more appropriate for a partisan than of an objective newsman, maybe it’s because Dan Rather is more of a partisan than an objective newsman.
[ . . . ]
FP: What would be your definition of “intellectual moron”?
Flynn: An intellectual moron is someone who squanders his superlative cognitive abilities by relying on ideology rather than his mind to do his thinking. . . .
I haven't read the book myself, but what I see in this interview and what I've read in a variety of reviews of the book lead me to believe that I'd find much in it to agree with.
For example, and with particular reference to Animal Rights, Flynn and his interviewer touch on the matter of the appeal of the socialist, egalitarian ideal, a utopian goal for human society where inequality, and with it injustice, cease to exist. The result is that the world becomes a far kinder, gentler place.
If you think about it, Animal Rights is egalitarianism on steroids - the Animal Rights people have simply invited non-humans into the utopian nest.
In any event, this is what Flynn says about utopia:
Flynn: The idea that man can be perfected is the most dangerous delusion. Whether it's an Islamic terrorist attempting to establish Allah's earthly kingdom, a Nazi believing that a perfect race of men can be created, or a Communist looking to make Heaven on Earth, the motivation of these fanatics is the same. They are all utopians.
The road to heaven on earth always seems to detour to hell on earth. If you really believe that your ideology will bring salvation to humanity, what would you be willing to do to impose this world-saving idea? Would you be willing to lie? To kill? Looking back on the last hundred years, the answer too often is yes. When you're building utopia, all is permitted. No end is greater, so no means can be too base to get there. . . .
In the past, I've talked about useful idiots a number of times (for example, link, link, link), and I think there's a lot of overlap between those I call "useful idiots" and Flynn's "Intellectual Morons." Both groups are blinded by ideology to the point where they believe passionately in weird things. Their beliefs won't be swayed by logic or facts, because they know they're right, and the depth of their beliefs, their certainty that they are right, leads them to engage in one-dimensional behavior - behavior that ignores alternatives - that may well end up being counter-productive if not self-destructive. Both groups find it remarkably easy to ignore massive inconsistencies in their world view, some of which contradict the fundamental concept of their ideology (Animal Rights true believers advocate spaying and neutering).
Of course, there are differences: my useful idiots tend more towards overt violence, and are not "big names." The intellectual morons are by definition well-known, and they are not prone to doing violence themselves, merely providing a philosophical basis that justifies it before the fact and apologizes for it after.
Food for thought.
Brian