"...emotions are bad and unreliable and that people who are emotional aren't as trustworthy..."
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RE: https://anarres.family/@faithisleaping/115916052253422801
"...emotions are bad and unreliable and that people who are emotional aren't as trustworthy..."
That's the external wrapper that society places this inside but the subtext is this:
Emotions are bad, except that anger is an allowable and understandable emotion for men/boys and is seen as a logical, rational center of motivation. Other emotions are suspect but anger is acceptable.
That's because anger is an emotional primer for violence and violence is a useful tool for dominance over others.
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RE: https://anarres.family/@faithisleaping/115916052253422801
"...emotions are bad and unreliable and that people who are emotional aren't as trustworthy..."
That's the external wrapper that society places this inside but the subtext is this:
Emotions are bad, except that anger is an allowable and understandable emotion for men/boys and is seen as a logical, rational center of motivation. Other emotions are suspect but anger is acceptable.
That's because anger is an emotional primer for violence and violence is a useful tool for dominance over others.
If you're going to have a tightly controlled patriarchal, social hierarchy, then you need easily manipulable enforcers of that hierarchy.
So, you strip away a person's emotions, that might reorient a human being in ways a social system can't control, and you leave them with a narrow band of emotions: anger and rage, and their cousin, hatred.
These are very useful. These emotions can be used to plug people into a hierarchy with violence and dominance directed downward.
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If you're going to have a tightly controlled patriarchal, social hierarchy, then you need easily manipulable enforcers of that hierarchy.
So, you strip away a person's emotions, that might reorient a human being in ways a social system can't control, and you leave them with a narrow band of emotions: anger and rage, and their cousin, hatred.
These are very useful. These emotions can be used to plug people into a hierarchy with violence and dominance directed downward.
This kind of narrowing of emotion to a narrow band of dominance/violence oriented responses are also, coincidentally, useful for minting human beings into potential soldiers.
And oligarchs and kings always need an army.
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This kind of narrowing of emotion to a narrow band of dominance/violence oriented responses are also, coincidentally, useful for minting human beings into potential soldiers.
And oligarchs and kings always need an army.
I think some of this is consciously maintained and orchestrated by people (usually men but not always) in places of higher positioning in social hierarchy but it goes further.
I think human societies have been playing the social hierarchy game of patriarchy, kings, and oligarchs for so long, that these patterns are deeply ingrained "cultural reflexes" from centuries in the past to centuries in the future.
We mold people into these patterns without much thought.
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I think some of this is consciously maintained and orchestrated by people (usually men but not always) in places of higher positioning in social hierarchy but it goes further.
I think human societies have been playing the social hierarchy game of patriarchy, kings, and oligarchs for so long, that these patterns are deeply ingrained "cultural reflexes" from centuries in the past to centuries in the future.
We mold people into these patterns without much thought.
If you want to see a perfect demonstration of how this kind of emotional stripping down and narrowing is useful to a social hierarchy and those with greater power?
Look at what ICE agents are doing in the streets of the united states right now.
THAT is anger, rage, and hate focused and directed in blatantly hierarchical ways, in service to those with a will to dominance and power... to those who already occupy higher levels of power. White people more broadly and a certain man and his regime.
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If you want to see a perfect demonstration of how this kind of emotional stripping down and narrowing is useful to a social hierarchy and those with greater power?
Look at what ICE agents are doing in the streets of the united states right now.
THAT is anger, rage, and hate focused and directed in blatantly hierarchical ways, in service to those with a will to dominance and power... to those who already occupy higher levels of power. White people more broadly and a certain man and his regime.
But it's not just limited to propping up that man and his favored demographics.
No, it's not.
Because a good part of human societies have been shaping and molding humans into these patterns for eons.
An ancient quest for molding humans into enforcers of violent dominance for the head of family, the patriarch of a community, the ruler of a country, the captains of industry...
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But it's not just limited to propping up that man and his favored demographics.
No, it's not.
Because a good part of human societies have been shaping and molding humans into these patterns for eons.
An ancient quest for molding humans into enforcers of violent dominance for the head of family, the patriarch of a community, the ruler of a country, the captains of industry...
We make flesh and bone fodder for the next round of faceless enforcers for those who pull the levers of the machinery of wealth and power.
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We make flesh and bone fodder for the next round of faceless enforcers for those who pull the levers of the machinery of wealth and power.
ICE was Exhibit A in this thread.
The National Guard is Exhibit B:
Nonilex (@Nonilex@masto.ai)
1,500 #soldiers on standby for possible #Minnesota deployment, reports say, as #state mobilizes #NationalGuard The soldiers are on prepare-to-deploy orders in case violence escalates in Minnesota, according to the Washington Post. It is typical for the #Pentagon “to be prepared for any decision #Trump may or may not make,” the White House said in a statement to CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/18/us/minnesota-protests-national-guard-immigration-hnk?cid=ios_app
Mastodon (masto.ai)
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ICE was Exhibit A in this thread.
The National Guard is Exhibit B:
Nonilex (@Nonilex@masto.ai)
1,500 #soldiers on standby for possible #Minnesota deployment, reports say, as #state mobilizes #NationalGuard The soldiers are on prepare-to-deploy orders in case violence escalates in Minnesota, according to the Washington Post. It is typical for the #Pentagon “to be prepared for any decision #Trump may or may not make,” the White House said in a statement to CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/18/us/minnesota-protests-national-guard-immigration-hnk?cid=ios_app
Mastodon (masto.ai)
I remember the stories that my racist ex-family would tell me of how my older brothers were in the National Guard and they helped suppress the uprising of black people against racist oppression in Baltimore City in the 1960s.
None of this is new.
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ICE was Exhibit A in this thread.
The National Guard is Exhibit B:
Nonilex (@Nonilex@masto.ai)
1,500 #soldiers on standby for possible #Minnesota deployment, reports say, as #state mobilizes #NationalGuard The soldiers are on prepare-to-deploy orders in case violence escalates in Minnesota, according to the Washington Post. It is typical for the #Pentagon “to be prepared for any decision #Trump may or may not make,” the White House said in a statement to CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/18/us/minnesota-protests-national-guard-immigration-hnk?cid=ios_app
Mastodon (masto.ai)
@timberwraith It'd be nice if troops from the US National Guard showed up and drove out the tRumpSsaReich ICE nazis - thus protecting the citizens that have been under seige this month.
But I guess we'll see if these are tRumpSsReich national guard instead through their actions
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