The Pitfalls of Idealism and Ideology
/Thoughts from Steve Jellicorse
To get a perspective on what is happening culturally, the following are some observations on our current ideological divide that I trust reflects Kingdom values:
First let’s define what an ‘ideology’ is. Merriam Webster’s says ideology is ”a manner or the content of thinking characteristic of an individual, group, or culture; the integrated assertions, theories and aims that constitute a sociopolitical program, a systematic body of concepts especially about human life or culture”.
Ideology is not in and of itself a bad thing. It serves as a filter to those ideas we do not accept as true and reliable. It’s a shortcut. It’s a checklist to broad ideas and ideals. We prefer to grasp concepts in generalities. However, in many aspects of life, it is in the nuanced gaps of life where we fail to understand each other and then talk past each other. Ideological generalities exacerbate this phenomena. We like unsophisticated thinking that demands the hard work of examining particularities. We want clear easy contrasts, with no overlapping shades of gray. That is the downside of any uncritically adopted ideology to which we attach ourselves. We would rather not engage in the rigor of having to think through ideas and claims in real detail. We like dried concrete not wet cement. Dried concrete is durable and gives us a firm foundation on which we can build our lives. But it can be brittle and inflexible. When stress and pressure come from unexpected directions our ideology can become brittle and fall apart.
That happens when ideology becomes an ‘ism’ as in ‘idealism’. Idealism is inevitable when we fail to realize the limitations within any ideology. It goes from being a framework to a calcified dogmatic immovable structure. It gives safe haven to hubristic attitudes of superiority toward any idea that seems to clash with our tidy framework of thinking. Tragically, we are very often ‘aided and abetted’ in that endeavor by pathological professors, pious preachers and pernicious politicians feeding us an oversimplified radicalized view of our ideology and thus the world. Sadly, these can be views that match all our unrecognized personal biases rooted in our unacknowledged resentments.
This is true both on the right and the left. The right fails to acknowledge their resentment for a lack of status with the press and pop culture. The left fails to acknowledge that many of their resentments are carefully cultivated historic wounds that are continually scratched at, unable to heal. Two case-in-point examples are the riots in the Capitol in January 2021 and the city riots in the summer of 2020. Most of those throwing bricks, assaulting policemen and engaging in violence as an expression of protest were presumably touting very different ideologies but with outcomes that were essentially similar.
An ideologue (someone held hostage to idealism) upon reading my last statements will immediately beg to differ. That’s because idealism makes one completely incapable of considering carefully what someone else has said. I’m in my mid-sixties. My ability to see shades of gray in my own ideology are positively correlated to the shades of gray in my hair. While, having an ideology may be a good thing, Idealism tends to blunt reason and thus reasonableness.
As the people of God, we have to radically deal with our own cultural confirmation biases. We can never accommodate resentment as God’s people, especially those that cause us to play the victim. Had early believers held onto their justifiable grievances against the Roman Empire, their witness of a God of love would have been undermined. Gravitating to a socially acceptable compromise is not the Godly solution either. Truth indeed matters. The greatest truth however is what Jesus taught us when applied to our horizontally relationships: love your enemies! That means that others are accepted completely and unconditionally even when disagreeable or simply wrong. Our 'correctness' on any idea never legitimizes our rejection of others who hold an incorrect view. That is the way of the world, but not the Way of Jesus. Winning arguments is not the point. Our legitimate win comes when our enemies and even oppressors witness our kind humble responses even when we are in disagreement.