Psychology & Motivations of the Extreme Political Left
What are the reasons and motivations of those who are on the extreme or radical side of political correctness and the political left?
On the surface their reasons seem obvious, they seem to be for fairness, equality and anti discrimination. It all seems morally good. However, something has gone seriously wrong, there seems to be something dark going on behind this mask of morality.
The Political Correctness Distortion
You don’t have to look too hard to see that there might be more to it than the initial implied reasons. I’m all for the meaning and definition of political correctness, not many people of sound mind would have a problem with the definition itself.
However, much like the left in politics, political correctness has been hijacked, distorted and twisted into something that seems to actually go against the original definitions of Political Correctness. In fact political correctness now seems to promote discrimination. Discrimination of the majority instead of a minority, or reverse discrimination.
Hidden Agender
It seems to me that these people on the extreme side of the political left or PC are hiding or masking their true intentions or motivations, either consciously or unconsciously. Many of the political movement groups don’t actually seem to be looking for equality, but rather looking for an advantage. They see an opportunity that this PC culture has created, it allows people to play the victim, to point the finger and then to shame those that don’t hold the same extreme and irrational views.
“Wokeness gives people a shield to be mean and cruel, armored in false virtue.” Elon Musk
Wealthy Celebrities & Politicians
Many celebrities and politicians seem to hold a similar view, that view is the one of the radical left. Something that these two groups have in common is wealth. They are more than happy to tell everybody else how to live and what to value. However, they themselves are not affected by the outcomes of the views that they hold. I suppose it’s easy to make decisions for others when you’re not at risk from suffering from any of the negative outcomes of those decisions yourself.
They want things to stay the same because they benefit from it. They’re choosing their own self-interest over the interests of the majority/working class, at the same time preaching morality to those same people.
Motivations & Reasons of the radical left
Projecting Negativity
When people have undesirable thoughts and feeling which are not socially exceptable, they can project those thoughts and feeling on to other people. Projection is a type of defense mechanism. I believe this is one of the reasons for the shaming and name calling that those with extreme left wing views do to those with more center views.
Our perceptions are also projections. How we see and perceive the world is limited to our own mind sets and understanding. A person with discriminatory or generally negative views will see the world and people in that way. They will interpret others in a negative way because that’s how they see the world. Their projections on others causes them to actually see a reflection of themselves, rather than actually seeing the true intentions and meaning of others.
There are various different cognitive distortions and biases that our minds unconsciously do which can distort our thinking and perceptions.
Black and white thinking
In politics you could replace black and white thinking with the left and right thinking. People often have a desire to classify others, to label them as one way or another. Our minds often do this unconsciously, it’s one of the ways our minds make sense of all the information in the world, and the people in that world.
It may be a fast way of drawing conclusions. However, black and white thinking is an automatic, flawed, faulty thinking trick that our minds use. The truth often lies in the gray area, however, to see the gray takes effort and actual proper thinking. This effort and thinking seems to be too much for many, preferring to just rely on their quick unconscious judgments, and then they distort facts and ideas to fit their judgments and preconceptions.
Confirmation bias
Confirmation bias is a type of cognitive bias, it basically means that an opinion or preconception is formed first, before gaining all the facts. Then this preconception is taken or confused for reality or fact, and then they look for evidence to support that or those supposed facts. They look for confirmation of their beliefs or opinion and disregard or discredit different or opposing views. These people have closed minds, not open to suggestion.
Identity threat
When someone has strong views it can become embedded into their identities, who they’re and their beliefs become one and the same. When this person is subjected to an opposing view it threatens their identity and they simply cannot handle this opposing view. They may react negativity, even in a hostile manner to protect their belief and identity.
Group think
There also seems to be a kind of group think and tribal mentality going on. A person’s view is reinforced by others that share that same view. They’re feeding off each other, their desire for conformity is overriding their ability to think properly and to see things clearly. It’s collective thinking that is the enemy of rationality. All reinforced by a false sense of morality.
The desire to feel like a good person
Most people want to feel like they’re a good person, but to define yourself as a good person there has to be bad people in contrast to compare yourself with. I suspect that many of these people are not particularly decent people. However, they’re so desperate to feel good about themselves that they’re creating imaginary villains.
The desire to control others
In applied psychology it stats a list of psychological motivators that we all have. At the top of this list is a desire for ego gratification, and to have power, or to have control over others. These motivators are likely to be a reason for these interfering radical leftists.
Egotistical & Narcissism
People are very egotistical, obviously some more than others, this egotistical thinking can also branch into narcissism. A certain or distorted sense of self and importance could also be a reason for them believing that they can make a difference, and change the world in some way.
Final thoughts
I believe the above reasons explain at least in part why some people have extreme views, and why they cannot handle opposing views or opinions.
Some of the radical left leaning politicians and media seem to be promoting division and pushing identity politics for votes and political gain.
Extreme views are bad, whether it’s on the left or the right. Things have already gone too far. The question is how bad will it get before it inevitably balances itself out, and we see common sense centre views prevailing (hopefully for a while at least).
