4 steps to figure out, if you are an ideologue!

[FakeName123]

4 steps to figure out, if you are an ideologue!

Forword:

While these points also are applicable on others, there is unfortunately no possibility to make others change themselves. That always has to come from the individual themselves. As a result in this case the individual is you, the reader. You can be the example of what you wish others to be. But to do that one needs to be able to challenge oneself in order to see ones flaws. Thus this MyTake is meant to help you figure out what views of yours may be of an ideological nature.

There are 4 ways to spot, if you are an ideologue. Whilst having only one of them may not be a clear giveaway, having multiple of those is.

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1. You put your group identity above your individual identity.

Religion, political affiliation, social activism, sportsfan, even family, and more. No matter the group identity, if you identify yourself first as part of that group and only secondary as the you, then there is a clear telltale sign of being an ideologue.
A healthy human being is an individual that consists of several group identities. Family, work, hobbies, moral outlooks, political affiliations and more - but the combination of different aspects of the self creates the individual.
For example: A healthy sportsfan will not put the identity of him being his favourite teams fan above himself. It will always remain a part of himself, but not define him and thus stand above his individuality.

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2. Any criticism of your possibly ideological view is perceived as a direct personal attack and potentially a threat.

While defending your (especially) strong views is natural, the inability to separate a difference of opinions in a discussion from a direct personal attack is a major issue we currently see plenty in the political and public dialogue.
Strong opinions are formed through being challenged. Those opinions who cannot stand up to being challenged deserve to be discarded. It's the darwinism of ideas. The weak die so the strong can become stronger. By perceiving opposing views and/or criticism of your views, you prevent the healthy challenging of those and stagnat as a person.

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3. The belief that your group and thus every member of your group - including yourself - is per default better than all other groups.

Essentially it is a sort of group-narcissism. The holier than thou attitude that comes along with being a member of the "better" and likely morally superior group.
Yet, even the most well intended ideas and/or groups will have black sheep. The lackluster ability of realising the imperfection of yourself and of your group is a clear sign of an ideologue.

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4. Your entire beliefsystem is predictable by others once they know your group identity.

Essentially all your beliefs are aligned with the people you associate yourself to, because you do not disagree with any aspects of your group. Healthy relationships involve disputes and discussions rather than being an army of worker bees that all think the same.
Research has shown that relationships fall apart, if the ratio between positive moments together and negative ones become too far into the negative direction, but it has also shown that relationships fall apart when there is little to no conflict between both partners. Other forms of relationships are no different. Conflict is necessary. By becoming a clone in beliefsystems any sort of conflict is removed within the identity of the group. In return the conflict to outside enemies increases.
The lack of intellectual conflict means stagnation. And stagnation always results in people moving backwards, because they stop developing, adapting and growing.

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As I said in my foreword. This is directed at anyone reading this to question and challenge themselves. Naturally this can also be used on others, because these kinds of ideological behaviours are everywhere. From vegans to the political sphere (in ALL directions), from feminists to atheists, from religious people to hedonists., etc.
There are ideologues among all beliefsystems. While some beliefsystems may be less dangerous as a whole to society when taken to the extreme, every ideologue is dangerous to him-/herself.
Unfortunately our society has stopped teaching how to engage in civil disagreements, how to handle conflict and how to valve these into positive aspects of growth. Broken families, a declining educational system, (social-)media and more all lead to this. Thus it is each of our responsibilities to learn these skills and prevent ourselves from becoming ideologues. Not just for us as an individual, but for society as a whole - because only a removal of ideological thinking and behaviour can improve the current difficult situation.

Because there is a fine line between having stable and strong beliefs- because you allow them to be challenged and adjust(ed) them accordingly ... and still do - and having pig-headed beliefs for the sake of having them and identifying as a part of a group identity.

[19magic]

That is so true I held onto my friendship group despite the fact I knew it wasn't good for me. I clinged to it for a whole year, while sinking into depression I had this fear that without them I was nothing, I did everything I possibly can to try and please them and all it did was make me unhappy, feel like I was unworthy and useless. One and four was true back then

[FakeName123]

Exactly. Even in normal social relationshisp ideological behaviour can happen. Which is understandable to want to belong. But this is why we need out heads to not overdo that desire to belong to a group.

[19magic]

Yeah I know, I was living in another city 2 hours away from my family. The girls who I was friends with I've known for two and a half years, and been living with for a year and a half. I know subconsciously they were no good, but my conscious mind didn't want to believe that and that really fucked up my mental state, in six months I drank a lot, even did a couple of drugs and did a couple of other things I'm not proud of. It took about six months of being away from to realise just how toxic they were and just how much of a b*tch they were, what made it worse is that one of them was a psychology major and I'm pretty sure she used it on me in a bad way.

[FakeName123]

Taking a step back often helps. Ideally you learned from this to take that step back with things before they become too bad.

[hellionthesagereborn]

The problem with Ideologues is that they lose the ability to self reflect and question themselves. The stronger their belief, the less they can honestly look at those beliefs. So, sadly, any ideologue reading this is more then likely not going to listen. However everything you stated is accurate, you should never hold onto an idea or belief to tightly otherwise you will find it increasingly more difficult to let it go when it starts becoming a detriment to you.

[FakeName123]

Most likely. But even if one person reads it and realises that they may be overdoing it, it would have been worth it already.

[hellionthesagereborn]

True and I hope that will happen.