Ideology

Ideology is when smart people get frustrated with all the disorder and chaos in the world, so they try to convince themselves that everything fits certain patterns. They settle on an inflexible, prescribed set of beliefs consistent with a small number of overarching themes. This helps them feel better about the ultimate meaninglessness and lack of control that they live with.

An interesting phenomenon is that ideological zealots from very different and sometimes bitterly opposing groups often reach the same conclusions. This is sometimes known as the "horseshoe effect", where extremists from both ends of the ideological spectrum often agree. An example is how both communists and fascists choose totalitarian forms of government with strong, unelected leaders and loss of personal liberties.

Examples

• Communism
• Capitalism
• Conservatism
• Liberalism
• Progressivism
• Wokeism
• Theocracy
• Nihilism
• Anarchism
• Monarchism
• Fascism

etc.