If you look at the World through Polaroid glasses you only see light which is polarized vertically. In declining politics the dimensions I talked about in the last post distort the view of the political world in a similar way. But in this case not only the direction, but also the size of the polarization is affected.
The described dimensions also apply to the way the world is perceived. Mathematically spoken we may call them vectors. You can use a dimension or a vector to measure the size or the position of something. This functions well as long as the measured phenomenon is of the same sort as the dimension used to measure it with. Or put another way, the measuring rod or dimension must apply to what we measure. To take an example, if your own political thinking is dominated by the dimension of proletarians vs capitalists then this measuring devise functioned well in the beginning of the previous century which was filled with conflicts between workers and employers. But today where many employed people have become wealthy themselves and via pension funds own parts of big business the dimension of proletarians vs capitalists has become a bad measuring tool. Technically spoken this is because the dimensions or antagonisms in present rich societies are not parallel with the old dimension used to measure them with. If you insist in using a such dimension or vector not parallel to the measured phenomenon the vector of the latter becomes projected onto the measuring vector. A geographical example would be trying to measure the distance between NY and LA using a ruler which only measures distances along the north-south scale, the longitude. This obviously leads to a wrong result, a misperception. In the political example above it is like a communist who views all present conflicts as having to do with the working class being exploited by the rich. In this way other dimensions like environment protection vs pollution is measured with the dimension proletarians vs capitalists, i.e. projected onto the latter even though the two are not about the same, i.e. are not parallel.
Of course such distorted perceptions are nothing new in politics. But with the simplifications and polarizations described in my last post, their occurrence increases, and their effects get more extreme. The described collapsing of dimensions means exactly this: different vectors are projected onto each other, i.e. are forced into parallel alignment even though they are about attitudes which do not inherently depend on each other. Being pro-life and being pro-gun are two independent dimensions being projected on each other. That only few political dimensions matter and that opinions are located at the poles of the dimensions makes it all worse. Then an attitude or a person can only be at two points. We have this or that opinion. Anyone who disagrees with us in any topic must be at the opposite extreme in all questions. In the geographical example we would not just see only the north-south component of the distance between NY and LA. We would also locate LA at the South pole and NY at the North pole. In such a political atmosphere projection of vectors is much simpler than in mathematics. Every dimension has only to possible values. They are dichotomies, and measuring something else only consists in attributing it to a pole. Thus science is liberal and climate denial is conservative. It is this kind of reasoning which can lead some people to believe that leading Democrats are paedophiles.
We have not yet reached the zenith of this development. And even when we do, this level of political thinking will never affect every person, every political group or every nation to the same degree. But the effects on politics will be significant even if only some influential groups of politicians and their voters see the world in such ways.
Also foreign politics is characterized by thinking in dimensions. Even without political decline relations to perceived enemies have often been characterized by simplifications. In fact the simplifications and polarization of internal politics can be viewed as the application of classical images of foreign enemies in internal politics. The newer internal developments makes matters even worse in foreign affairs, and they lower the threshold for strong political and military reactions. This is the simple result of obvious interactions between the internal and the external dimensions.
In both cases the dimensions or vectors collapse and become aligned and dichotomous as described. But the two sets of dimensions, the internal and the external, remain independent of each other and do not mutually collapse: both opposite extremes of the internal political spectrum participate in hating the external enemy. This was often also the case before the decline of modernity. But with the accelerating simplifications in both internal and external politics the negative picture of the enemy is almost impossible to modify. This even more in late modern Rome and America which were / are prone to conspiracy theories. The relation between us, the good, and the foreign enemy, the devil, becomes the dominant dimension. With it is aligned the other dimensions distinguishing the two nations. These differences are blown out of proportion and nuances are lost. Prejudices and expectations replace correct perception.
These developments can be seen in several countries today. In Europe the polarization toward Russia has exploded since the invasion in Ukraine. This polarization also affects the United States, but here the antagonism with China dominates. In both cases the alignment of the foreign dimensions is clear. Secure respected borders vs revanchist expansion, peaceful coexistence vs war, democracy vs dictatorship, rule of law vs abuse of power. Only the poles exist in these dimensions and they are equated; all the good poles necessarily belong together as do the bad. Even history is reinterpreted: a path towards democracy vs a century-long path of expansionism and authoritarianism. In the worst case this development can extend to the dimension of ethnicity.
Of course polarizations, misperceptions and reinterpretations characterize both sides in the conflicts. But it is especially depressing that also in the well-educated West with all its proud academic traditions attempts to gain a deeper understanding of the historical causes behind the acts of the enemy are almost seen as treason. If the enemies behave badly the only reason is that their leaders are bad. If there earlier were some who suggested that the eastward expansion of NATO onto formerly Soviet territory in Russia would be perceived as a provocation and a threat, then they are silenced now. Kein Platz für Russland-Versteher. We even see that attempts at achieving detente before the fall of the USSR are now seen as appeasement. The thinking is as follows:
Putin is evil, and he is the man behind all the evil things Russia does, and by the way, Russia has always been evil.
This political climate has enabled the United States to use the deep felt solidarity with Ukraine in it’s proxy war to degrade Russia.
More nuanced thinking could be expected from the West, the product of centuries of enlightenment. Please stop the constant bullying of the German chancellor. In contrast to certain others he does reflect.
Obviously none of the big parties located at the poles in internal politics in America can live with being seen as hating the enemy less than the other party. As soon as the Roman political party-leader Antony allied himself with Cleopatra in Egypt his case was lost. Thus as the US Republicans use and increase a fear of China which approaches hysteria, the Democrats have no other choice than to follow. Biden had to shoot down the Chinese balloon. Even the Wall Street Journal for whom money could be expected to be the dominant dimension criticized him for not doing it earlier. They thereby demonstrated that the antagonism with the enemy overrides even the fear of economic consequences which could result in case of an int’l conflict. Today it would take more than a Zhao Ziyang to convince the US right-wing that China is not an incarnation of evil.
The enemies of America behave similarly with the only difference being that the poles are switched. They ignore PR and act in ways which confirm the misperceptions of their opponents. In this way they also confirm that the dimensions applied by the West are relevant and that they themselves are at the opposite extreme. This makes it even more likely that also other important dimensions or differences are misperceived as an expression of the friend vs enemy dichotomy. Try once to not fulfil the expectations.
Between civilizations
The misinterpretations which can result from applying wrong measuring rods on phenomena which are within one’s own civilization are microscopic in comparison with what can result if we use dimensions from one civilization to measure things in another. Civilizations develop along parallel tracks, but they each have their own distinct character. We wouldn’t condemn Ramses because he had no elected parliament or criticize a lack of independent judges in the Persian Empire of Cyrus. These high cultures had their own mind-set and their own political standards.
If Russia and other East European countries indeed are a part of an emerging civilization, then this represents a complicated version of this problem. The complexity arises because this part of the world like the Orient 2000 years ago is heavily westernised and at the same time represents something fundamentally different. This means that Western dimensions do apply in some aspects and at the same time are extremely misleading in other aspects. Thus we can correctly criticize Poland and Hungary for undermining the division of power. But if we condemn them for not accepting LGBT it misses the point. As described in an earlier post the resistance against sexual minorities in this case is not on a Western dimension of conservative vs liberal. It is a deep cultural and religious dimension outside the western civilization.
Similar considerations about LGBT and other cultural matters are relevant for Russia. In this case the invasion of Ukraine and the internal oppression can also be judged in two ways. The first of these is the exclusive application of western standards and the resulting condemnation practised by almost everybody in the West. As Russia in many ways is a part of the Western civilization this view is correct. And indeed, condemnation of the Russian behaviour against Ukraine is also correct from a general humanitarian viewpoint which is valid regardless of politics and specific civilizations.
But this is not the whole story. From the viewpoint of an emerging civilization trying to preserve its distinct soul the invasion is best interpreted as a desperate defence against being overwhelmed and swallowed by an alien world. A bit like our crusades against a dominating Muslim Orient nine centuries ago or like the Jewish uprisings against Western dominance from Rome nineteen centuries ago. In all three cases we see young civilizations fighting to survive against alien old dominating ones. To interpret Russian behaviour only in light of the Western dichotomy of expansionist dictatorship vs peaceful democracy seriously distorts a correct understanding.
It is not all about Putin as an autocrat. Don’t underestimate the feelings of large parts of the Russian people. These feelings are not only a result of propaganda. This inter-civilization perspective should be taken into consideration before new weapon-systems are delivered to Ukraine. Extreme reactions could be provoked.
