Is This Time Different? \ stacker news ~AskSN

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Is This Time Different?

787 sats \ 43 comments \ @kr 20 Mar AskSN

Society has been shaped by:

Religious identities for millennia
National identities for centuries
Political identities for decades

The first two shifts were messy, violent, and led to spikes in global migration.

Why might this time be different?

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20 sats \ 19 replies \ @grayruby 20 Mar

Interesting thought experiment.

Political identities are likely less entrenched than national and religious identities.

84 sats \ 16 replies \ @kr OP 20 Mar

Yeah you’re right, and political lines seem to shift around more too.

10 years ago, if you owned a Tesla you were likely a liberal. Today, you’re likely a conservative.

I thought this most recent US election would act as a global reset for political tension but it seems to have further stoked divisiveness.

20 sats \ 2 replies \ @grayruby 20 Mar

Is a fairly small sect of the population that are obsessed with politics. They are just the loud ones so they get all the attention.

40 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 20 Mar

What % of people would you say identify more with their political party than their nation or religion?

In Canada, I’d say 30-40%.

20 sats \ 0 replies \ @grayruby 20 Mar

Higher than it used to be for sure. I think 30% might be in the ballpark.

40 sats \ 12 replies \ @Undisciplined 20 Mar

It's interesting you say that. In America, it feels like political tension and division are as low as they've been since Trump first became president.

I'm not saying it's harmonious, but the establishment left seems really defeated and isn't putting up much fight.

81 sats \ 11 replies \ @kr OP 20 Mar

Hope you’re right.

From the outside, it seems like the hate against Elon and Tesla is really heating up.

40 sats \ 7 replies \ @Undisciplined 20 Mar

I can't really speak to how widespread that is. I see the same videos as everyone else, but I live in neither the kind of place where people own Teslas nor the kind of place where they would be vandalized.

66 sats \ 6 replies \ @kr OP 20 Mar

Fair enough.

Last week I was in New York and two kids (8-10yo) walking down the street burst out into laughter when a cybertruck rolled up to the stop sign.

Not laughing in excitement, but laughing and pointing fingers at the driver as if owning a Cybertruck was like walking down the street with toilet paper stuck to your shoe.

It’s anecdotal, but it was the first time I saw an IRL example of people really hating Tesla, and it was crazy to me that such strong views on a car company were already so ingrained in the minds of school-aged kids.

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40 sats \ 2 replies \ @Bell_curve 20 Mar

"take down Tesla and Elon Musk on March 29"

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @grayruby 20 Mar

Bunch of crazies!

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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @nitter 20 Mar bot

https://xcancel.com/EndWokeness/status/1902552260195889465

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40 sats \ 1 reply \ @Bell_curve 20 Mar

what unifies the left?
probably not national identity maybe a pseudo religious, cult identity Political identities are less entrenched unless the participants view their political identity as a moral imperative, good vs evil, friend vs enemy, the ends justify any means

https://amgreatness.com/2025/03/20/the-left-knew-they-were-lying-to-us-all-along/

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @grayruby 20 Mar

I think the left more than the right has replaced religious and national identity with political philosophy which is why many are so hyper partisan and extreme.

65 sats \ 9 replies \ @k00b 20 Mar

What's the next shift?

40 sats \ 8 replies \ @kr OP 20 Mar

I think the “political identity” phase is still unfolding.

I don’t have any ideas for what comes next, but the common theme is that each phase represents an institution larger than oneself that a community can rally behind.

Essentially, something to believe in.

With the rising political polarization, you could argue that people have stronger ties to their political party than their country or religion, and I think it’s plausible that these “tribes” who identify with the political left or the right eventually migrate to occupy their own corners of the world.

But looking backwards, re-organizing the world around religious or national identities was a long, painful process.

60 sats \ 7 replies \ @Undisciplined 20 Mar

After giving it almost no thought, I'm going to guess that the next phase is identifying with a particular influencer: basically, echo chamber identity.

After years of that, do we get months of something else?

88 sats \ 4 replies \ @kepford 20 Mar

I had the same question as @k00b. What is the next shift? If I had to guess it isn't influencer but the self-identity. And as with the other shifts I suspect we will be well into it before we notice it.

With that in mind I think we are actually shifting away from politics and have been for a while. There are no new ideas and ideas don't win elections. Feelings do. On both sides really. Our culture is absolutely obsessed with the self and finding "your true self". There are the obvious points on this like gender and sexuality but it is more than that. Everyone needs to have their thoughts heard (pot calling the kettle back here). And I think memetics play a role. Finding some influencer that you identify with is a part of this.

Maybe I'm off but this could be the next phase.

71 sats \ 3 replies \ @Undisciplined 20 Mar

This is actually in line with why I thought of influencers. Most people aren’t confident enough to draw attention to how different they are.

Latching onto an influencer gives them an in between point, where they can be super special snowflakes together.

29 sats \ 2 replies \ @kepford 20 Mar

Yeah, that's a solid point. It could be framed as hyper personalization.

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38 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 20 Mar

interesting idea, i wonder if these influencer identities (which definitely exist) migrate offline and affect the structure of the physical world

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 20 Mar

One imagines they would...if my completely unbaked idea has any merit.

17 sats \ 3 replies \ @Undisciplined 20 Mar

Just thinking about America, my sense is that people are too fat, sick, lazy, comfortable, and weak to engage in widespread violence.

29 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 20 Mar

I think I've underestimated this. The thing is, even a small number can cause a LOT of issues. A small number can also create a lot of good things.

42 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 20 Mar

Maybe the scale of violence also changes.

Rather than national-scale armies of young, fit soldiers going to war, a significant rise in petty crime (vandalizing statues, stealing from stores, other destruction of property, etc…) from the most extreme 1% of each political party

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 20 Mar

Good point. That kind of thing has certainly been rampant for about the past decade and it has revolved around partisan politics.

10 sats \ 2 replies \ @Bell_curve 20 Mar

The American civil war, 1861 to 65 was based on political and national identities. US was a relatively young nation, Republican was a new party with zero presence in the South.

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 20 Mar

Good point

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 20 Mar

I forgot regional loyalty, not sure if that is political or national

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @ContraMundum5 20 Mar

It won’t be. Human nature hasn’t changed, only the tools we use to fight over identities have.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Roll 20 Mar

And now we are living in a society between science and/vs the rise of spirituality

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Satosora 20 Mar

I feel political ideas change with time. But rarely do national identities. Does politics really lead to global migration?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @orto 20 Mar

Yes, people were created to be enemies of each other. But good people are friends to each other. I think this is the main reason why people cannot agree on a national level.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @zapsammy 20 Mar

this time there is nowhere to hide but inside ur head, or fight the mind control head on!

u might not wanna have to fight the mind control, but it certainly wants to pick a fight with u all the time.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @flat24 20 Mar

Although I consider that today there are more chances of being really free, thanks to the fact that the information is free on the Internet and thanks to tools such as Bitcoin.

Similarly, both religious ideals, national ideals and political ideals continue to mold people's minds to keep them trapped and enslaved today.