Posted by Dan Ewert : 3/31/2003 10:53:00 PM (Archive Link)
I’ve been considering lately what it is that makes people stick to a particular point of view so doggedly that they refuse to acknowledge facts, produce untenable arguments, concoct wild conspiracy theories, and go against normal ethics and values. You see such things all the time: anti-war protestors say it’s all about oil and that the CEO of Exxon is orchestrating events, the same folks say Bush is a new Hitler, PETA compares the Holocaust to skinny cows on factory farms, etc. Now certainly, you can’t count out sincere belief. But that doesn’t explain why PETA would petition Yassar Arafat to not blow up donkeys but refuse to take a similar position about blowing up people (it’s not their place to get involved in political matters, they said) or for Jesse Jackson to say Jeb Bush was visiting the Holocaust on Florida Jews “once again” during the 2000 election conflict. After some thought, I have a theory that such behavior is a sort of manifestation of the Stockholm Syndrome.

The Syndrome, of course, got plenty of mentions during coverage of Elizabeth Smart’s rescue from her lunatic kidnapper. It’s the notion that in a hostage situation, the captives will come to love and defend their captors, even beyond reasonable logic when confronted with it. Something like that could be at play with many causes’ supporters. There may actually be an existing term for this sort of thing, but it wasn’t immediately available. Just as people are held hostage by captors and the hostages come to love them, so do people become hostage to certain beliefs. These beliefs or causes take such primacy in the lives of their supporters, all else is secondary. Worse than that, the cause becomes an almighty, righteous end that is never wrong. What results is that anything that runs counter to the cause, resists the cause, threatens the cause, or fails to advance the cause is necessarily incorrect and must be quashed. The supporters become so committed to their narrow, focused belief in animal rights, environmental protection, pro-abortion, anti-abortion, or any number of causes, that the advancement of that particular belief supercedes any other considerations, even common decency or ethics. That’s why their opposition will be attacked with the most vile slander and invective. That’s why the breaking of laws, the destruction of property, and the endangering of lives is allowed and encouraged; whatever furthers the cause and/or hurts the cause’s opposition is holy. Supporters come to love their causes so much and base so much of their lives around them that nothing else may penetrate.

Perhaps the Stockholm Syndrome isn’t the best was of looking at this. It’s really more cultish behavior in a way… it certainly brings up thoughts of Scientology (that’s a fascinating subject of its own and I’ll probably blog about it at some point… look at www.xenu.net if you would like more info.)