/lit/ - Literature

>>11700244
>Your brain on zizekian post-modernism with a side of centrist hindsight
Politics is not what you think it is and you need to stop being afraid of it.

>Why do the extreme ends of both political spectrum's result in dictatorships?
They don't. I can be an extreme liberal right winger. My Utopia doesn't have to end up in dictatorship just because the state doesn't exist or is very limited to only protecting my rights.

>How are they in any way opposed?
Depends. They are opposed in all ways and sometimes, only sometimes, intertwined through some ways but not all.

>The only difference I can see is that a left wing dictatorship allows you to name your successor, while a right wing dictatorship is hereditary.
A right wing dictatorship doesn't have to be hereditary at all, a dictator can be appointed through meritocratic or religious terms.

>Neither strictly adheres to any sort of economic policy, both make unsubstantiated claims to abstract principles that are diametrically opposed to their actions in practice.
Yes they do. Liberal Economies are right wing, planned ones are left wing and authoritarian state sponsored economies are centrist authoritarian while Free Trade is liberal right and forced abolishion of ownership is liberal left.

>As far as I can tell, there doesn't seem to be ANY clear distinction between right and left ideology, they merely serve as a hatrack for whatever contentious issue seems prevalent at the time, often switching back and forth at the drop of a hat.
The only ideology that switches between sides frequently is Synarchism. Most ideologies only develop slowly or not at all. You're thinking of political parties or politicians which are not ideologies.

>Is the right and left dichotomy merely a mnemonic device meant to encourage peoples natural tendancy towards factionalism, idolotry and idleness?
No. Humans will divide themselves with or without ideology. There are however ideologies who do seek to impose permanent rule by divideing and conquering the masses but all ideologies don't.

>By promoting principles divorced from practice or consequence, does ideology merely distract us from the inner machinations of governance?
No. Ideology is meant to be Statecraft. Ideology as a "way of life" is a modern invention which has more to do with the gentrification of ideas and consumerism.