All Ideologies are Dangerous

In their book, 13 Bankers, Johnson and Kwik talk about how the American financial industry has the lawmakers (politicians) in their pockets. Obviously, you smirk: those companies fund the politicians’ campaigns. But there’s more to it than just that: many politicians sincerely and genuinely believe that capitalism is good and that markets are best left with minimal regulation.

Of course, capitalism isn’t the only ideology, the belief in which can be dangerous. So can a messianic belief in equality or harmonious-coexistence-of-everything-in-nature. Huh? How can that be, you ask.

In his awesome book, The Gene, Siddhartha Mukherjee talks about the communist/Soviet belief that all life forms could be changed to be the same way via (what else) indoctrination policies. Their “reeducation” campaigns are notorious, but it wasn’t just a political act. The Soviets genuinely believed in the malleability of individuals. Why else would the Soviets claim the success of similar approaches with (hold your breath) crops?!

“(Soviet top scientist and Stalin’s favourite) Lysenko had supposedly exposed wheat strains to severe bouts of cold and drought and thereby caused the strains to acquire a hereditary resistance to adversity.”

Ok, but what’s the worst that can happen if you believe in the harmonious-coexistence-in-nature idea? Well, look no further than what happened in China when they applied their belief in that idea. As Matthew Syed writes in Black Box Thinking, Chinese peasants were ordered to increase seedling density from 1.5 million per 2.5 acres to 6.5 million, a more than 4 fold increase because, hey, it’s the same crop: they would live harmoniously!

“Too late, it was discovered that the seeds did indeed compete with each other, stunting growth and damaging yields. It contributed to one of the worst disasters in Chinese history… between 20 and 43 million people died during one of the most devastating famines in human history.”

It’s scary how a belief in an ideology, even a seemingly positive one, can cause disastrous results. Because, once we are convinced of the “truth” or “morality” or “desirability” of that ideology, it pretty much blinds us to any facts or evidence that contradicts that ideology.

Or as Leonardo di Caprio said in the terrific movie, Inception:

“What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? An idea. Resilient... highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it's almost impossible to eradicate."