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i want to write a little bit about my experiences with a category of memetic viruses that I'll call basilisks and what little i know about overcoming them. Basically an idea that can become an obsession and is destructive to the host and/or others. 1/
A familiar and safe example of this is irrational jealousy. You know things are probably fine but idea seed of the fear of losing something you want or not getting something you feel you deserve starts to eat at your behavior (and often becomes a self-fufilling prophecy). 2/
I will avoid using meatier examples than jealousy for a number of reasons, mainly: 1) different basilisks are more impactful on different people. 2) there are some consent recursions to discussing ideas that are difficult to digest. 3/
on point 1. actually becoming "infected" (that's metaphorical not literal) with a basilisk requires the willingness to actually entertain it/break repression. that can be bravery, curiosity, and/or most powerfully fear. The third implies we all have different vulnerabilities. 4/
There is some immunity in basilisks that can be built through relationships because i have an immunity to some of the ideas that hurt you most and vice versa. But it can also feel alienating to be deeply impacted by something that doesn't impact others at all. 5/
on point 2 (consent recursions): this is the whole "i have information that could potentially harm you" discourse but a bit deeper. But it's hard to get your consent on something without first communicating it to you but by then if u were vulnerable to it, it's too late. 6/
This doesn't mean we can't or shouldn't talk about our pain and vulnerabilities but just that we should try to do our best to be conscious of each other's needs (both listeners and speakers) and build trust. We have to take risks to heal together. 7/
Overcoming a basilisk can engender a sort of ideological superpower of resilience in some domain so it's hard to know what pain is worth it and what is dangerous. A kind of odd story about me accidentally flouncing these lines: 8/
One time I gave a talk on gender and sex and discussed both more binary and non-binary trans identities. A man-identified person came up to me after the talk visibly disturbed. He began talking about how he had never heard these ideas before, and "you can't just...." 9/
his voice was rising slowly until he was shouting and angry and I started to get a bit afraid (we were outside at this point). Clearly he had suffered gender-based violence and repression of his expression at some point and my talk was all too sudden. He was not prepared. 10/
He was having a breakdown of sorts in front of me. And who knows, maybe it turned out to be a good thing and later helped him express himself, but i also felt it was possible that he just became more deeply disturbed and closeted from our interaction. I still don't know. 11/
This story shows point 1: gender transgression was a much easier basilisk for me to overcome than him. and point 2. there's no way i could've known i'd trigger clear ptsd in him like that nor if it would be good ultimately. (tho he chose to attend my talk and speak to me after)12
Also worth noting many people try to find your basilisks and use them as weapons against you. This is a classic abuser manipulation tactic. Hence why trust is important. We want to be transparent but also protect ourselves bc humans are fragile! /12.5
The thing about overcoming a basilisk is that no one can do it for you. If i identify one of your basilisks and then transcend it for you, if it even works, you will only be resistant to that one particular strain. you won't know HOW to build your own immunity.13/
It's a peak "teach a queer to fish" idiom. People have to walk directly through their own demons. All we can do is listen and support them on their journey. However, in facing our own basilisks (with professional or peer support) we learn how to face whole categories of others.14
We build the muscles that make us resilient to information that would normally swamp our already overburdened emotional immunities. We are all struggling with our own issues and hopefully learning compassion and other lessons from them. So it's a superpower that sucks. /15
A category of basilisks are invasive thoughts which often come with mental health issues like OCD but are very common (94%). These are typically prescribed cognitive behavioral therapy or mindfulness based therapy. /16 https://www.medicaldaily.com/ocd-symptoms-more-widespread-you-think-94-people-have-intrusive-thoughts-275440
The irony of this category is often the people with those obsessions are the least likely to act on them. They function through the fact that the person actually does care as opposed to someone who just has the same thoughts and accepts them as themselves without resistance. /17
Some other examples of basilisks are ideologies like fascism, hyper-nationalism, and ingroup preference more generally. They are brain worms but they're very adaptive brain worms. https://c4ss.org/content/50171 18/
Fascism feeds on deep human desires. When antifascists advocate no platforming, it's not bc fascist rhetoric is True and therefore needs to be repressed, but because when people aren't used to processing it or don't have the energy, it can latch onto these primal drives/fears.19/
So inoculation as a *metaphor* kind of works because once people learn how to parse simpler versions of a thing (maybe the strawman) they can slowly build towards parsing the steelman of the thing. But the steelman first can be quite disorienting and we have ability limits. 20/
I recently considered doing a thread of steelmen of all the ideologies and national myths that i hate but i found that literally all of them boiled down to a fear of losing something precious to that shared identity. I literally couldn't think of any exceptions. 21/
I think most basilisks can be boiled down to this too. A fear of death. A fear of suffering (for ourselves, others, the planet, nation, family, etc.). For this reason i have empathy for those i see as deeply dangerous and steeped in garbage ideology. Fear sucks. Death especially.
I don't have any special answers to facing these fears. I struggle and hobble along in my own haphazard way, imperfect to myself and others. But i do know that facing these dark things and building safety and trust for each other is the only path through our biggest problems. /23
When we transcend, individually or collectively, our basilisks we increase agency overall. We show it is possible and make the path a little clearer. These increases in agency lead to more meaningful interdependent freedom. It's worth it even if we don't always know how. /end
