Oh that’s why we’re leftists, it’s the drugs. But what came first?

(Drugs are mostly bad actually, addiction isn’t fun)

  • riccardo@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    On a serious note, entactogens such as mdma (but also psychedelics such as shrooms or lsd) has been shown to strengthen pre-existing beliefs or in-group bounds with people subscribing to the same ideology or way of thinking. If you are, eg, a noenazi and take mdma while surrounded by other neonazis, chances are that you will strengthen your beliefs because you’re empathizing with the people surrounding you, and that enhanced empathy might strengthen what already links you to these people (hate, believing in conspiracy theories about jews, feeling to belong to a superior race, etc), especially if you believe you belong to a niche group that is being excluded by society or that is heroically fighting the power that be.

    These kind of flips in a person’s way of thinking are possible when they are facing something that contradicts their existing beliefs or that might suggest that maybe they are hurting individuals that do not deserve to be hurt - but the drugs alone might have the opposite effect