PUFAs And Their Influence On Political Leanings

[Sobieski]

I've been pondering the implications of a modern PUFA laden diet and the influence it has on voter psychology, political movements and general government decision making. I notice a lot of increasingly irrational, hateful ideologies gaining popularity on both sides of the political spectrum (though I have to admit; it seems skewed towards 'far left' types; I don't personally subscribe my views to the left-right spectrum but I use the term here for descriptive purposes).

I'm interested in what opinions others have in this regard. If PUFAs have wide spread hormonal and emotional implications, then on a mass scale that must affect the general psychology and politics of a populace. What do you think these effects are and what basis or evidence do you have for your views?

 

[Westside PUFAs]

It has nothing to do with it. Ray Peat has carefully avoided pufa rich food for the past 4 decades and is still on the far left. He recently said this about left-leaning Steven Pinker:

"Pinker is possibly the worst of the ruling class apologists. Bill Gates might just be a little stupid, but this guy seems to be consciously evil."

Pinker is too conservative for Peat. Pinker is evil? That tells you Peat's political views very clearly.

 

[lvysaur]

I've noticed the same thing; except lately it seems to have skewed towards the right.

I think anti-metabolic strategies are generally going to make people more easily outraged and sensitive to insult.

 

[Tenacity]

You could consider the correlates between political ideology and personality, and how physiology influences that.

Peat is very clearly high in trait openness. Openness is correlated with left-wing ideology.

 

[Sobieski]

It has nothing to do with it. Ray Peat has carefully avoided pufa rich food for the past 4 decades and is still on the far left. He recently said this about left-leaning Steven Pinker:

"Pinker is possibly the worst of the ruling class apologists. Bill Gates might just be a little stupid, but this guy seems to be consciously evil."

Pinker is too conservative for Peat. Pinker is evil? That tells you Peat's political views very clearly.

I agree in that I think Peat is left leaning; however with what I know about the man his conclusions appear to be based on his own logical conclusions and how they fit within his moral framework as opposed to being easily manipulated and led on emotion/outrage. I also think that with the amount of info he gives away for free he is a man of principal.

 

[rebuke]

You could consider the correlates between political ideology and personality, and how physiology influences that.

Peat is very clearly high in trait openness. Openness is correlated with left-wing ideology.

The left is not open, their antagonistic (and hostile).

 

[Hugh Johnson]

It has nothing to do with it. Ray Peat has carefully avoided pufa rich food for the past 4 decades and is still on the far left. He recently said this about left-leaning Steven Pinker:

"Pinker is possibly the worst of the ruling class apologists. Bill Gates might just be a little stupid, but this guy seems to be consciously evil."

Pinker is too conservative for Peat. Pinker is evil? That tells you Peat's political views very clearly.

Pinker is a liberal, not a leftist. There is almost no left in the US. Actual left is Bernie Sanders, Yves Smith, Ian Welsh, David Harvey and David Graeber.

What is considered "far left", is unfortunately just mentally ill liberals. Liberals represent the ruling class conciousness, and emphasize the identity politics in order to give the general population something to fight about that is not class issues.

 

[lvysaur]

The left is not open, their antagonistic (and hostile).

they're*

Liberals represent the ruling class conciousness, and emphasize the identity politics in order to give the general population something to fight about that is not class issues.

True, and conservatives do the opposite. The latter are actually the worse offenders because they are first strikers; liberal idpol is just a reaction to conservative idpol.

The neocons pay their constituents a psychological wage at the expense of the safety of "undesirable" groups, while the neolibs simply try to counter this.

In other words, liberals can get elected by promising the most basic of rights to the downtrodden; and they can get away with this exactly because conservatives designed it to be that way.

 

[Atman]

It has nothing to do with it. Ray Peat has carefully avoided pufa rich food for the past 4 decades and is still on the far left. He recently said this about left-leaning Steven Pinker:

"Pinker is possibly the worst of the ruling class apologists. Bill Gates might just be a little stupid, but this guy seems to be consciously evil."

Pinker is too conservative for Peat. Pinker is evil? That tells you Peat's political views very clearly.

I agree.
Peat is a radical egalitarian and he hates any form of hierarchy.
He is also borderline paranoid about Darwinist thinking even though it has been in decline since at least 50 years.

I think he got imprinted from the time he tried to start his own college and got shut down.
Because back then, there were still strong anti-communist sentiments in the establishment, he identified the establishment with "right-wing" or Darwinist ideology which he never revised since then.
But I don't judge him too harshly for that, he is after all a specialist-scientist and shouldn't be relied on for political guidance.

 

[managing]

I agree.
Peat is a radical egalitarian and he hates any form of hierarchy.
He is also borderline paranoid about Darwinist thinking even though it has been in decline since at least 50 years.

I think he got imprinted from the time he tried to start his own college and got shut down.
Because back then, there were still strong anti-communist sentiments in the establishment, he identified the establishment with "right-wing" or Darwinist ideology which he never revised since then.
But I don't judge him too harshly for that, he is after all a specialist-scientist and shouldn't be relied on for political guidance.

I think his best political guidance is his anti-authoritarian stance. In that regard, he would agree with you that he should not be relied on for political guidance. In fact, I believe he would say, quite rightly, that nobody should be relied on for political guidance.

 

[Sobieski]

If Peat is anti authoritarian, how could he be considered a communist? Collectivism/statism in all it's forms (Communism, socialism, fascism etc etc) is inherently authoritarian (perhaps apart from anarchism). I'm not quite sure how anyone could marry the two ideological positions.

 

[managing]

If Peat is anti authoritarian, how could he be considered a communist? Collectivism/statism in all it's forms (Communism, socialism, fascism etc etc) is inherently authoritarian (perhaps apart from anarchism). I'm not quite sure how anyone could marry the two ideological positions.

Who has identified him with communism? I am not aware of him doing so. Sounds like a strawman someone is building so as to dismiss him.

 

[Atman]

If Peat is anti authoritarian, how could he be considered a communist? Collectivism/statism in all it's forms (Communism, socialism, fascism etc etc) is inherently authoritarian (perhaps apart from anarchism). I'm not quite sure how anyone could marry the two ideological positions.

There are actually people who did, but I can't wrap my head around it myself.
Anarcho-communism - Wikipedia

This world view is based on radical egalitarianism, to back up the anti-hierarchy/anti-authoritarianism.
In my opinion this goes completely against nature, however platitude-like this phrase may sound.

 

[kayumochi]

Liberals represent the ruling class conciousness, and emphasize the identity politics in order to give the general population something to fight about that is not class issues.

Could you not say something very similar about "conservative" white American voters?

 

[Hugh Johnson]

Could you not say something very similar about "conservative" white American voters?

I'm guessing that you are implying that they are economically leftist, opposing, say, the looting of the public purse by Wall Street but vote Republican because of identity politics. If you do, yes. In fact I have heard anecdotes about socialists who say it is far easier to talk socialism (worker control of production) with republicans than liberals, as long as you avoid trigger words like socialism and communism.

Btw, Republicans are insane right wing radicals. Liberals and Democrats are conservative, as in their policy is that they will do what Republicans do, except less.

 

[Westside PUFAs]

Many of you haven’t read enough Peat. He’s anti-American, anti-male, full of white guilt, anti-capitalist, anti-wealth.

 

[Sobieski]

Many of you haven’t read enough Peat. He’s anti-American, anti-male, full of white guilt, anti-capitalist, anti-wealth.

What quotes/citations do you have?

 

[Hugh Johnson]

Many of you haven’t read enough Peat. He’s anti-American, anti-male, full of white guilt, anti-capitalist, anti-wealth.

wtf, dude?

Peat is anti-authoritarian. That much is clear, as he opposes the state repression and state created entities (corporations etc) repressing people. Anti-American is one of those fun words only used by tyrants. Soviets used anti-Soviet, Nazis used anti-German etc. No Portugese would accuse a person of being anti-Portugese, it's such a ridiculous thing to say.

 

[Westside PUFAs]

Listen to all the audio interviews.

 

[Atman]

Many of you haven’t read enough Peat. He’s anti-American, anti-male, full of white guilt, anti-capitalist, anti-wealth.

He is never really explicit but I have to agree with the general impression.

One example of white guilt was in an interview with Danny Roddy, where he basically made the point that when humans moved north (becoming white ) and started eating PUFAs, they become authoritarian, began enslaving each other and building hierarchies etc. It is at the beginning starting somewhere around 5 minutes or so:



I confronted him in an e-email about it and he backpedaled a bit, it was quite amusing.