The problem of collective decision-making under irreconcilable pluralism. Politics aims to organize societies where people have fundamentally different values, beliefs, and desires. The hard problem is that no system can fairly aggregate these preferences without violating some core principle (like majority rule trampling minority rights, or consensus leading to paralysis). Every political theory—democracy, liberalism, socialism—has a fatal flaw when implemented in a world of real, diverse humans. The search for a perfectly just and stable system may be logically impossible, condemning us to a perpetual, messy negotiation between order and freedom, equality and excellence.
Example: A community must decide: Build a hospital or a school? The sick and elderly prefer the hospital; families with kids prefer the school. A vote creates a winner and a resentful loser. Compromise (a smaller version of each) may satisfy no one fully. The hard problem: There is no "correct" answer discoverable by reason or science. Any decision will impose someone's values on someone else. Politics is the arena where this irreducible conflict plays out, not to be solved, but to be managed. The ideal system is a mirage; the best we can do is avoid civil war while bickering endlessly. Hard Problem of Politics.
by Enkigal January 24, 2026
Get the Hard Problem of Politics mug.The psychological injury inflicted by exposure to, or direct victimization by, oppressive political systems, violent ideological conflict, state-sponsored violence, or the chronic terror of living under unstable or authoritarian regimes. This includes the trauma of refugees, persecuted minorities, political prisoners, and citizens subjected to gaslighting propaganda, the collapse of social contracts, and the betrayal by trusted institutions. It is the damage done when the political sphere, which should provide security and order, becomes a source of pervasive threat and moral injury.
Example: A journalist in an authoritarian country is kidnapped, tortured, and released, but lives in constant fear of re-abduction. A family in a war zone hears bombs every night for years. A minority community sees their rights legislated away and faces increasing state-sanctioned violence. Even in stable democracies, a person may develop political trauma from chronic exposure to threats of civil war, the erosion of democratic norms, and the feeling of helplessness as institutions fail. The trauma is the shattering of the fundamental trust that the political world will provide a safe container for life.
by Dumu The Void January 27, 2026
Get the Political Trauma mug.A break from shared reality centered on political ideology, where conspiracy theories and partisan narratives form a completely self-referential, airtight delusional system. It is characterized by the belief that one is a central actor in a grand historical struggle, that political opponents are literal demons or subhuman agents of evil, and that all contradictory information is proof of the conspiracy's depth. This psychosis often manifests as messianic or persecutory delusions woven from news fragments, online propaganda, and the mythos of a political movement, severing the individual from any common epistemic ground.
Example: A person becomes convinced they are a "digital soldier" for a political leader. They believe mainstream news anchors send them coded signals through eye blinks, that their neighbor's lawn sign is a threat against their family, and that they must stockpile weapons for an impending "Storm." They lose their job for ranting about these beliefs at work. This is political psychosis: their grasp on reality has been hijacked by an ideological narrative, transforming the world into a personalized, paranoid political thriller where they are the protagonist.
by Dumu The Void January 27, 2026
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The inherent corruption that occurs when the institution of science is conflated with the scientific method. This is the transformation of science from a process of open, fallible inquiry into a political entity—a state-sanctioned authority that gets to definitively regulate what is considered "objective" and, by extension, "moral." The problem arises when the label "scientific" is wielded not as a descriptor of methodology, but as a cudgel of power to silence dissent, marginalize non-hegemonic worldviews (by labeling them "pseudoscience"), and enforce a single, materialist ontology as the only valid reality. In this politicized state, defending science devolves into a fundamentalist posture of declaring everything else "non-science," creating an empty, negative identity more concerned with gatekeeping authority than with understanding the world. It's when the priesthood in lab coats cares more about protecting the temple's power than pursuing messy, unpredictable truth.
Example: "When the public health agency's messaging shifted from 'here is the evolving data on masks' to 'any questioning of our mandates is anti-science pseudoscience,' they showcased the Political Problem of Science. The method—tentative, evidence-based—was replaced by the institution's need for unquestioned authority, turning a public health tool into a political loyalty test."
by AbzuInExile January 31, 2026
Get the Political Problem of Science mug.The flip side of the same coin: the use of the accusation of "pseudoscience" as a primary political weapon to dismiss and demonize ideas, not because they have been engaged with substantively, but because they challenge a dominant ideology or power structure. This problem exposes how the term is often emptied of its epistemological meaning (critiquing structural contradictions) and is instead deployed as a cheap, thought-terminating smear. By reducing all critique to the category of "not-science," the accuser avoids the harder work of defending their own ideological assumptions, using the cultural authority of science as a shield. Ironically, this reductionist discourse—which bases its entire identity on a negative definition—becomes its own form of pseudoscience, mimicking science's authority while abandoning its spirit of open scrutiny.
Example: "Dismissing all critiques of industrial agriculture as 'organic pseudoscience' without addressing the specific points about soil depletion and pesticide runoff is the Political Problem of Pseudoscience. The agribusiness lobby isn't defending scientific rigor; it's using the label to pathologize any challenge to its economic model, turning a valid debate about systems into a hollow war of epithets."
by AbzuInExile January 31, 2026
Get the Political Problem of Pseudoscience mug.The perspective that the entire arena of politics—left vs. right, the issues that matter, the very idea of what government should do—is not a reflection of natural human divisions, but a constructed battlefield. Ideologies, parties, and political identities are built over time through media, education, and leaders to organize conflict, allocate resources, and give meaning to social life.
Example: "The 'culture war' issue of the 1850s was slavery. Today it's gender identity. The Theory of Constructed Politics says the fundamental conflict isn't natural; the battleground is constructed. Political elites and media build salience around certain issues to mobilize groups, constructing 'us vs. them' around whatever symbols and fears will hold a coalition together at the time."
by Abzu Land January 31, 2026
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