However, to me, ethnic ultranationalism almost acts like a mental disorder, even if it is not one. I think the same about a lot of antisemitism. And really, Identity Politics itself acts like a mental disorder. As does homosexuality, especially male homosexuality. I don’t think male homosexuality is a disorder, as some are extremely healthy, but many are not. So it’s not a disorder, but it acts like one.
I like to call these things “syndromes.” We can or are forced to choose a number of different paths in life. Quite a few of those paths have “syndrome”-type thought and behavior behavior patterns associated with that path. What I mean is that if you choose to live in a certain way, you can be fairly sure that you will engage in certain behaviors, have certain associated emotions and possibly disorders, and others will tend to react to you in certain ways.
IP in Ukraine certainly seems like a mental disorder. I’ve watched Ukrainian nationalists interact with a Ukrainian guy online who didn’t want to fight for Ukraine. They seemed like murderous meatheads.
Homos seem self-destructive.
I worked with a married woman that accepted anti-Semitism. She calmly said something to the effect of people don’t seem to like Jews. I assume a lot of men in her life disliked Jews. Perhaps they were maybe conspiracy theorists. NY Jews seem pretty rude. Most anti-Semites in MN don’t even interact with Jews. Her acceptance of anti-Semitism without being an anti-Semite herself made her seem pretty level-headed.