Plasma Partisans

Plasma Partisans

We have achieved a new and advanced state in devotion to alternative political viewpoints.  All of us know the partisan has allegiance to a given party.  The next level up is the hyperpartisan, which means extremely partisan, sharply polarized in fierce disagreement with the opposition. Hyperpartisans are generally uninterested in compromise. 

We'll call the next level the plasma partisan where all the (political) bonds of allegiance have been stripped away, leaving an ionized substance with an increased polemic political temperature. It is a dislocation of molecular-like bonds of normal political discourse, even to the hyperpartisan.  The plasma partisan, while appearing to want their presence within a party, is substantially beyond their normal controls.  Such could be likened to free radicals, those causing cancerous cell growth within. They often have a well defined, call it plasmatic, cause or agenda.

Plasma partisans, unlike partisans of other flavors, are not subject to normal and civil political discourse – and refuse to so engage. They prefer action, i.e. having slogans, doing stuff, chanting, yelling, dressing alike, and disrupting, and otherwise being emotive.  Often, those opposed call plasmatics unhinged, indicating an unkind, possibly irrational affectation.

The ANTIFA group in the USA is typically plasma partisan. Other groups worldwide can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_left-wing_rebel_groups. While no clear list on the right is easy to find, there are many as any search will reveal. 

Q&A. Having defined these new characters on the scene, let’s take a moment to compare them with the usual customers in political debate.

• Are plasma partisans merely fanatics?  Yes and No.  They may appear as fanatics in public but have a controlled agenda and endgame in mind.  Many are allured by the principle of insufficient action (PIA – see below) – i.e. they want action now, today, this minute, and will wait no longer.  Driven by urgency, they sign on.
• Are plasma partisans actually (or secretly) anarchists?  No.  Anarchists resist rules and disdain rulers, while the plasma partisans embrace their rules and their rulers.  Anarchists have no true endgame in mind, only freedom from control.  Libertarians are perhaps anarchists-lite.              
• Are plasma partisans really just extreme partisans?  No.  Extreme partisans finds themselves at the edge of partisanship, still contributing as party-members, but simply disdain any form of agreement with defined opponents.  More than fierce disagreement with the opposition, they are in total and unremitting opposition, and follow not the traditional rules of opposition. Character assignations are a favorite tool.          
• Are plasma partisans really in their base party?  Not always.  Most have an alternate vision of where their party should be.  They usually do not directly advocate another form of government, rather using their chosen party as a vehicle.  Yet, they try to intimidate all opponents even those within their party.  Many members of the base party are unaware of their usefulness to the plasmatic cause. 
• Are plasma partisans just another hate group? Yes and No.  Let us say they are focused and do follow orders from their leaders, and as such have a duty.  Hate may be a prominent emotion but not necessarily the driver. 

---------------

The Principle of Insufficient Action

The Principle of Insufficient Action (PIA) is not from physics but the action world of humanity, mostly politics.  It refers to a principle many wish to wherein some activity is better than no activity, regardless of what’s happening. In comparison to physics, if a chamber is homogeneously filled with atoms all of the same energy and flavor, this principle, fundamentally not thermodynamic, wants to separate them into activity groups and distinct flavors. The entropy of such a system decreases is the result, but the PIA adds external energy to the system.

This is typically how human systems work.  When left to their own devices, people tend to stabilize, achieving a steady state*.  Only when external energy is applied will they change.  Often this energy has internal origins arising from discontent or the external origins of emergencies. This is also a contradiction to normal thermodynamics.

The PIA is possibly a symptom of notion of urgency in societal life today, wherein something must be happening or something must be done at all times.  People with an insufficient understanding of history have a deep uncertainty in the future, and this in turn causes a craving for action. Not to underestimate the action caused by uncertainty. And that action is sometimes not well considered.

The best leaders do pay attention to subtle details, and one of these is the assurance of the population to future prospects.  This explains the nature of campaign promises – to diminish action. 

*The principle of insufficient action is not related to the principles of insufficient reason in mathematics and logic or the that of least action in physics.  However, all principles indicate that action (or probability) must occur in some manner to minimize or maximize. More precisely, insufficient action implies more action is required, in this case to maximize effect.  As this is a social system, the concept “to maximize” is dependent on goals and results.

** Mathematical models support this.

NOTE: The terms "plasma partisan" and "Principle of Insufficient Action" originated with this post. I could find no other reference.  However, if you find one, I would be grateful to learn of the source.  Thanks.