Extra Ordinary Ideas

Truth in Tolstoy

I started reading Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina recently, and have been so impressed by some of his social commentary that I thought I would post some of his best from time to time. Here he is on politics as cultural affinity and social signaling:

Oblonsky took and read a liberal paper, not an extreme liberal paper, but one that expressed the views of most people, and although he was not really interested either in science, art, or politics, his views on all these matters were strictly in conformance with the views of the majority and those of his paper, and he changed them only when the majority changed theirs; or rather he did not change them, but they changed imperceptibly of their own accord.

Oblonsky did not choose his politics or his opinions, but these seemed to come to him of their own accord, just as he did not choose the style of his hat or coat, but always wore those that were in fashion. Living in a certain social environment and feeling the need for some form of mental activity, which usually arises in a person of mature years, to hold views was as necessary to him as to wear a hat. If he had a reason for preferring the liberal to the conservative party, to which many of his circle also belonged, it was not because he considered the liberal outlook more rational, but because it corresponded more closely to his way of life.