Dark Mirror Ideologies

Summary

There's a phenomenon I call a "Dark Mirror" ideology. Such an ideology is by definition paired with a "Light Mirror" ideology that it stands in opposition to. Crucially, a Dark Mirror ideology is not a total inversion of its twin; it stands only in moral opposition to its counterpart, while otherwise making the exact same factual claims about how the world works. The only thing the belief systems disagree about is what we're supposed to do about it.I find Dark Mirror ideologies fascinating because they seem vanishingly rare in real life, yet they're constantly invoked in online political debates. The general form of a Dark Mirror accusation looks like this:“You don't really believe what you say, you just want bad things.”Let's take some random topic like, say, Minimum wage:Pro-Increase (accusing opponents):“You know people can’t live on $7.25 — you just want to exploit workers and keep them desperate.”Anti-Increase (accusing supporters):“You know it’ll kill small businesses and jobs — you just want to score political points and look generous with other people’s money.”In this contrived example the Pro-Increase and Anti-Increase camps are not Dark Mirrors of each other (they believe different things about what Minimum wage policy will do), yet they believe their opponents secretly agree with them and are just choosing to be evil for some malicious reason.Dark Mirrors are pretty rareWhat do I mean when I say that Dark Mirror ideologies are rare? Consider Darth Vader. As a Sith Lord, he stands in total moral opposition to the Jedi. However, unlike his secular Imperial compatriots, he accepts all the same cosmological tenants as his spiritual enemies:Admiral Motti: Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the Rebels' hidden fort—(gasps as Darth Vader chokes him with The Force)Darth Vader: I find your lack of fait...