Yama
Permabanned
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2014
- Messages
- 7,684
- MBTI Type
- ESFJ
- Enneagram
- 6w7
- Instinctual Variant
- so/sx
My attempt to actually contribute to this community beyond fluff.
A lot of Si (and SJ) descriptions peg Si as being "conservative." Si is usually described as traditional, routine-oriented, and "conservative." This is a very broad definition. This word in particular, "conservative," is used a lot. I have found that there are a few misconceptions about what this really means.
To begin, let's take a look at the definition of "conservative" (dabbling in semantics):
My problem with the popular label of "conservative" for Si rests with the bolded.
As most people understand it, "conservative" is going to refer to political ideologies. However, this is a bad assumption of Si. A better definition of "conservative" in the Si sense would be this:
The above is the definition for "preserving."
Why is this important? How is this any more than a rant-fest about semantics? Let me explain.
I have, on more than one occasion, seen SJs mistype themselves because they "are not conservative." The typical SJ description depicts the Si user as traditional and conservative in the sense that they are a Republican from the 1950s. While I am in no way trying to say that SJs can't (or shouldn't) be conservative/Republican, the problem with semantics here actually leads to huge misconceptions about the type as a whole. For example, INFJ is a popular beginner mistype for ISFJ because ISFJ descriptions paint us to be traditional doormats, stuck in our oldschool ways, unable to keep up with a changing world. This is laughably untrue, and one of the reasons there is such an SJ bias. (I mean, just read that definition.)
"Preserve" would be a much better word to use. It is much more inclusive. Here is why.
The Si-dom (and perhaps aux) is not so much conservative as they are preserving. Si has a preference for the familiar. Thus, the Si-dom is likely (and the keyword here is likely) to preserve the sort of lifestyle they were raised with. For older SJs, raised in a more politically conservative time, this means that the semantics are more likely to click with them (but not always, of course).
Political ideologies aside, Si preserves what it knows. These are where the traditions come in, and not always in the "traditional" sense (heh)--think something like, "I have eaten pizza on Christmas every year for the past 20 years because of x event that happened in my childhood that started this tradition." The traditions that the SJ adopts can take the form of ideologies (conservative, liberal etc) OR something completely unrelated and more event-based, such as my previous example. "Every year I watch [movie] every [holiday] because my dad used to put it on for us every [holiday] as a kid." And now, as an adult and beyond, the Si-dom preserves that tradition.
In the end, yes, I am complaining about semantics--because calling Si and SJs "conservative" can be harmful. Not because there is anything wrong with being politically conservative, but because of its strong association with it, and how it can be a real turn off and lead to mistypings in young SJs who were raised in a different time than what the definition now allows.
This post is meant to be educational to those who consciously or subconsciously make the "Si = (politically) conservative" association. In future MBTI endevours, I highly encourage the replacement of the word "conservative" with "preserving" because it is more inclusive and has less stereotypes associated with it.
...Eh, rereading my own post I don't know how much sense I'm making or if anyone really cares or understands what I'm trying to get at. I've already typed this all out though, so whatever.
A lot of Si (and SJ) descriptions peg Si as being "conservative." Si is usually described as traditional, routine-oriented, and "conservative." This is a very broad definition. This word in particular, "conservative," is used a lot. I have found that there are a few misconceptions about what this really means.
To begin, let's take a look at the definition of "conservative" (dabbling in semantics):
My problem with the popular label of "conservative" for Si rests with the bolded.
As most people understand it, "conservative" is going to refer to political ideologies. However, this is a bad assumption of Si. A better definition of "conservative" in the Si sense would be this:
The above is the definition for "preserving."
Why is this important? How is this any more than a rant-fest about semantics? Let me explain.
I have, on more than one occasion, seen SJs mistype themselves because they "are not conservative." The typical SJ description depicts the Si user as traditional and conservative in the sense that they are a Republican from the 1950s. While I am in no way trying to say that SJs can't (or shouldn't) be conservative/Republican, the problem with semantics here actually leads to huge misconceptions about the type as a whole. For example, INFJ is a popular beginner mistype for ISFJ because ISFJ descriptions paint us to be traditional doormats, stuck in our oldschool ways, unable to keep up with a changing world. This is laughably untrue, and one of the reasons there is such an SJ bias. (I mean, just read that definition.)
"Preserve" would be a much better word to use. It is much more inclusive. Here is why.
The Si-dom (and perhaps aux) is not so much conservative as they are preserving. Si has a preference for the familiar. Thus, the Si-dom is likely (and the keyword here is likely) to preserve the sort of lifestyle they were raised with. For older SJs, raised in a more politically conservative time, this means that the semantics are more likely to click with them (but not always, of course).
Political ideologies aside, Si preserves what it knows. These are where the traditions come in, and not always in the "traditional" sense (heh)--think something like, "I have eaten pizza on Christmas every year for the past 20 years because of x event that happened in my childhood that started this tradition." The traditions that the SJ adopts can take the form of ideologies (conservative, liberal etc) OR something completely unrelated and more event-based, such as my previous example. "Every year I watch [movie] every [holiday] because my dad used to put it on for us every [holiday] as a kid." And now, as an adult and beyond, the Si-dom preserves that tradition.
In the end, yes, I am complaining about semantics--because calling Si and SJs "conservative" can be harmful. Not because there is anything wrong with being politically conservative, but because of its strong association with it, and how it can be a real turn off and lead to mistypings in young SJs who were raised in a different time than what the definition now allows.
This post is meant to be educational to those who consciously or subconsciously make the "Si = (politically) conservative" association. In future MBTI endevours, I highly encourage the replacement of the word "conservative" with "preserving" because it is more inclusive and has less stereotypes associated with it.
...Eh, rereading my own post I don't know how much sense I'm making or if anyone really cares or understands what I'm trying to get at. I've already typed this all out though, so whatever.
