Mission and idea

Snakeology tracks how our seemingly secular societies still use pre-modern ways of thinking, distorting our perspective and sowing confusion.

Snakeology begins with the assumption that most people intuitively favor the fundamentals of our society: a worldview broadly characterized as liberal, with its ties to enlightenment, rationalism, individualism, humanism, etc. We also assume that most people are unaware that since the formulation of this philosophy, another worldview was created; one that is hostile to its predecessor, yet often also calls itself by the same name: liberal.

Snakeology builds a map of this antagonistic worldview. We aim to illustrate its structure, how it repurposes the terms we use, and the impact of these reinterpretations on policies and institutions in the real world.

So far, I have cataloged 19,000 quotes and about 1,000 examples. Users can also add new quotes and events by clicking the „+” button next to the header

Activists have hitherto only practiced their theory. The point, however, is to account for it.

How to use it?

On the homepage, there’s a feed of all recently added events with links to their sources. To explore further, click on the tags displayed on the left of each tile: the black tag takes you to the source idea, while the green one filters the site to display events only from a specific area of life (education, sports, politics, etc.).

Situated at the top left corner of the website is an orange „Idea” button. Clicking here opens a map of all documented ideas organized to mirror the structure of the worldview. We began from the root assumption of this worldview (covering reality, society, humanity, and morality) and assigned each the ideas that depend on it.

When selected, each idea opens a list of quotes and references to academic literature. Additionally, each idea features a green button next to the orange „Idea” button at the top. Clicking this button switches you from theory (quotes) to practice (events) where you can view all the events that occurred in real life due to the framing of the theory in an unconventional manner, as shown by the quotes.

Both dimensions, theory, and practice, come with various filters. These filters enable you to view a short explanation, specific aspects of the idea, or navigate through different areas of theory (schools) and areas of practice (education, sports, politics, etc.).

Supporting Snakeology

The Roadmap

 

Step 1

Expand data base: add new schools (Postcolonial, Liberation Theology, Disability Studies, Fat studies, Hermeticism) Add more ideas (White rage, holistic, discomfort etc.)

Step 2

Dashboard and functionalities: dashboard will sum-up how many, % of all, and which institutions are using ideas from each category in their policies and programs. For example: How many % of Fortune 500 companies implement equity, diversity or inclusion. Functionalities will include comment section, profiles, groups and ability to add files and videos etc.

Step 3

Score: Just like ESG can score companies on equity and inclusion, our own measurement will track the values that are actually central to the West. Instead of inclusion and equity it will track how closely (or reluctantly) entity aligns itself with principles of free speech, observes border between private and public sphere, meritocracy, individualism etc.

Step 4

Harms & Lawyers: We will try to build a network of lawyers. Than, each idea will gain an ability to post harm caused by this ideology. Snakeology will provide an easy path for linking your claims with lawyers specialising in dealing with this specific issue.

Step 5

Defence and restatement: For every idea of this ideology we will formulate defense and restatement of the fundamental principles and values of our culture that are challenged. For example how and why hate speech or equity collide with merit, free speech and equality.

Step 6

Podcast: What we have gathered here will be delivered in a form easier to consume