Thislin wrote;
"Dogma is belief that does not brook being questioned".
Forgive my assumption, but this is the definition that you used for ideology (and continue to use). You are being dogmatic, and describing dogma.
Of course ideology has both good and bad facets, we humans are the deeply flawed source of all such beliefs. We just must try to make things better for each other. That's the challenge.
Thislin again:
"We all operate within the bounds of our ideologies, generally unaware of it, and the only good this does that I can see is to make our thought processes more efficient, as it makes it easy for us to reject things that don't fit. Is this good?"
Yes it is good. Unaware, undirected and impulsive actions lead to unforeseen consquences which are rarely beneficial. It's usually a good idea to have some general plan behind our actions, especially those that include other people. Such plans will generally be based on our own ideas regarding life's directions. Such ideas should always include the possibility of change.
