Saturday, October 18, 2008

Liberals Tired of Being Nice

In this this week's science discussion, science writer John Horgan is speaking with a science writer who has a book about the nature of tribalism in modern society, US and Them. Horgan earlier noted hat one should make an exception for Sarah Palin, because she is an idiot! Horgan notes he's tired of being part of a liberal team that is always nice (they never say anything really mean about Republicans), and a guy who wrote a book about getting along notes that when he sees McCain/Palin supporters he looks at them and thinks 'it's not your country, it's mine'.



I think all progress in talking stops when one side assumes the other side to be either stupid or dishonest, as if their opponent's view is so patently untenable that this can be the only explanation. But the evidence and arguments for and against capital punishment, late term abortions, high taxes, tort reform, is hardly like observing that 2 is greater than zero. Anyone who thinks their opponents are all lying morons, does not understand their argument, because any popular argument has something to it, some shred of plausibility. That dispassionate men like these think conservatives are lying morons, highlights that there are lots of people who are tired of thinking about issues, and just want to retreat to their echo-chambers, where they don't have to persuade anyone.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, it's just liberals who dismiss and ridicule their competitors point of view.
But still, if you shield your VP nominee from any unscripted moments, never put her on a Sunday morning talk show to advocate your positions, people are going to wonder why that is.
And it's not just liberals who are wondering. Unless you think that Peggy Noonan and Christopher Buckley have gone over to the dark side.

Eric Falkenstein said...

I agree many republicans are partisan. It's all overlapping distributions. But these are smart guys I like, talking about a book about overcoming 'us vs them' thinking.

Anonymous said...

Falkenstein: "I think all progress in talking stops when one side assumes the other side to be either stupid or dishonest." David, as a big-hearted, tolerant liberal, I would never accuse you of being dishonest. You're just stupid, and can't help saying really dumb things, you poor thing. I forgive you!

Anonymous said...

Reality has a well known liberal bias. Conservatives all share cognitive dissonance.