Re: 2020 Political Chatter
Originally Posted by
GrantM
If people could graduate beyond the left/right political spectrum, recognizing that it's a package of tribal positions,
there might be hope of dialogue and political progress. What we need is a model how to have a political discussion.
Libertarian - anti coercion
Progressive - anti oppression
Conservative - pro tradition
These are all good ideas*. The key is to put good faith people together and have the hard conversations,
talk about how the benefits of each of these ideas, not how to maximize one while disregarding the others.
-g
*this isn't mine. Pinker said society can't be:Fair, Free, Equal all at the same time. Politics is about choices.
The problem is that it takes coercion to get the traditionalists to not be racist, misogynistic, classist, xeno- and LGBTQ-phobic - and they find progress to be oppressive. That is to say, the divisions are irreconcilable. And it is disingenuous of Pinker to say that they are all good ideas - or that they all have a place. Two of them are covers for ideologues that stand in the way of human flourishing. There is no good-faith argument for returning to a "simpler time where women knew their place, gays stayed in the closet, and the [insert minority] help was okay with the scraps we threw them". Just like there is no good-faith argument for destroying the planet for short-term profit or for denying healthcare and food to those who need it. The line, it is drawn, the curse it is cast. And the times....they are a changing.
Dan in Oregon
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The wheel is round. The hill lasts as long as it lasts. That's a fact. Everything else is pure theory.
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