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I find the opposite effect - liberals have thought much more deeply about their views, and conservatives often just parrot shallow talking points. For example,
by mhneu 10y ago
I find the opposite effect - liberals have thought much more deeply about their views, and conservatives often just parrot shallow talking points.
For example, a group of my progressive acquaintances has been debating in depth on the New Yorker's reporting over past few months, including especially the long piece on Hillary the week before the election. They have framed that discussion around progressive views on fairness of opportunity and fairness of wealth distribution.
The leading political progressives have the same depth of argument - listen to Obama's speeches, the speeches at the DNC, Bernie and Robert Reich, Kander on voting, Stiglitz.
In contrast the right is intellectually bankrupt. Michael Anton's articles motivated the right for the past few months and the articles are poorly argued flimflam. Heritage's chief economist is disingenuous and misguided. The chief GOP wonk in Congress, Paul Ryan, is a mediocrity who barely understands healthcare never mind economics. This is what happens when a party goes to war on expertise[1] (because expertise of course threatens their donors' ability to make huge amounts of money[2]).
1. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-death-of-expertise-9780190469412?cc=us&lang=en& https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-death-of-experti...
2. http://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/3/10/14871696/scott-pruitt-climate-denial http://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/3/10/14871696/sco...
- chillacy 10y agoMaybe (just a guess) it depends on where you are? I suspect if you live in a city which leans left, all the people who go with the flow and don't think too much about their views end up being on the left because that's everyone else. The people going against the grain at least have thought more deeply of their views. And if you live in a majority red community, people who have left views will be the ones who have thought long and deep about their views.
- nickthemagicman 10y agoThis is not true at all. Conservatives in general have extremely simple black and white thinking with no consideration of statistics or larger concepts. That's why they're so fear driven. They don't like terrorism so get rid of muslims no matter if it's an infinitesimal fraction of Muslims who are terrorists...they don't like taxes so get rid of them, even though it funds the infrastructure they use every day...they don't like black people getting welfare so stop it, even though in a bigger context it's income redistribution which sends dollars through the economy. Its very simple thinking.
- chillacy 10y agoThat's probably the most ironic comment I've read in awhile. Maybe you should try to not apply the very black and white thinking you look down upon so much.
- nickthemagicman 10y agoI guess you probably should learn what irony is because there's literally nothing that could even be mistaken for irony in my comment. That's literally a description of the conservative base. It's literally the platform Trump ran and got voted in on. Denying muslims, lowering taxes, and reducing welfare. Toss in some Mexican wall too. It's all small minded, black and white, fear driven, devisive, fear based politics. Classic strong man strategies. If I could find a single conservative that can give me an explanation of their conservative philosophy that isn't just parroting something they heard... that is based in sound reasoning... and an actual semblance of a philosophical/economic framework I would cry tears of joy. \ But that doesn't exist.
- Chris2048 10y agoI think you're being over-literal..
- nickthemagicman 10y agoUsing examples to support my point = over-literal. lol
- Chris2048 10y agoI mean the liberal use of "literally". Also, you've been trolling all over this thread. You're 'examples' are anecdotal, or not fleshed out with details at all.
- nickthemagicman 10y ago
- pottersbasilisk 10y agoThe gop is soft, but arguing with the alt right is scary. They are extremely good debaters, very antifragile.
- nickthemagicman 10y agoThey are terrible debaters...what are you talking about? They literally use the word "cuck" that shows the level of their thinking...
- eli_gottlieb 10y agoThey've certainly taken rhetoric classes. They just have the slight problem that they have near-zero facts on their side. Of course, they're decent enough rhetoricians to shift fully into meta-level philosophical sophistry when that gets brought up, but that's... not helpful against those of us who recognize sophistry as such.
- Chris2048 10y agoSome might distinguish between leftists, and liberals.