3 ms·
Yes. I spent almost my entire life on the far left, admired and voted for Nader, etc. And being honest, kind of thought the thoughts you're expressing here.
by throwaway5250 8y ago
Yes. I spent almost my entire life on the far left, admired and voted for Nader, etc. And being honest, kind of thought the thoughts you're expressing here.
By happenstance, a couple of years ago start spending a lot of time with conservatives. It was kind of shocking to discover, but on average, they're every bit as kind and compassionate as the liberals I know. Maybe a bit more so.
There are outliers in both groups, but being a good person is largely orthogonal to politics.
I don't really expect anyone to take my word for it, but maybe you'll consider the possibility.
- happytoexplain 8y agoAnecdotally, the proportion of my couple-dozen-or-so close friends and family who are conservative has always been about half or a bit less, and they have always been, on average, much more quick to insults and mocking when politics come up. I don't think this makes them bad or uncaring people, and of course some of my liberal friends and family have the same problem, and you would never know that any of these people are anything but kind and compassionate as long as you're talking about things they can relate to and agree with at the moment... But I do think it's essentially impossible for people, on the whole, to consider each other kind and compassionate when either side resorts to that kind of attitude so incredibly freely, which seems like something nearly everybody does if my experience with friends, family, strangers, and anonymous people online is indicative (which it may not be).
- throwaway5250 8y agoFWIW, my liberal friends also often don't lean towards insults and mocking. Rather, shaming and silencing seem more common (at least in recent years).