"Well-meaning bad ideas spoiling a generation" is just a hook to engage readers and listeners, and I don't think Haidt believes that. His ire seems directed tow

"Well-meaning bad ideas spoiling a generation" is just a hook to engage readers and listeners, and I don't think Haidt believes that. His ire seems directed toward lazy thinking, regardless of whether that comes in the form of traditional bigotry or intellectual shortcuts like choosing virtuous groups, but he isn't an advocate of middle ground fallacy thinking either. The problem with two-point, binary choices in making optimal social or public policy decisions might be explored with geometric analogies. When reading a historical presidential campaign speech or watching a historical presidential debate from over 50 years ago, it is difficult to completely agree with one person, and the middle ground in between the two speakers' positions is more likely than not to be disagreeable, too. Both speakers almost always seem to be far to the right or far to the left of what a majority of people today think with regard to issues like individual freedoms or fairness standards. In other words the two points are "wrong", but so is the middle ground or "grey area". The two points don't imply a line segment that defines limits to a spectrum of good choices. Furthermore they don't define a line along one dimension, where one or both of speakers are simply to the right or to the left of what future citizens will think is right. What does Haidt actually think? According to his writings he thinks that it is a worthwhile effort to understand what political philosophers actually said, and if you want to be reductive, you can do a lot better than left vs. right. He argues in favor of a model with five "moral foundations" to explain a significant portion of individuals' sociopolitical preferences: - Harm/Care - Fairness/Reciprocity - Ingroup/Loyalty - Obedience to Authority/Respect - Purity/Sanctity So, rather than saying people should look for grey area, middle ground choices, he is saying that they can maximize their utility by looking for a positions that best accord with their preferences in a five-dimensional hyperspace! That sounds glib, but left/right is garbage, and understanding what your personal values in those five moral foundations is at least tractable.