4 ms·

I find two things interesting about your comment. The first is that you refer to conservatives in the general, and democrats in the specific. This may be simp

I find two things interesting about your comment. The first is that you refer to conservatives in the general, and democrats in the specific. This may be simply inadvertant coincidence, but it stood out to me. In fact, you use those particular constructions twice: > None of my conservative friends believe that nonsense about Obama, and none of my democrat friends believe that Trump is a Russian spy. > The difference is that some of my conservative friends think it’s ok to have a swindly buffoon as president, and none of my democrat friends agree with that. This suggests that in your mind, the "sides" you are seeing here are "conservative" vs. "democrat", which I find very interesting. One gets a party label, the other does not. Secondly, to address your main point: I don't understand why you feel that it's relevant what the "conservatives you know" believe. The political party that represents that demographic certainly strongly pushes those beliefs, does it not? Did the current President and party behind him not accuse the former one of being born in Kenya? Did they not and do they not still promote the belief that the issue of climate change is a "chinese conspiracy" (or alternatively, some ploy by the liberals and scientific establishment)? Did they prosecute a war on the "belief" that Iraq had WMDs (an action which cost your country several thousand soldiers' lives, and a few trillion dollars)? Whatever your conservative friends may believe (let's leave aside the fact that you are making an argument via anecdote - your friends may or may not be representative of the demographic as a whole).. the party that represents them certainly pushes these understandings, and pushes them relentlessly, and justifies policy on the basis of those understandings. I find your response to be similar to the article in question: generalized, abstracted, "stepping above". Unfortunately, in this circumstance.. the details matter.

noobermin 8y ago
Keeping it real, you're reading way too much into what they're saying.
- tiredyam 8y ago
  No he isn’t. I agree with him that there is something interesting about the fact that he refers to democrats specifically and conservatives generally. It gives us some insight into his/her bias. It exemplifies some of the broad strokes that are being painted. All conservatives think X because all conservatives, whether fiscally or socially, have the same beliefs. Their anecdata is also highly questionable and presented as a legitimate source of information.
  - rjf72 8y ago
    I read it in quite the opposite way! I think it's implicitly referencing that 'republican' is a clearing house of views as opposed to actually representing any specific view. As an example libertarians and religious types generally have relatively little in common, yet both tend to vote republican. And this is because the party works to give them each something they value. So, for instance, I imagine that the vast majority of libertarians are pro-choice, yet the party chooses pro-life as a platform to offer something to the religious types. And indeed it turns out even though pro-life is the party platform, only 44% [1] of 'those that vote republican' would support overturning Roe v Wade. So the platform doesn't necessarily represent the individual. By contrast democratic ideology is becoming increasingly authoritarian in that there's extremely little tolerance for views outside the party line. You'll generally find something like 85%+ support for the party line on most any 'hot' issue. By contrast, you'll find much more diversity in 'republican' views. For instance 'gun control' is supposed to be a black and white division, yet you find 31% [2] of republicans support stronger gun laws and only 13% would support less strict. By contrast, and as usual, you find a whopping 87% of democrats supporting stricter gun control and what measures as less than statistical noise (3%) in support of less strict gun control. So there isn't really any such thing as a 'republican.' I think 'conservative' also does not necessarily apply ubiquitously, but it's somewhat reasonable. By contrast there is very much a thing as a 'democrat' and the vast majority of people that vote for that party are indeed 'democrats'. [1] - https://thinkprogress.org/pro-choice-america-majority-d8963029ae45/ https://thinkprogress.org/pro-choice-america-majority-d89630... [2] - https://news.gallup.com/poll/243797/six-americans-support-stricter-gun-laws.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/243797/six-americans-support-st...
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noobermin 8y ago

Keeping it real, you're reading way too much into what they're saying.

tiredyam 8y ago
No he isn’t. I agree with him that there is something interesting about the fact that he refers to democrats specifically and conservatives generally. It gives us some insight into his/her bias. It exemplifies some of the broad strokes that are being painted. All conservatives think X because all conservatives, whether fiscally or socially, have the same beliefs. Their anecdata is also highly questionable and presented as a legitimate source of information.
- rjf72 8y ago
  I read it in quite the opposite way! I think it's implicitly referencing that 'republican' is a clearing house of views as opposed to actually representing any specific view. As an example libertarians and religious types generally have relatively little in common, yet both tend to vote republican. And this is because the party works to give them each something they value. So, for instance, I imagine that the vast majority of libertarians are pro-choice, yet the party chooses pro-life as a platform to offer something to the religious types. And indeed it turns out even though pro-life is the party platform, only 44% [1] of 'those that vote republican' would support overturning Roe v Wade. So the platform doesn't necessarily represent the individual. By contrast democratic ideology is becoming increasingly authoritarian in that there's extremely little tolerance for views outside the party line. You'll generally find something like 85%+ support for the party line on most any 'hot' issue. By contrast, you'll find much more diversity in 'republican' views. For instance 'gun control' is supposed to be a black and white division, yet you find 31% [2] of republicans support stronger gun laws and only 13% would support less strict. By contrast, and as usual, you find a whopping 87% of democrats supporting stricter gun control and what measures as less than statistical noise (3%) in support of less strict gun control. So there isn't really any such thing as a 'republican.' I think 'conservative' also does not necessarily apply ubiquitously, but it's somewhat reasonable. By contrast there is very much a thing as a 'democrat' and the vast majority of people that vote for that party are indeed 'democrats'. [1] - https://thinkprogress.org/pro-choice-america-majority-d8963029ae45/ https://thinkprogress.org/pro-choice-america-majority-d89630... [2] - https://news.gallup.com/poll/243797/six-americans-support-stricter-gun-laws.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/243797/six-americans-support-st...

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