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Data on political polarization in America is really interesting. One feature of the data I find fascinating is that in 1994 many people were not "consistently l
by bt848 7y ago
Data on political polarization in America is really interesting. One feature of the data I find fascinating is that in 1994 many people were not "consistently liberal" because they opposed gay marriage. With the big shift toward acceptance of gay marriage these people are now considered "consistently liberal" and by Pew's reckoning this means that liberals have become "more polarized". In my opinion there is no morally defensible compromise position on whether homosexuals deserve their natural rights, so I find this quirk of the survey interesting.
If you look at the ten questions of the Pew survey, it seems to me that anyone who can answer on the conservative side of all ten questions (in order to earn the "consistently conservative" epithet) must be the biggest jerk on Earth, whereas someone who answers on the liberal side of all ten has sensible and morally justifiable views, hence I take all the hand-wringing over polarization with a grain of salt.
https://www.people-press.org/2014/06/12/political-polarization-in-the-american-public/ https://www.people-press.org/2014/06/12/political-polarizati...
- oh_sigh 7y agoI don't want to nitpick, but I don't see how gay marriage in this context is a natural right, since really it is just a government actively providing a service(marriage licensing). A natural right might be more like the right for two gay people to cohabit, or a religious marriage joining two gay people in marriage.
- bt848 7y agoThe actual question on the Pew survey is "Homosexuality should be discouraged by society." agree/disagree. The fraction of people agreeing with this statement has fallen greatly in the last 25 years, mostly due to demographic replacement.
- oh_sigh 7y agoYou can discourage something(which is a natural right of free speech), but still think people have the right to practice it - you might just think it is a bad idea for individual or social health(e.g. You can discourage people from becoming hermits, because a society of hermits isn't much of a society at all)