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> The far right stuff is different. It's just dripping with hate and lack of empathy. One could say the exact same thing about left-leaning arguments. I freque

> The far right stuff is different. It's just dripping with hate and lack of empathy. One could say the exact same thing about left-leaning arguments. I frequently see use of population-level trends and statistics to bulldoze over individual experience and variance, which to me screams "hate and lack of empathy." The person fielding that argument doesn't see the humanity in the other, they're just a number. As far as I'm concerned, that's a human problem. Not an any one side of the political spectrum problem.

krapp 7y ago
>One could say the exact same thing about left-leaning arguments. I frequently see use of population-level trends and statistics to bulldoze over individual experience and variance, which to me screams "hate and lack of empathy." You could have said that leftists lack empathy for the rich, or white men, or picked any number of common arguments (often spurious) used to discredit the morality of leftist ideology. Mention Mao and Stalin and mass graves - that's a common tactic. But the use of statistical analysis being exactly as hateful as the racist and anti-semitic dialogue of the extreme right because analyzing trends among populations requires counting people in aggregate? I mean... that's not even wrong. Also, I'm pretty sure the extreme right employs the same tactics when trying to argue the inherent differences in IQ between races and genders, or the predisposition of black people towards criminality and violence, or the inherent dangers of multiculturalism or ethnic mixing. I doubt they consider the experience of every individual Muslim before trying to convince people that Islam is a violent religion that cannot coexist with Western democratic values. So the false equivalence you're trying to draw here just makes the right look even worse. Both sides use statistical analysis to try to prove their point, but only one side is also shooting up synagogues and black churches.

krapp 7y ago

>One could say the exact same thing about left-leaning arguments. I frequently see use of population-level trends and statistics to bulldoze over individual experience and variance, which to me screams "hate and lack of empathy." You could have said that leftists lack empathy for the rich, or white men, or picked any number of common arguments (often spurious) used to discredit the morality of leftist ideology. Mention Mao and Stalin and mass graves - that's a common tactic. But the use of statistical analysis being exactly as hateful as the racist and anti-semitic dialogue of the extreme right because analyzing trends among populations requires counting people in aggregate? I mean... that's not even wrong. Also, I'm pretty sure the extreme right employs the same tactics when trying to argue the inherent differences in IQ between races and genders, or the predisposition of black people towards criminality and violence, or the inherent dangers of multiculturalism or ethnic mixing. I doubt they consider the experience of every individual Muslim before trying to convince people that Islam is a violent religion that cannot coexist with Western democratic values. So the false equivalence you're trying to draw here just makes the right look even worse. Both sides use statistical analysis to try to prove their point, but only one side is also shooting up synagogues and black churches.