3 ms·

I would push a little further and say that this is a component of Western thought - binaries, enmity and polemics. The disjunction between the metanarrative of

I would push a little further and say that this is a component of Western thought - binaries, enmity and polemics. The disjunction between the metanarrative of what our system is - a democracy based on equality - and what our system is - pro-slavery. The result is we blame, individuals or groups of individuals like 'woodpushers' when it is the entire logical order. Just try breaking any of our main socially-organizing binaries: Male/female (be trans!) or black/white (everyone is both!), sexuality(be pan-sexual!), class (celebrate being poor!) and so on. We meet in enmity to decide what of these categories we are (without ever uttering it) and then we argue our own truth, generated from within, and argue it to the death. Just like folks will when they read this. Go a piece of the way with this. Do some reading - Spivak, Mbembe, Benedict Anderson, Roedigger - there are decades of theory and meaning out there that is now mainstream. The problem is not the 'bad folks' - it's our own western solipsism.

redis_mlc 6y ago
Most HN readers are semi-autistic engineers, not PoliSci majors. They're literally looking for a counterexample for non-math problems, and are blinded to the fact that life is not well-defined. The US is polarized because it has only 2 major parties. Without the coercion of a third party to make a coalition government, the US will become ever more polarized. (It doesn't help that Obama was a "community organizer" and our current leaders are over 70. When young people see Pelosi (80) clinging to power until the grave, I imagine they don't picture where they fit into that party. Me neither.) The exception is that I've read this might be the last Republican majority because of demographics, but they may just change policies enough to stay relevant.

3 ms·

I would push a little further and say that this is a component of Western thought - binaries, enmity and polemics. The disjunction between the metanarrative of

by curation 6y ago

redis_mlc 6y ago
Most HN readers are semi-autistic engineers, not PoliSci majors. They're literally looking for a counterexample for non-math problems, and are blinded to the fact that life is not well-defined. The US is polarized because it has only 2 major parties. Without the coercion of a third party to make a coalition government, the US will become ever more polarized. (It doesn't help that Obama was a "community organizer" and our current leaders are over 70. When young people see Pelosi (80) clinging to power until the grave, I imagine they don't picture where they fit into that party. Me neither.) The exception is that I've read this might be the last Republican majority because of demographics, but they may just change policies enough to stay relevant.