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A bit pedantic, but liberal and conservative are not opposites. Liberalism is a political philosophy, conservatism is to do with rate and direction of change. I
by ralusek 4y ago
A bit pedantic, but liberal and conservative are not opposites. Liberalism is a political philosophy, conservatism is to do with rate and direction of change. In America, for example, to be conservative means to be liberal, as the foundation of the country is fundamentally liberalism. If you advocate on behalf of rule of law, free speech, minimal state power, individuality, etc, then that would make you a liberal and a conservative. You want to conserve the status quo political/philosophical system. The opposite of conservatism is progressivism, and both are entirely defined by the context of what they're conserving or progressing.
- anigbrowl 4y agoThis is all true in a political science classroom, not so useful as a shorthand for real-world political tendencies that employ the same terms to mean increasingly different things. It's not that I disagree with you, rather that there is political capital to be made from debasement of the academic currency.
- im3w1l 4y agoEven so, I can easily imagine opinions that would upset both liberals and conservatives. If an AI had such opinions then it would be possible to make it both more liberal and more conservative.
- KerrAvon 4y agoThat's all fine in historical context, but it's not the contemporary popular conception of those terms, nor is it how those terms are used in politics as practiced in the USA.