4 ms·

What I’ve realized is that people in general are largely incapable of nuance. - Things are either bad or good. - Only one side can be right which means the ot

What I’ve realized is that people in general are largely incapable of nuance. - Things are either bad or good. - Only one side can be right which means the other side is automagically wrong. - Multiple things can’t be true at the same time. - etc.

rootusrootus 4y ago
If there is one thing that can reliably eliminate nuance from any discussion, it is politics. Alleged censorship in social media is a hot topic in the last few years amongst partisans.
acdha 4y ago
I think it's also worth remembering that this isn't just some random quirk but something actively cultivated by many social groups. Many religious encourage that us-versus-them divide because it's a very effective mechanism for keeping people from leaving (my experience with this was fundamentalist Christianity where shunning was practiced so anyone breaking with official doctrine was going to have to give up most of their friends/family and possibly even a marriage), and the Republican Party relies on the “help, we're being oppressed!” mythology to keep people riled up and donating/voting no matter who the candidate is. In both cases, tolerating nuance would make it harder to control the message since disagreement could lead to power shifting away from the current top of the hierarchy. Unsurprisingly the people who benefit from that are strongly opposed to sharing.
- serverholic 4y ago
  I don’t think it’s limited to religious people or republicans. I see it on both sides. I do agree that it’s partially due to programming. If you look at movies for example you’ll see this black and white thinking. There’s a good guy and a bad guy and it’s all very simple.
  - acdha 4y ago
    It’s not exclusive to those groups but it’s quite noticeably stronger there. I think that’s because those groups push positions which are unpopular with a majority of the population, so you have to link that to things they do want or think they must do and push it as a package deal. “We’re under attack constantly by deceptive forces” is an effective way to prevent the culture of questioning any part of the package — e.g. someone who notices that Jesus didn’t actually say they have to shun their gay kid is is almost certainly going to wonder what other doctrine is like that.
    - serverholic 4y ago
      I think it's just as strong on both sides, the difference is intention and outcomes. The right uses this to reinforce their own power. The left uses it to try and correct injustices but ends up creating problems because of it. Take a look at feminism for example. It started as "hey women should have equal rights", which is good. But now we see far too many people treating men as a monolith and demonizing them. So now we have a narrative that women = good, and men = bad. I see this all the time on social media from the left and it has to stop. Male suicide rates are far too high right now, and I partly blame this narrative and the lack of nuance that caused it.
      - acdha 4y ago
        That just tells me that you follow a lot of right-wing sources. That's not a popular feminist position but it's exactly how the right-wing characterizes it to avoid honest engagement with, for example, the feminists who've written thoughtfully and compassionately about how traditional gender roles negatively impact men. The suicide rates you mention, for example, are commonly attributed to the intersection of economic declines for traditional working-class jobs and the traditional belief that men are supposed to be the family breadwinner, which implicitly tells men that if they're not married with a reasonably high income they're failures.
        serverholic 4y ago
        No that's a common far-left cop-out. I don't follow many right wing sources, I closely observe how people talk and act, offline and online, and think for myself. In-fact I follow mostly left-wing media and I consider myself a true leftist because I think everyone should be treated equally, and power dynamics aren't as simple as man = has all power, women = has no power. But that's exactly the narrative that the left is pushing. I guarantee that if you were to post online even the simplest thing like "women have some power over men" you'll get dogpiled by people calling you a rapist because they can't handle nuance. I also call bullshit on your explanation for male suicide. Male loneliness plays a major role, and it's partly due to the fact that we collectively put women on a pedestal in our society. Which again goes back to lack of nuance. Something like 30% of men haven't had sex in the past year, and women generally find 80% of men unattractive on dating sites. There is real data backing up my position.

rootusrootus 4y ago

If there is one thing that can reliably eliminate nuance from any discussion, it is politics. Alleged censorship in social media is a hot topic in the last few years amongst partisans.

acdha 4y ago

I think it's also worth remembering that this isn't just some random quirk but something actively cultivated by many social groups. Many religious encourage that us-versus-them divide because it's a very effective mechanism for keeping people from leaving (my experience with this was fundamentalist Christianity where shunning was practiced so anyone breaking with official doctrine was going to have to give up most of their friends/family and possibly even a marriage), and the Republican Party relies on the “help, we're being oppressed!” mythology to keep people riled up and donating/voting no matter who the candidate is. In both cases, tolerating nuance would make it harder to control the message since disagreement could lead to power shifting away from the current top of the hierarchy. Unsurprisingly the people who benefit from that are strongly opposed to sharing.

serverholic 4y ago
I don’t think it’s limited to religious people or republicans. I see it on both sides. I do agree that it’s partially due to programming. If you look at movies for example you’ll see this black and white thinking. There’s a good guy and a bad guy and it’s all very simple.
- acdha 4y ago
  It’s not exclusive to those groups but it’s quite noticeably stronger there. I think that’s because those groups push positions which are unpopular with a majority of the population, so you have to link that to things they do want or think they must do and push it as a package deal. “We’re under attack constantly by deceptive forces” is an effective way to prevent the culture of questioning any part of the package — e.g. someone who notices that Jesus didn’t actually say they have to shun their gay kid is is almost certainly going to wonder what other doctrine is like that.
  - serverholic 4y ago
    I think it's just as strong on both sides, the difference is intention and outcomes. The right uses this to reinforce their own power. The left uses it to try and correct injustices but ends up creating problems because of it. Take a look at feminism for example. It started as "hey women should have equal rights", which is good. But now we see far too many people treating men as a monolith and demonizing them. So now we have a narrative that women = good, and men = bad. I see this all the time on social media from the left and it has to stop. Male suicide rates are far too high right now, and I partly blame this narrative and the lack of nuance that caused it.
    - acdha 4y ago
      That just tells me that you follow a lot of right-wing sources. That's not a popular feminist position but it's exactly how the right-wing characterizes it to avoid honest engagement with, for example, the feminists who've written thoughtfully and compassionately about how traditional gender roles negatively impact men. The suicide rates you mention, for example, are commonly attributed to the intersection of economic declines for traditional working-class jobs and the traditional belief that men are supposed to be the family breadwinner, which implicitly tells men that if they're not married with a reasonably high income they're failures.
      - serverholic 4y ago
        No that's a common far-left cop-out. I don't follow many right wing sources, I closely observe how people talk and act, offline and online, and think for myself. In-fact I follow mostly left-wing media and I consider myself a true leftist because I think everyone should be treated equally, and power dynamics aren't as simple as man = has all power, women = has no power. But that's exactly the narrative that the left is pushing. I guarantee that if you were to post online even the simplest thing like "women have some power over men" you'll get dogpiled by people calling you a rapist because they can't handle nuance. I also call bullshit on your explanation for male suicide. Male loneliness plays a major role, and it's partly due to the fact that we collectively put women on a pedestal in our society. Which again goes back to lack of nuance. Something like 30% of men haven't had sex in the past year, and women generally find 80% of men unattractive on dating sites. There is real data backing up my position.