and when you call people your enemy, people think you are Neanderthal Bullies. I would add brainwashed functional neanderthal bullies... here is 72% trump western New York. Absolutely great people but their politics are a disgrace based on lies and resentment and hate. It's terrible. So what exactly is this overreach, tolerance for gays and browns and Asians and Jews and everyone else?
Yeah, I like Haidt a lot. I don't sense a lot of political BS for him. I like nerds.
And regarding "fighting", that's where I go back to the counterproductive potential of thinking we're "at war". "Fighting" and being "at war" automatically eliminate communication, collaboration, innovation. I don't want either end of the spectrum "winning" because they'd take it as a mandate to shove their entire agenda down our throats, and not being a fan of either end, that doesn't work for me.
I heard a commentator say something about three years ago that really hit me: Has it been so long that we communicated like decent, intelligent, civil adults that we've lost that skill altogether? If that's true, the clock is ticking on this country.
The clock IS ticking. But it's not ticking
because we are being nasty to each other. That's an effect, not a cause. A set of factors is causing the US to come apart. (I've got some ideas about some of them, but no overall explanation). The low level of our discourse is not an important cause (okay, everything is dialectical, and there is probably some positive feedback).
It's a mistake to look at communications issues as central to conflict. This is the error made by the great Alfred Korzybski, whose 'General Semantics' has a lot of good sense in it. (If you're not familiar with these people, you should check them out.). [
Alfred Korzybski - Wikipedia ] He thought WWI was caused by bad thinking on all sides and that rational thinking by everyone could prevent future wars. If only that were so.
Anyway, let's discuss/debate/argue/yell at each other. It can't hurt. And encourage our co-thinkers on each side to join in, leaving the insults aside.
And ... even enemies can reach agreements on things when both sides benefit. The Geneva Conventions, although not always scrupulously followed, were a step forward for humanity. Even during the Cold War, the US and USSR could agree on the allocation of international radio frequencies, and even agree to ban open-air nuclear testing.
And ... we've got a ways to go before things get
really bad. When an AntiFa guy in Portland murdered one of our guys in cold blood, and the others laughed and cheered when they got the happy news, I suspect there were more than a few of our guys who thought about taking revenge. But the murderer met his end at the hands of the police, justice was done, and so far there has been no tit-for-tat -- let's hope it stays that way.
