Blurts & Spasms

Hmmm. Well let’s start by identifying some conservative opinions, positions, values and perspectives that are frequently promoted on Quora:

1. Capitalism is the best thing that ever happened to the world and is the most efficient way to promote individual freedoms.

2. Christianity is vastly superior to other religions and is the best way to worship God.

3. The Founding Fathers grounded their creation of U.S. government and laws in a Judeo-Christian framework.

4. The United States is the greatest country on Earth.

5. We should always support our military regardless of what they are asked to do.

6. Government always makes the wrong choices in the most inefficient ways and cannot be trusted.

7. Any amount of taxes is too much and represents a form of authorized theft.

8. Donald Trump would make a good president.

9. Abortion is always wrong.

10. Gay marriage is always wrong.

11. Socialism is always bad.

12. Terrorism is a direct consequence of Islamic beliefs.

13. Ronald Reagan was an excellent U.S. president and accomplished a tremendous amount of good for the U.S. and the world.

14. The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is an essential mechanism for ensuring individual freedoms.

15. Everything that is upsetting and disappointing about American society - and every failure of the U.S. in any context - has been caused by liberal social and economic policies.

16. Economic stagnation and lack of mobility among white Americans is a direct result of social and trade policies that favor foreigners and immigrants.

17. Anyone who doesn’t agree with the above points either a) is ignorant of the facts; b) has been brainwashed by liberal media; c) is part of an atheist-communist conspiracy that is out to ruin America; or d) all of the above.

Of course we can’t say that ALL conservatives share these views, but we can easily say that each of these views have been consistently promoted by conservative-leaning folks of one type or another.

Now let’s say, for the sake of argument, that some of these viewpoints have a valid basis, but that some of them may not. A persisting problem I have encountered with conservatives (nearly all that I have discussed these issues with, on Quora or elsewhere) is that they won’t budge on any of their convictions. Not one bit; there simply is no room for compromise. On some issues, this may be an intellectually honest and well-researched position - but on all of them? Very rarely do conservatives have sound reasoning or good research to support all of their positions. And, when confronted with contradictory reasoning, research or evidence, instead of being open to an alternative or more nuanced perspective, conservatives will often either become hostile and condescendingly dismissive, or shut down the conversation and run away, or insist on their black-and-white position even more loudly, stridently and vehemently (though still without providing any supportive evidence). In other words, conservatives tend to be highly resistant to alternative narratives - even when they can’t support or defend a particular viewpoint.

Add to this that much of the language and examples conservatives rely upon to “prove” the validity of their position is exactly the same…everywhere. In other words, there is a strong tendency to offer what sounds like scripted or parroted propaganda, rather than well-thought-out or individually considered opinions. I have sometimes done research on phrases and examples that conservatives use and found the same language repeated all over the Internet. Often the language has originally sourced from conservative talk-show hosts, conservative news outlets like Fox or The National Review, Ayn Rand quotes, or opinion papers from the CATO or Mises Institutes - but somehow every conservative advocate of a given position is using exactly the same language in their arguments. In other words, there is a strong sense that conservative thought - even for conservatives who seem to be quite bright and articulate - is generated by a narrow array of trusted sources, and then propagates in a phenomenon of lock-step conformance.

Personally, I disagree with nearly every one of the positions listed above, and have engaged conservatives around them all. In fact I think many of those sentiments and beliefs have done - and continue to do - tremendous damage to humanity and the world. And so on the one hand I feel hostility towards those positions because of their horrific impact on the well-being of millions of people and the natural environments in which we live. I strongly believe the perpetuation of some of these ideas is extremely destructive — and furthermore that continued investment in them certainly won’t solve the most pressing challenges of our time. So the hostility I have sometimes felt developing around conservatives is due to a seemingly blind conformance and eager contribution to what I see as willful harm and destruction - and indeed even the suffering of conservative-leaning folks themselves. This hostility can then be amplified when I attempt to engage conservatives on these issues, and they can offer no factual basis for their convictions. (BTW, this observation has been confirmed by psychology research illustrating that conservatives tend to tolerate much higher cognitive dissonance on the one hand, and are more prone to confirmation bias on the other.)

In conclusion, I would never claim that progressives or liberals don’t suffer from some of the same failings. Many of these patterns of behavior and beliefs are just conditions of being human - of wanting to belong to a group, of fearing those outside that group, of wanting to be sure of one’s place and purpose in the world, of fearing change, and so on. But what puts the final nail in the hostility-coffin for me is how conservatives will go about ensuring their agenda and beliefs are perpetuated. At the extreme end of the spectrum are bombing abortion clinics, instigating wars with other countries (nation-building, etc.), initiating hate speech against minorities and social outliers, generating extraordinary lies and hurtful propaganda about anyone who opposes them, and turning a blind eye to everything from the destruction of ecosystems and entire species to the suffering of the poor - all to enrich a select few or maintain ideological purity. But even short of these extremes, conservatives also tend to be fairly deceptive, manipulative, nasty and conniving - corrupting our media, our democratic process, and our government to promote a conservative agenda, and persuading a majority of rank-and-file conservatives to vote, spend and advocate against their own best interests. And then there is the constant stream of conservative trolls in otherwise honest and caring online discussions - including Quora. Some of the most aggressive and vocal participants in Quora discussions are conservative-leaning fanatics whose unsupportable pedantic rants are often almost as long as this post I am writing now (ha).

At the same time, conservative perspectives DO have something to offer our conversations - and progressive-minded folks should, I think, spend time trying to understand those perspectives on the rare occasions when they are well-supported, and where conservatives are trying to participate in an open and honest conversation with a modicum of empathy and compassion. Unfortunately, with the increasing political polarization in the U.S. and elsewhere, that occurrence is becoming exceedingly rare.

My 2 cents.



From Quora: https://www.quora.com/Why-are-Quora-liberals-so-hostile-towards-conservatives/answer/T-Collins-Logan?srid=nR4s