I think an important thing to understand is that in the US public education system “getting along” and “civility” are ingrained as inherently good values.
So, being able to get over the bile rising in your throat at unmitigated tolerance of intolerant ideology, even to the point where you ensure your own destruction is viewed as one of the highest forms of “upholding your values.”
The problem is that an understanding that lacks nuance will ensure the destruction of essentially every other value you hold dear.
Americans educated publicly are simply not equipped to deal with people not educated in the same way internally. And, while my personal experience isn’t a guide here, but it appears that privately educated Americans (extremely religious, and ultra wealthy) are not so burdened.
There is a core value difference here, doesn’t mean it can’t be changed, I’m an example personally, but if you understand the logical principles they’re operating from, you will understand the inherently flawed argumentation that follows.
100%. This is a core tenet of US civic religion. We learn about George Washington’s farewell address, where he bemoans factionalism. We deify Henry Clay, “The Great Compromiser.” The most noble thing you can ever do is climb into bed with the slave drivers for the tranquility and comfort of the aristocracy. To stake out any position as nonnegotiable is an act of heresy - the more correct and irrefutably justified the position, the more treasonous. The abolitionists almost blew it.
This is universally reinforced by the media, which frames the bourgeois political crisis a conflict between intractable, extreme parties, when in fact there is very little they disagree on. None the less, the solution is always in the middle. Always compromise. We are led to believe this is where all the “independents” and non-voters live.
We have this deeply cultivated idea that in politics, we all want the same thing. Vagaries like liberty, justice, democracy, prosperity. The conflict then is only about different techniques to arrive at the same outcome. The idea of an actual conflict, of divergent and mutually exclusive interests, already strains the imagination. The notion that our greatest enemies live right within our borders is unspeakable, unless spoken in the vernacular of the oligarchy - terrorists, fifth columnists, saboteurs and traitors. Rioters, Anarchists, criminals, and agents of chaos and misinformation sowing doubt in the tautological benevolence of Hamilton’s Constitution.
The right’s the popular kids clique and we and liberals are the nerds. We can outsmart the jocks all we want, but no one cares literally because the jocks are “cooler”. Jocks can just make a snarky insult or just beat up the nerd and be treated like he’s in the right.
But my central point is that there are some sincere liberals that aren’t just controlled opposition that fail to realize politics is a charisma battle. Not necessarily a fact battle.
Product of the US public education system here, went to a solid middle class school system and had amazing teachers given the conditions they had to put up with, and I am still, over a decade out of high school, trying to understand the damage it did.
I think an important thing to understand is that in the US public education system “getting along” and “civility” are ingrained as inherently good values.
So, being able to get over the bile rising in your throat at unmitigated tolerance of intolerant ideology, even to the point where you ensure your own destruction is viewed as one of the highest forms of “upholding your values.”
The problem is that an understanding that lacks nuance will ensure the destruction of essentially every other value you hold dear.
Americans educated publicly are simply not equipped to deal with people not educated in the same way internally. And, while my personal experience isn’t a guide here, but it appears that privately educated Americans (extremely religious, and ultra wealthy) are not so burdened.
There is a core value difference here, doesn’t mean it can’t be changed, I’m an example personally, but if you understand the logical principles they’re operating from, you will understand the inherently flawed argumentation that follows.
100%. This is a core tenet of US civic religion. We learn about George Washington’s farewell address, where he bemoans factionalism. We deify Henry Clay, “The Great Compromiser.” The most noble thing you can ever do is climb into bed with the slave drivers for the tranquility and comfort of the aristocracy. To stake out any position as nonnegotiable is an act of heresy - the more correct and irrefutably justified the position, the more treasonous. The abolitionists almost blew it.
This is universally reinforced by the media, which frames the bourgeois political crisis a conflict between intractable, extreme parties, when in fact there is very little they disagree on. None the less, the solution is always in the middle. Always compromise. We are led to believe this is where all the “independents” and non-voters live.
We have this deeply cultivated idea that in politics, we all want the same thing. Vagaries like liberty, justice, democracy, prosperity. The conflict then is only about different techniques to arrive at the same outcome. The idea of an actual conflict, of divergent and mutually exclusive interests, already strains the imagination. The notion that our greatest enemies live right within our borders is unspeakable, unless spoken in the vernacular of the oligarchy - terrorists, fifth columnists, saboteurs and traitors. Rioters, Anarchists, criminals, and agents of chaos and misinformation sowing doubt in the tautological benevolence of Hamilton’s Constitution.
deleted by creator
This is as wrong as it is embarrassing
Sorry, bad habit of mine to BMFpost.
But my central point is that there are some sincere liberals that aren’t just controlled opposition that fail to realize politics is a charisma battle. Not necessarily a fact battle.
Product of the US public education system here, went to a solid middle class school system and had amazing teachers given the conditions they had to put up with, and I am still, over a decade out of high school, trying to understand the damage it did.