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NYT Opinion: The Rich White Civil War - A smarter look at America’s divide.
Posted on 10/16/18 at 8:58 am
Posted on 10/16/18 at 8:58 am
This entire piece is worth the read. NY Times
quote:
The report, “Hidden Tribes,” breaks Americans into seven groups, from left to right, with names like Traditional Liberals, Moderates, Politically Disengaged and so on. It won’t surprise you to learn that the most active groups are on the extremes — Progressive Activists on the left (8 percent of Americans) and Devoted Conservatives on the right (6 percent).
These two groups are the richest of all the groups. They are the whitest of the groups. Their members have among the highest education levels, and they report high levels of personal security.
quote:
My first big takeaway from “Hidden Tribes” is that our political conflict is primarily a rich, white civil war. It’s between privileged progressives and privileged conservatives.
You could say that tribalism is the fruit of privilege. People with more stresses in their lives necessarily pay less attention to politics. People with college degrees are more likely to describe their ideology as central to their identity. They are much more likely to derive moral meaning from their label, more likely to affiliate with a herd based on their label and more likely to vote on the party line.
Explore the issues from both sides of the aisle.
My second big takeaway from the report is that ideas really do drive history. Progressive Activists and Devoted Conservatives organize around coherent philosophical narratives. These narratives aren’t visions of a just society. They are narratives of menace — about who needs to be exorcised from society.
quote:
This philosophical dispute is not new. There have always been some people who thought we need hierarchical structures to keep us safe and others who thought we need to be emancipated from oppressive structures so we can be free.
What is new is how cultish this dispute has become. The researchers asked a wide variety of questions, on everything from child-rearing to national anthem protests. In many cases, 97 to 99 percent of Progressive Activists said one thing and 93 to 95 percent of Dedicated Conservatives said the opposite. There’s little evidence of individual thought, just cult conformity. The current situation really does begin to look like the religious wars that ripped through Europe after the invention of the printing press, except that our religions now wear pagan political garb.
quote:It seems like we are on the brink of a political paradigm shift that should echo what is reflected in the last quoted portion. I wonder how that will take shape; i.e., if it will happen from the bottom up (slowly filling lower political offices with a new kind of political party), or from the top down (a powerful third-party presidential candidate inspiring others to join the ranks). Nevertheless, I think that this interpretation of the study points to a hopeful indication of what could come in the near future.
The good news is that once you get outside these two elite groups you find a lot more independent thinking and flexibility. This is not a 50-50 nation. It only appears that way when disenchanted voters are forced to choose between the two extreme cults.
Roughly two-thirds of Americans, across four political types, fall into what the authors call “the exhausted majority.” Sixty-one percent say people they agree with need to listen and compromise more. Eighty percent say political correctness is a problem, and 82 percent say the same about hate speech.
Unfortunately, people in the exhausted majority have no narrative. They have no coherent philosophic worldview to organize their thinking and compel action. When they get one I suspect it will look totally unlike the two dominant narratives today. These narratives are threat narratives. But the people who make positive change usually focus on gifts, not deficits. They tell stories about the assets we have and how we can use them together.
I don’t know what the next political paradigm will look like, but I bet it will be based on abundance, not deficits; gifts, not fear; hope, not hatred.
Posted on 10/16/18 at 9:02 am to When in Rome
quote:
Eighty percent say political correctness is a problem, and 82 percent say the same about hate speech.
This is the biggest sticking pint right here. Reasonable people know what does and doesn't cross the line between hate speech and being too PC. Comedy lies somewhere right on that line.
Posted on 10/16/18 at 9:05 am to CoachChappy
quote:And they comprise the vast majority.
This is the biggest sticking pint right here. Reasonable people know what does and doesn't cross the line between hate speech and being too PC.
Posted on 10/16/18 at 9:13 am to When in Rome
If you could get the Yellow Dog Democrats and the GOPe somehow to agree on who gets to run the show, you could get a centrist party out of that combo.
The socialist wing could then link up with the Green Party, the Evangelical base could form its own group (and link up with the Libertarians on economic issues with the understanding that on social ones each side goes their own way).
The socialist wing could then link up with the Green Party, the Evangelical base could form its own group (and link up with the Libertarians on economic issues with the understanding that on social ones each side goes their own way).
Posted on 10/16/18 at 9:49 am to Quidam65
I've been told that "diversity is our strength". Now tribalism is is upon us and extremely dangerous.
Posted on 10/16/18 at 9:55 am to Quidam65
How about a science/common sense based party in the center? War on drug reform, use O&G to fund and incentivize development of renewables, space force, open/free internet, and a military invested in R&D (AI/Machine learning) and not kicking down doors.
Sciences behind economics would obviously be central to their platform
Sciences behind economics would obviously be central to their platform
This post was edited on 10/16/18 at 9:56 am
Posted on 10/16/18 at 9:57 am to When in Rome
quote:
Progressive Activists on the left (8 percent of Americans)
Yet due to their presence in media and journalism, you'd think it was 60%.
Posted on 10/16/18 at 9:59 am to bmy
quote:
How about a science/common sense based party in the center?
Because it's still very subjective. Most people will agree on some specific problems, the solution is where we split
Posted on 10/16/18 at 10:19 am to Gus007
(no message)
This post was edited on 1/19/21 at 7:34 pm
Posted on 10/16/18 at 10:23 am to tide06
quote:
Progressivism, which is really just veiled socialism
Not even veiled any more. They've gone full avowed Communist over the past year.
Posted on 10/16/18 at 10:28 am to When in Rome
Great piece. It provided a sense of hope until I naively read the comments talking about the "false equivalance" B.S. progressives love to bring up. They're so deep in the cult they call themselves the ones with moderate ideologies. Everyone right of them are immoral monsters that need to be exorcised and castrated.
Posted on 10/16/18 at 11:19 am to RogerTheShrubber
quote:
Because it's still very subjective. Most people will agree on some specific problems, the solution is where we split
Fair point. But I think we rarely agree about what is and is not a problem. A good example is unauthorized immigration..
Right group feels immigration is a fiscal, cultural, and national security problem. Wants strict immigration policies, militarized borders, and near zero-tolerance.
Middle group feels that failing to enforce existing laws (and our broken tax system) on employment of undocumented immigrants is the issue. Fiscal and cultural issues are symptoms.
Left group feels that it is a humanitarian crisis (and not a problem) and that America should accept them or at least not actively deport otherwise law abiding residents.
This post was edited on 10/16/18 at 11:23 am
Posted on 10/16/18 at 11:25 am to When in Rome
quote:
Unfortunately, people in the exhausted majority have no narrative. They have no coherent philosophic worldview to organize their thinking and compel action.
We have Trump.
Posted on 10/16/18 at 11:31 am to bmy
quote:
A good example is unauthorized immigration..
You mean illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is against the law, and since we are a nation of laws, and a society dependent on the rule of law to maintain order, the people who don't see this as a problem are wrong, and can go frick themselves.
Posted on 10/16/18 at 11:35 am to Gus007
quote:
I've been told that "diversity is our strength". Now tribalism is is upon us and extremely dangerous.
Unless you're just being deliberately obtuse you should be able to parse out why "diversity" and "tribalism" are not synonyms.
Posted on 10/16/18 at 11:44 am to When in Rome
This is rich. The NYT has been fueling this fire for decades.
Posted on 10/16/18 at 11:56 am to When in Rome
David Brooks is often a voice of reason among the typical partisanship of most of the media opinion pieces available.
This post was edited on 10/16/18 at 11:57 am
Posted on 10/16/18 at 12:31 pm to When in Rome
quote:
Seventy-six percent of Devoted Conservatives think Islam is more violent than other religions; only 3 percent of Progressive Activists agree.
This is all you need to know.
Posted on 10/16/18 at 12:32 pm to troyt37
quote:
You mean illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is against the law, and since we are a nation of laws, and a society dependent on the rule of law to maintain order, the people who don't see this as a problem are wrong, and can go frick themselves.
If you don't have knowledge of whether someone is an unauthorized immigrant or a US citizen how could that possibly disrupt order?
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