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I think we are collectively stuck in a sort of counterpoint/anti-establishmentarian state of mind. Everything must be explained and understood in a way that jives with the assumption that the establishment is rotten. And this is an idea that permeates both sides of the political spectrum. The left claims it is rotten from systemic prejudice. The right is a bit more complex and varies based on the part of the political spectrum, with the alt-right exhibiting the most purity in this respect.
But they all have their preferred poor babies and elites. And I think that’s really how they each connect into the counterpoint/anti-establishment framework, through populism.
The left fails to understand their considerable influence in the institutions they champion, and their downfall will be their religious commitment to perfection, as required by the revolutionary and ideological underpinnings that define them. i cannot fathom an outcome that would lead to this collective acceptance that social justice has been achieved, and it’s time to move on. I think it will probably just fade away, as it already has to some extent, as people fail to see these convictions as an accurate description of the world and, probably more precisely, will fail to see the provided solutions as having merit.
I find the right to be harder to analyze. I think a big part of it is that I am in a progressive bubble and don’t know any republicans. The only views of the republicans I am exposed to are those provided by progressives who would characterize republicans as unspeakably evil regardless of what the republicans were actually doing. it leaves me with this feeling that I don’t actually understand the Republican Party. I don’t actually know what they are like, as I don’t actually know anyone who identifies as a republican or even right leaning. And the media I consume, Bloomberg and Reuters (while I do believe is among the highest quality out there) does have a bias and I don’t believe it accurately reflects the republicans. The articles appear to be very unbiased, but the issues and perspectives the authors feel warrant an article, as well as what the author finds problematic about those issues and subjects, are where the bias is evident. The bias is more structural than anything.
I think the biggest reason I don’t know what’s up with the right is that there just isn’t as high a degree of political involvement on the right, except among the alt-right. On the left, especially among progressives, the spirit of activism is much more core to their identity. So they’re much more outspoken about it. But on the right, they aren’t, as a whole and philosophically, based on the assumption that injustices are rampant and need to be remedied. They’re, philosophically, the establishment party. And defending the status quo just doesn’t rally people in the same way that claims of injustice do.
And I think at this point in time there is a view that being overtly right-leaning is a liability. That it can get you cancelled, that can get you alienated. And it has merit, especially when businesses are going out of their way to demonstrate their foundational commitment to progressivism. That’s very alienating to anyone who leans right, and if you lean right the feeling is that if it becomes apparent that you do not support progressive objectives you are vulnerable to alienation. Those who share a bias don’t see the bias. Progressives don’t see the threat of alienation, they don’t see the threat of cancellation because they are the ones perpetuating it, and they simply are not threatened by it.
I think there’s a latent yet widespread opposition to the institutionalization of progressivism.
I don’t really oppose all progressivism. I oppose modern progressivism. I think they’ve ran out of ideas to make the world a better place so we get narrative progressivism.
I don’t think BLM ever had any good ideas. There’s no data cops were more violent to blacks than whites and data that contradicts it. I’ve never seen a black person treated worse than an equivalent white person. The only thing they have is differences in outcomes but that’s explainable by HBD. And we have tried a lot of things to close those gaps and nothing works. We’ve done affirmative action and spent more to black schools and given preferential job access and the gaps don’t close. So then since we’ve tried a bunch of things progressives went to structural racism but are never able to point to what’s causing the issue. When a lot of obvious data to me seems like hbd. If you deny reality then you end up trying to force thru policy which is worse than the status quo.
And trans right seems like a social contagion they’ve created to me. And they are actively causing mental illness in a lot of young people. 30 years ago we had a very small trans population. There was probably some hidden but it feels like their turning the old goths and tomboys going thru confused adolescents into confused trans. Unless there is some toxic polluting messing with hormones it just doesn’t make sense for the differing percent of trans people in different regions/ages other than social contagion. And giving kids gender confusion is a mental illness and bad for them.
So in short I think there ideas are just bad. Now these are not really conservative views. Church every week types. They are just anti-program views. I don’t think today we have many things for progs to attack and improve.
I agree the right doesn’t have activists. The right is filled with mind your own business people that just want to see their community do well, have a family, and be nice to their neighbors. That why it does seem to me that the culture wars from the right are a reactionary move to the activision in the left. A realization that something bad is going on. Normally they would just stay home but at some point you have to defend good things.
My brother and 3 of his friends/roommates got pulled over for a traffic violation a couple years ago. It was a major interstate in the U.S. about an hour from a large metro area. There was a white guy driving and a white guy in the passenger seat and two black guys in the back seat. Culturally, they were all middle-class college kids. The cop/trooper asked for the driver’s ID and the ID of the two black guys, not the white passenger.
I’m cherry-picking a bit of your post that’s beside the point you’re trying to make, but it’s fair to say that sometimes people (including law enforcement) let stereotypes drive their actions.
It's also fair to say that sometimes stereotypes are more reflective of reality than of individual bias.
(not refuting your point, tho)
This does relate to story I told though. You could argue that because black people in the U.S. are statistically more likely to be criminals or have been convicted of a crime the extra scrutiny was warranted. While that may be true, that wasn't relevant in this case, and I believe that none of the passengers should have received extra scrutiny.
Can you provide examples of stereotypes that are "more reflective of reality than individual bias?" I'm especially interested in stereotypes that are accurate enough that individuals should be treated differently based on the stereotype.
Like one stereotype that comes to mind is "Tiger moms" or asian parents that are super invested in their kids' success. It's a good stereotype to make jokes about, but should communities/governments make specific policies around it other than just enforcing existing child-welfare policies?
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