Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by cryoshon 3420 days ago
>But I think most peoples reaction is just to say "Yeah! that's totally what those other people do that our side never does because we're right.".

to guard against this, as soon as i am aware of a catchphrase or common talking point, i mentally deconstruct it and find the truth. frighteningly, the most commonly repeated verbiages are, should we say, misleading.

but lean a little closer, stranger, and i'll whisper the truth into your ear: the "two sides" are unequal in their abilities for evaluative thought, self righteous zealotry, and dogmatism. an honest attempt at critical evaluation will go nowhere if your evaluating apparatus is garbage.
3 comments
cgriswald 3420 days ago
> but lean a little closer, stranger, and i'll whisper the truth into your ear: the "two sides" are unequal in their abilities for evaluative thought, self righteous zealotry, and dogmatism. an honest attempt at critical evaluation will go nowhere if your evaluating apparatus is garbage.

The very fact that both sides are convinced there are two sides suggests this is a false statement. The "sides", really the false divisions and classifications, are some of the biggest lies ever told. In any case, any inequality between them is not the problem. By way of analogy, if two glasses of water have unequal amounts of fecal matter with neither being even close to zero, wouldn't it be better not to drink either of them rather than suggest one is better than the other?

link
chillwaves 3420 days ago
We have two political parties in the United States. Do you believe the voters for each side are at parity in their ability to understand reality? Do you believe it is helpful to suggest people choose neither?
link
cgriswald 3419 days ago
The idea that having two de facto political parties means there are only two sides and you have to pick one of them is part of the lie. You do understand you can vote for Democrats for one office, Republicans for other offices, write your own name in for a third office, vote Green for a fourth office, and completely abstain on a final office when you either dislike both candidates or feel to ill-informed to cast a vote, right? But "choosing a side" goes way beyond voting, and in this election both 'sides' choose to vote against a side, not for one.

And as for disparity in the understanding of voters of these fictitious sides, the side that likes to claim the other side is uneducated and ignorant is, statistically speaking, less educated. That, too, is part of the lie.

link
astrange 3420 days ago
We're closer to having one, since the smart people like to convince themselves not to support the second one through sophistry.
link
Al-Khwarizmi 3420 days ago
If with the second one you mean the non-ruling party, it actually got more votes in the presidential election than the ruling party.
link
astrange 3420 days ago
You need to win all the small elections you can, from senator down to county dogcatcher, and not just win-but-lose the big one. Think of it as promoting internally.
link
cryoshon 3420 days ago
in reality there area bajillion sides. it's just an easy construct that people will understand at least two of those.
link
rdtsc 3419 days ago
> the "two sides" are unequal in their abilities for evaluative thought, self righteous zealotry, and dogmatism. an honest attempt at critical evaluation will go nowhere if your evaluating apparatus is garbage.

The good news is that you don't even have to worry about the "other side" just worry about the things that you believe. That was the point.

Also unlike hard sciences and logic the fact that there only two sides and one must be in either one, is also a thing to evaluate.

So you're right. First there is a need for a meta-evaluation, is my evaluation apparatus even working and how would I test if it is.

link
lacampbell 3419 days ago
but lean a little closer, stranger, and i'll whisper the truth into your ear: the "two sides" are unequal in their abilities for evaluative thought, self righteous zealotry, and dogmatism. an honest attempt at critical evaluation will go nowhere if your evaluating apparatus is garbage.

Of course everyone will think the two sides are unequal, with the side that isn't theirs getting the worst of it.

link