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Thought of the day:
When I was a child, I was an authoritarian conservative Christian who believed, just like everyone around me, that the big bad liberals were maliciously lurking outside the door, waiting to Take Our Freedoms Away; charitably, maybe it was just because they weren't clever enough to realize we were really right. After all, if they were smart and good people, they would have agreed with us.
Now that I'm an adult, I'm a socialist liberal of uncomfortable agnosticism, with a peer group consisting largely of people who believe that the big bad religious conservatives are maliciously lurking outside the door, waiting to Take Our Freedoms Away; charitably, maybe it's because they're just too stupid to realize we're really right. After all, if they were smart and good people, they would agree with us.
When I think about this, I worry a bit. Especially because I know a lot of conservative Christians and liberal atheists, and on both sides they seem like intelligent, good people who honestly want to do what's best for everyone.
(Well. Most of them do.)
ETA:
On a somewhat more nuanced level, even as a child I was dimly aware that there were people who disagreed with the community around me who also seemed like Good People; as I grew older, I realized that my parents often disagreed with the community around me. I think that growing up involves a lot of realization of complexity, but it sure as hell was easier when my parents demonstrably weren't in lockstep with the local community's mores either.
These days, I'm a liberal socialist etc. because I honestly do believe that this is the right thing for me to be, and because I really do think those positions are More Correct than the ones I left behind. I'm a lot more likely to disagree with my conservative Christian friends than with my liberal atheist friends, as these things go. But it still makes me unhappy and uncomfortable when I see either group of friends paint the entire other side in broad strokes of Malice And Stupidity. There sure as hell are malicious people out there, and god knows there are stupid people, but I think it's a killer of progress to just go "Oh, well, they're wrong because they're dumb" and leave it at that.
Having less understanding of why people disagree can't possibly help. Having less understanding helps nothing except for personal comfort level. And I'm, well. Personally uncomfortable with that.
When I was a child, I was an authoritarian conservative Christian who believed, just like everyone around me, that the big bad liberals were maliciously lurking outside the door, waiting to Take Our Freedoms Away; charitably, maybe it was just because they weren't clever enough to realize we were really right. After all, if they were smart and good people, they would have agreed with us.
Now that I'm an adult, I'm a socialist liberal of uncomfortable agnosticism, with a peer group consisting largely of people who believe that the big bad religious conservatives are maliciously lurking outside the door, waiting to Take Our Freedoms Away; charitably, maybe it's because they're just too stupid to realize we're really right. After all, if they were smart and good people, they would agree with us.
When I think about this, I worry a bit. Especially because I know a lot of conservative Christians and liberal atheists, and on both sides they seem like intelligent, good people who honestly want to do what's best for everyone.
(Well. Most of them do.)
ETA:
On a somewhat more nuanced level, even as a child I was dimly aware that there were people who disagreed with the community around me who also seemed like Good People; as I grew older, I realized that my parents often disagreed with the community around me. I think that growing up involves a lot of realization of complexity, but it sure as hell was easier when my parents demonstrably weren't in lockstep with the local community's mores either.
These days, I'm a liberal socialist etc. because I honestly do believe that this is the right thing for me to be, and because I really do think those positions are More Correct than the ones I left behind. I'm a lot more likely to disagree with my conservative Christian friends than with my liberal atheist friends, as these things go. But it still makes me unhappy and uncomfortable when I see either group of friends paint the entire other side in broad strokes of Malice And Stupidity. There sure as hell are malicious people out there, and god knows there are stupid people, but I think it's a killer of progress to just go "Oh, well, they're wrong because they're dumb" and leave it at that.
Having less understanding of why people disagree can't possibly help. Having less understanding helps nothing except for personal comfort level. And I'm, well. Personally uncomfortable with that.