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Our Culture of Contempt

nytimes.com

1–10 of 175 posts

Re: Our Culture of Contempt

#2
Just FYI: "Mr. Brooks is president of the American Enterprise Institute". Many people find the agenda that AEI pushes to be loathsome, and I'm not surprised that Mr. Brooks finds himself the object of contempt on a not-infrequent basis.

Re: Our Culture of Contempt

#3
As a lifelong liberal, I've sunk into despair at the firehose of hatred coming from the left these days. And I talk to far fewer of my old lefty friends anymore--if they've made themselves awful, I just don't want to know. I'd prefer to remember them as they were.

Maybe this is just a phase, but it feels like we're going to a place from which we won't return.

Re: Our Culture of Contempt

#4
The author of this article is a conservative. Noticed how he went out of his way to appear politically neutral. Notice how one of the two comments to this post is attacking him on a reputational basis.

This is the problem I see and likely the problem the author sees even if he's veiling it. The left wing specifically keeps disregarding other peoples views wholesale on a reputational basis. When I make posts online left-wingers regularly dig into my post history to find a reason to discredit me while right wingers don't even bother looking. If I'm making a right-wing point just like the author I go to pains to obscufate the fact I'm making a conservative argument. Otherwise making the argument is pointless because your intended audience, those with left wing views, won't read it.

I don't mean to make a completely partisan shitting on the left post. I have voted left wing in every election I've been a part of. I blame the uptick in politically motivated violence on the right. I believe "scientific racism" is increasingly becoming mainstreamed on the right through "red pills" as an explanation for say why inequity in employment/crime stats exists and is fair.

However holy shit merely talking to the right these days can cause a whole bunch of people to hold you in contempt. It ultimately will and has backfired because it's entrenching intellectual blindness which is bad for the left and bad for society.

Re: Our Culture of Contempt

#6

The author of this article is a conservative. Noticed how he went out of his way to appear politically neutral. Notice how one of the two comments to this post is attacking him on a reputational basis. This is the problem I see and likely the problem the author sees even if he's veiling it. The left wing specifically keeps disregarding other peoples views wholesale on a reputational basis. When I make posts online le…

> the uptick in politically motivated violence on the right

I haven't looked closely, but it seems like the preponderance of such violence has been coming from the left these days (ignoring people with obvious mental health problems). Charlottesville is the obvious exception, but clearly overbalanced by the guy that attempted to assassinate a bunch of Congressmen at that ball game.

Are there lots of examples I'm missing?

Re: Our Culture of Contempt

#7
>I live and work in Washington. But I’m not a politics junkie. To me, politics is like the weather — it changes a lot, people drone on about it constantly, and “good” is mostly subjective. I like winter, you like summer; you’re a liberal, I’m a conservative. In the 2012 presidential election season, my wife and I had a bumper sticker custom-made for our Volvo that read “Vegans for Romney” just to see the reaction of other Washington drivers.

This is a pretty typical "average straight white guy" point of view. Politics is meaningless to you because the status quo exists by and for you.

The "contempt" you are seeing is a boiling over of that system. Blacks are being murdered by police in the streets. Women are being raped by their bosses. Gays are systematically denied civil rights. I'd say there's plenty of reason for "contempt" among these groups. It's natural for those who benefit from not rocking the boat to be upset over this. But don't act like it's just some kind of moral indignation; people are fighting for their lives.

Re: Our Culture of Contempt

#8

The author of this article is a conservative. Noticed how he went out of his way to appear politically neutral. Notice how one of the two comments to this post is attacking him on a reputational basis. This is the problem I see and likely the problem the author sees even if he's veiling it. The left wing specifically keeps disregarding other peoples views wholesale on a reputational basis. When I make posts online le…

> the uptick in politically motivated violence on the right I haven't looked closely, but it seems like the preponderance of such violence has been coming from the left these days (ignoring people with obvious mental health problems). Charlottesville is the obvious exception, but clearly overbalanced by the guy that attempted to assassinate a bunch of Congressmen at that ball game. Are there lots of examples I'm miss…

Yes. To pick one particular group in one particular metro area, here's violence in Portland caused by right-wing violence-causers:

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2018/07/patriot_prayers_...

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2018/08/patriot_prayer_a...

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2018/08/patriot_prayer_a...

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2018/10/patriot_prayer_f...

And here's police collaborating with the violence-causers:

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2019/02/text-messages-be...

https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2019/02/frustration-not-solu...

Re: Our Culture of Contempt

#9

>I live and work in Washington. But I’m not a politics junkie. To me, politics is like the weather — it changes a lot, people drone on about it constantly, and “good” is mostly subjective. I like winter, you like summer; you’re a liberal, I’m a conservative. In the 2012 presidential election season, my wife and I had a bumper sticker custom-made for our Volvo that read “Vegans for Romney” just to see the reaction of…

Whites are being murdered in the streets by cops. Men are being raped by their bosses. Whites are being systematically denied civil rights.

Re: Our Culture of Contempt

#10
Yes, "both sides" lie incessantly, embrace dictators, attack our norms and institutions, engage in voter suppression, and deploy bots and trolls to engage in earnest, non-contemptuous discussion (including right here on this thread).
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