Nearly half of Americans think members of the opposing political party are evil • Hacker News Board

Re: Nearly half of Americans think members of the opposing political party are evil

#41

Post by jfengel » Tue, Nov 05, 2024, 6:12 PM UTC

I'm surprised it's only half. It seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

There is constant rhetoric that the other side is evil. Often, that rhetoric goes to the very top.

Either that rhetoric is correct, in which case the other side is evil, or the rhetoric is incorrect, in which case your own side is evil (for promulgating and tolerating such a horrific and false accusation).

So at least one side must actually be evil. Maybe both, but certainly one.

I know that I've been accused of evil, quite often. That seems a pretty vicious and utterly unjustified accusation -- which I consider evil. So either I'm evil, or they are.

This argument isn't airtight, of course. I would expect people to reject the premises, or even if they do, not follow it to the conclusion I reach.

Still... once it reaches nearly half of everybody, I'd expect it to increase just under its own weight.

Re: Nearly half of Americans think members of the opposing political party are evil

#42

Post by jfengel » Tue, Nov 05, 2024, 6:13 PM UTC

lapcat wrote: post #10

The chart seems somewhat unfair, because there's no line item for Republicans as a whole. Republicans are broken down into two groups, but Democrats aren't broken down into groups. The article never even says what % of Republicans are election deniers. In any case, my view is that the leaders of both parties often don't believe their own BS and are simply self-centered power-seeking unprincipled liars. As always, the…

A large majority of Republicans are election deniers. For example, this poll (from last year) says 70%.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/03/politics/cnn-poll-republicans...

Re: Nearly half of Americans think members of the opposing political party are evil

#43

Post by locopati » Wed, Nov 06, 2024, 4:36 PM UTC

anyone voting Republican is voting to remove my bodily autonomy and health care choices and eliminate people like me from public life, so yeah, whether you support that or not, that's a consequence of your actions for me and I'm not going to look kindly on you for it.

Re: Nearly half of Americans think members of the opposing political party are evil

#44

Post by locopati » Wed, Nov 06, 2024, 4:56 PM UTC

burkaman wrote: post #7

The question: "The [Outpartyl are not just wrong for politics, they're downright evil". I suspect a lot of people polled interpreted "The Republicans" or "The Democrats" as referring to the small group of politicians and party officials, not anyone who has voted for that party. That's how I would have interpreted it, at least. I don't think this means that half of Americans think half the country is evil.

as i said in another comment... anyone voting Republican is voting to harm me, my friends, and people like me by removing our bodily autonomy and force us from public life... that's pretty evil