Month: July 2020

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What’s In A Name?

July 22, 2020

Thomas Edsall’s column in the Times today started out as follows:

“In the continuing debate over whether liberals or conservatives are more open minded, whether those on the left or the right are more rigid in their thinking, a team of four Canadian psychologists studied patterns of “cognitive reflection” among Americans.

They found that a willingness to change one’s convictions in the face of new evidence

was robustly associated with political liberalism, the rejection of traditional moral values, the acceptance of science, and skepticism about religious, paranormal, and conspiratorial claims.

Those who ranked high on a scale designed to measure the level of a respondent’s “actively open-minded thinking about evidence” were linked with the acceptance of “anthropogenic global warming and support for free speech on college campuses.”

Conversely, the authors — Gordon Pennycook of the University of Regina, and James Allan Cheyne, Derek J. Koehler and Jonathan A. Fugelsang of the University of Waterloo — found that an aversion to altering one’s belief on the basis of evidence was more common among conservatives and that this correlated “with beliefs about topics ranging from extrasensory perception, to respect for tradition, to abortion, to God.”

My reaction:

Is this something new? On the following pages I’ve reproduced some (pretty old now) definitions of Liberal and Conservative.

Liberal has always meant generous of spirit and open-minded. Basically, intelligent.

Conservative has always meant crabbed, closed-minded, averse to change. Basically, stupid.

You can go through almost any modern commentary and substitute “intelligent people” for “liberals” and “stupid people” for “conservatives” and all will make newfound sense.

For your reading pleasure, I’ve also included two bonus definitions.

The first is Tory – since that’s what most New World Conservatives really are – people who don’t really subscribe to the American notion that the accident of our birth, no matter how lofty, cannot be made into a personal accomplishment.

The second is Tax and Spend Liberal. I had to make this one up, although you hear it bandied about by stupid people.

MOE

M.I.C.H. – Modernity, Intelligence, Complexity, Humanity

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MyFace

July 10, 2020

On Mark Zuckerberg and the like:

The concept of Free Speech constrains the Government from arresting or otherwise silencing a person for saying what is on their mind, and in a place where others might hear it. This is different from handing the microphone to a raving lunatic. With amplification comes at least a modicum of responsibility – for example, to say who you are and where you’re from, as at a town meeting. Anonymity is a problem if there is no curator of the forum.

MOE

M.I.C.H. – Modernity, Intelligence, Complexity, Humanity

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The Angle

July 3, 2020

Tomorrow our leader will visit Mount Rushmore, which I’m sure he believes was carved on July 4, 1776 and is therefore why we celebrate the date – just as he is sure something happened at Pearl Harbor and thinks historians should look into it.

In fact, we celebrate the Fourth because it was the day, in 1863, when the Vicksburg Garrison surrendered to General Grant, dooming the Confederacy.

Today is Pickett’s Charge Day. On the afternoon of July 3, 1863 the high tide of the Confederacy splashed briefly over a low stone wall in Pennsylvania only to be sent reeling back down toward Virginia with its tail between its legs, the result of 50% casualties. Pickett’s post battle report was apparently so bitter that it was ordered destroyed (it was really Lee’s charge, and more like a slow stroll into the maw of Death).

On the Third of July we celebrate what a weird country we have.

Among those gunned down at the Angle was Confederate General Lewis Armistead. Per Armistead’s wishes, his Bible and personal effects were sent by his commanding officer, General Longstreet, to Union General Winfield Hancock’s wife. These had been Armistead’s wishes because Hancock was his best friend from school days The men who shot Armistead down were under Hancock’s command.

Yipes! Think about that. I’m sure neither general would fit into easy classification by today’s standards as liberal or conservative. These two were, no doubt, very much alike.

I can think of no other time or place in human history where sides lined up and mowed each other down with such determined ferocity over organizing principles and the rights of a third party. All sides need to remember this. Sweating the details of law (even in the most gawdawful way, such as at the Angle on that hot, humid day) is what makes our country great – not statues. May that law always be one that puts genuine good and human principles into action. May those laws always be for the greatest good of the most people.

MOE

M.I.C.H. – Modernity, Intelligence, Complexity, Humanity