11-22-2020, 03:33 PM
A few comments and a link to an article that gets at another factors likely at play in multifactorial, far-from-new-in-onset polarized thinking that concerns us all.
OutsiderFan, props for repeatedly starting new threads that get us all thinking. Indeed, what do we do about the divide that at best makes it extremely difficult for our federal government to help solve our societal problems (starting with the pandemic and its economic effects but many other issues as well), and at worst is a threat to our system of government?
Oregontim, I completely identify with your concerns. I remember debates about all manner of topics in my fraternity. We had a wide spectrum of political beliefs represented in the members, about which two features stand out. One, the focus was on the best way to approach problems, as the facts were largely agreed upon. Two, the debates were friendly, and did not sour any relationships. Maybe that type of situation is still found in colleges, but ours is a very, very different society now than 35 years ago.
Goose, Notwithstanding my fears, I try to reassure myself that you are right: that one is prone to see the adversarial party as largely reflected in its extreme representations. The values of those in my heavily Democratic part of the city have much in common with heavily Republican areas elsewhere in the metropolitan area.
Finally, with respect to the divide in beliefs surrounding Covid, in addition to Goose's point about those who simply do not see much risk from the virus, there is the effect of motivated reasoning related to wanting the virus to be benign and/or easily dealt with, as addressed in this article. Nothing really new in comparing Trump to a charlatan, and yet it helped me seen things in a slightly new light.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...es/617051/
OutsiderFan, props for repeatedly starting new threads that get us all thinking. Indeed, what do we do about the divide that at best makes it extremely difficult for our federal government to help solve our societal problems (starting with the pandemic and its economic effects but many other issues as well), and at worst is a threat to our system of government?
Oregontim, I completely identify with your concerns. I remember debates about all manner of topics in my fraternity. We had a wide spectrum of political beliefs represented in the members, about which two features stand out. One, the focus was on the best way to approach problems, as the facts were largely agreed upon. Two, the debates were friendly, and did not sour any relationships. Maybe that type of situation is still found in colleges, but ours is a very, very different society now than 35 years ago.
Goose, Notwithstanding my fears, I try to reassure myself that you are right: that one is prone to see the adversarial party as largely reflected in its extreme representations. The values of those in my heavily Democratic part of the city have much in common with heavily Republican areas elsewhere in the metropolitan area.
Finally, with respect to the divide in beliefs surrounding Covid, in addition to Goose's point about those who simply do not see much risk from the virus, there is the effect of motivated reasoning related to wanting the virus to be benign and/or easily dealt with, as addressed in this article. Nothing really new in comparing Trump to a charlatan, and yet it helped me seen things in a slightly new light.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...es/617051/