I agree totally. In all major successful companies there is a visionary and a chief operating officer who nixes impractical ideas, or helps implement good ones. If we thought of left and right as visionary creatives and practical implementers that worked together for good of country instead of opposing teams to demolish, our country would be in a much better place.
I agree totally. In all major successful companies there is a visionary and a chief operating officer who nixes impractical ideas, or helps implement good ones. If we thought of left and right as visionary creatives and practical implementers that worked together for good of country instead of opposing teams to demolish, our country would be in a much better place.
Before we can do that, though, we really need to separate world views from personalities. People think conservatives are not creative, not curious, not open, etc but my entire family, all conservatives, are well educated, well travelled, and well read, and we are musicians, artists, college professors, design engineers and yes, even public school teachers. Free thinkers, all of us. Jonathan Haidt did a lot of damage with his theories about conservatives and liberals. The stereotypes do exist, but they are not the norm.
I wouldn't blame Haidt for stereotypes. For me, it came from growing up in a county that is over 90% Republicans. Lots of wonderful people I love, but I never fit in for being creative, spiritual, eating healthy food, reading books etc. Though I would be quite a misfit now in a very liberal area.
I am sure you could find other counties that are 90% Democrat and are full of people who are fat, uncreative, unspiritual, and watch TV instead of reading books.
I do blame him. He wrote a book about this and teaches that conservatives are tribal, narrow minded, rule-bound, authoritarian, don’t like new things, etc. It is not true. Or I should say it is true of some conservatives, but not the majority. The opposite is also true: some of the most tribal people I know are my friends in Seattle, ultra liberals. My conservative family couldn’t care less about sports teams. My liberal friends in Seattle mope for weeks if the Seahawks lose. My conservative family members have friends from all over the world and people are coming and going all the time at my parents’ house. Meanwhile, my liberal friends in Seattle have the nastiest thing to say about “those blankety-blank conservatives in AZ who hate immigrants”. Talk about narrow-minded, in-group vs. out-group. And what about openness to new ideas + being rule-bound? Witness the whole pandemic: who was it again thinking for themselves, in spite of immense pressure from the government and society as a whole? Who was it wagging their fingers at everyone to pull that mask up over your nose?
Yes, Haidt did damage. My liberal friends believe him and as a result have no idea what a conservative is like. They didn’t even realize they knew one because we don’t actually resemble what they have been told to expect: ignorant, bigoted, trailer trash. It made living in Seattle increasingly uncomfortable. I’m just having a conversation, and next thing I know, my friend is saying something horrible about me, about my family, all the while assuming I am liberal like them and will agree. And I had to decide, do I say something and make it really awkward? Or do I keep my mouth shut, and then later they discover I am conservative, and then it’s *really* awkward?
I did not mean to imply he did no damage by his book just that I did not get my impression from his book-never read it- but from my experience being raised in rural west in 80s and 90s. Things have changed a lot since then. I'm sorry this has happened to you. I was considered "weird" by conservatives from my area then but people were not unkind. I am appalled at how prejudiced the so-called social justice types are.
I agree totally. In all major successful companies there is a visionary and a chief operating officer who nixes impractical ideas, or helps implement good ones. If we thought of left and right as visionary creatives and practical implementers that worked together for good of country instead of opposing teams to demolish, our country would be in a much better place.
Before we can do that, though, we really need to separate world views from personalities. People think conservatives are not creative, not curious, not open, etc but my entire family, all conservatives, are well educated, well travelled, and well read, and we are musicians, artists, college professors, design engineers and yes, even public school teachers. Free thinkers, all of us. Jonathan Haidt did a lot of damage with his theories about conservatives and liberals. The stereotypes do exist, but they are not the norm.
I wouldn't blame Haidt for stereotypes. For me, it came from growing up in a county that is over 90% Republicans. Lots of wonderful people I love, but I never fit in for being creative, spiritual, eating healthy food, reading books etc. Though I would be quite a misfit now in a very liberal area.
Another way of looking at it:
I am sure you could find other counties that are 90% Democrat and are full of people who are fat, uncreative, unspiritual, and watch TV instead of reading books.
I do blame him. He wrote a book about this and teaches that conservatives are tribal, narrow minded, rule-bound, authoritarian, don’t like new things, etc. It is not true. Or I should say it is true of some conservatives, but not the majority. The opposite is also true: some of the most tribal people I know are my friends in Seattle, ultra liberals. My conservative family couldn’t care less about sports teams. My liberal friends in Seattle mope for weeks if the Seahawks lose. My conservative family members have friends from all over the world and people are coming and going all the time at my parents’ house. Meanwhile, my liberal friends in Seattle have the nastiest thing to say about “those blankety-blank conservatives in AZ who hate immigrants”. Talk about narrow-minded, in-group vs. out-group. And what about openness to new ideas + being rule-bound? Witness the whole pandemic: who was it again thinking for themselves, in spite of immense pressure from the government and society as a whole? Who was it wagging their fingers at everyone to pull that mask up over your nose?
Yes, Haidt did damage. My liberal friends believe him and as a result have no idea what a conservative is like. They didn’t even realize they knew one because we don’t actually resemble what they have been told to expect: ignorant, bigoted, trailer trash. It made living in Seattle increasingly uncomfortable. I’m just having a conversation, and next thing I know, my friend is saying something horrible about me, about my family, all the while assuming I am liberal like them and will agree. And I had to decide, do I say something and make it really awkward? Or do I keep my mouth shut, and then later they discover I am conservative, and then it’s *really* awkward?
I did not mean to imply he did no damage by his book just that I did not get my impression from his book-never read it- but from my experience being raised in rural west in 80s and 90s. Things have changed a lot since then. I'm sorry this has happened to you. I was considered "weird" by conservatives from my area then but people were not unkind. I am appalled at how prejudiced the so-called social justice types are.