
Politics Is the Mind-Killer (2007) - tylerd22
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/9weLK2AJ9JEt2Tt8f/politics-is-the-mind-killer
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nebulosa
If I'm interpreting this correctly, it seems that the author falls victim to
the same fallacies he mentioned in his post. By assuming that all discussion
of politics inherently devolves into tribalism, he invokes the all-or-nothing
attitude which, as he mentioned, is often present among politically "engaged"
people with minimal experience with views outside their sphere of opinions.

It's also worth noting that I notice some people will often conflate, usually
accidentally, holding strong opinions (politically or otherwise) with not
being exposed to a wide enough range of opinions/not being educated enough.

In addition to this, people will often hold a series of political views out of
ideological consistency, rather than tribalism, a factor which strangely is
minimised in the discourse surrounding it.

I find that, as long as you're with reasonably politically aware adults, you
can have positive conversations as long as you are both aware of your moral
bases and discuss in good faith.

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mikelyons
The tendency toward ideological consistency seems itself driven by the
tribalism tendencies of the ego-survival mechanism that assesses a self's
fitness to be protected by the in-group they're expressing allegiance to /
holding an identity/belief system of.

I think it doesn't take a realistic view of humans or the mind to try to draw
a clean distinction between these two as if they are separate behaviors in a
human ego.

~~~
nebulosa
I'd argue that the trend can come from two places, the less rational type you
mentioned which appears to occur to enhance compatibility with an in-group,
and the type which is based on having a set of base moral values which then
affects our political beliefs. The latter of these can be seen as creating one
layer of abstraction above the values, perhaps aiding in expressing those
views, as well as enabling discussion with those who arrived on their views
without consultation with their morals (due to copying others views, going
with current trends in ideology, etc.).

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pmdulaney
I think this man must feel compelled to write a new post every few days? Every
week? I don't see the motivation for posting this otherwise. It embodies no
thesis of any consequence.

~~~
awithrow
Can't writing be it's own end? Does it need a thesis? Simply writing can be a
great way to organize your thoughts on a matter. This just happens to be
posted online

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pmdulaney
My comments are usually more positive, so I am glad you pushed back on me.

