
A Confession of Liberal Intolerance - SiVal
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/opinion/sunday/a-confession-of-liberal-intolerance.html?_r=0
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DannyB2
It should not be about whether people are conservative. It should be about
whether they are stupid.

All view points should be represented at the table? Otherwise you have an echo
chamber?

Should we allow the view point that the earth is flat and the sun rises in the
west? Otherwise, we end up in an echo chamber of people agreeing the earth is
round, and the sun rises in the east.

Discrimination against 'conservative scholars' should not be about being
conservative, but about being scholars. Is the earth round? Does the sun rise
in the east? Does your policy idea fit the facts, or do you want to make up
facts to fit your policy ideas?

Is it bad to say reality has a liberal bias? Well, I suppose, it's okay to say
that if it turns out to be true.

It's not to discriminate against people's values. But policies that are
contrary to clear evidence. Creation or manipulation of evidence to fit
policies. No matter which political party engages in this fact shaping and
evidence manufacturing.

~~~
paulddraper
Reality is more complicated.

1\. Experts are wrong.

The unanimous findings of the experts ranged from a Hillary victory to a
Hillary landslide.

2\. Experts disagree.

I've yet to see an economics theory that doesn't have huge disagreement. That
we need money? Hm...maybe, but gold standard or fiat...

3\. Many view are not factual

Science tells when a fetus' heart starts beating, and maybe even it
experiences pain. But abortion involves notions like the value of life. The
scientific method doesn't really work on morality.

\---

Reality's "liberal bias" is weak at best.

~~~
hga
Here's one of the biggest in terms of suspected havoc wreaked by "experts".
Literally _all my life_ (and I turn 56 RSN), dietary saturated fats and most
especially cholesterol were _BAD_ things.

Today, from health.gov " _Cholesterol is not a nutrient of concern for
overconsumption._ (hmmm, the "for overconsumption" was added recently or this
is a different document, anyway, that's from
"[https://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015-scientific-
report/...](https://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015-scientific-
report/06-chapter-1/d1-2.asp))

And if Gary Taubes and company are right, the resulting push from fats to
carbohydrates has been responsible for perhaps the worst 1st world heath
catastrophe in modern times....

But, yeah, the liberal love to laugh at those fat Middle Americans, who got
that way by following the government's dietary guidance, which was based on
liberals enforcing from the top down their "reality".

~~~
paulddraper
Cholesterol, carb-heavy food pyramid, global cooling, the Brexit outcome, 2008
financial crisis.

expert consensus != reality

Everyone loves ridiculing the global warming deniers. But there's been as much
error on the other side of the fence.

Earth's point of no return was 10 years ago, according to Al Gore's "An
Inconvenient Truth". Fossil fuels are always running out, and yet the world
supply has grown. Half a century ago, Paul Ehrlich declared the inevitable
mass starvation of billions. In 1970, Life magazine reported "solid
experimental and theoretical evidence...in a decade, urban dwellers will have
to wear gas masks to survive air pollution...by 1985 air pollution will have
reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half..."

These guys are venerated by liberals, yet their predictions are barely more
reliable than rapture-and-apocalypse cults.

~~~
jljljl
Sometimes expert consensus and fear mongering leads to action. 1970, 1977, and
1990 saw major amendments to the Clean Air Act that might have changed the
trajectory described in that Life article.

~~~
paulddraper
I doubt 1977 or 1990 affected whether city folks wore gas masks in 1980.

------
gscott
This conflict of ideas is not organic... it is being paid for and organized by
the super rich (through dark money) on both sides. Sure people might get
worked up over politics but normally they don't go beat you down because you
are wearing a trump hat but now that is normal and it is from a paid and
coordinated over-amplification by a few who have the money to coordinate such
a large endeavor. I have an unfortunate time wasting addiction to news and
what I see when I look at msnbc, cnn, abcnews, etc each day is like Chinese
water torture the drip, drip, drip until you go insane and people feel like
they need to riot when they normally wouldn't.

------
DrScump
(from _May_ 2016)

