tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110014885778996459.post5107892737028327042..comments2024-03-28T11:48:09.419-07:00Comments on Idiosyncratic Whisk: We Are the 100%Kevin Erdmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07431566729667544886noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110014885778996459.post-70625539780458929162015-08-09T00:04:06.382-07:002015-08-09T00:04:06.382-07:00To clarify the last paragraph of my comment, I mea...To clarify the last paragraph of my comment, I mean this in the Hansonian (Robin) sense. I spent time in the Bible belt. There were a lot of people there who put a lot of effort into letting you know how prevalent Jesus was in their lives. They were generally good people, and for the most part they were led to do good things by this identity. And they were absolutely sincere. But, the more obsessed ones became captives of their symbols over reality. When this becomes overwhelming, you get churches that dwell on selective types of sinners as the villains, and if those churches get political, it can get ugly. I think that phenomenon is widely understood. I think there are parallels with activist progressives. When I say the symbol is the end result, I don't mean that those activists are insincere. I mean that their emotional resonance comes from the symbol, even as they sincerely identify with creating a certain social change.<br /><br />This error of mistaking loyalty to the symbol for seeking truth is what makes mixing religion and politics so dangerous, in a way that I don't think progressives appreciate. Because, what happens is that the difficult questions required to provide painful feedback to a point of view are seen as disloyal. The blindfold is on.Kevin Erdmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07431566729667544886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110014885778996459.post-7715237449533845622015-08-08T14:30:38.864-07:002015-08-08T14:30:38.864-07:00It's an interesting phenomenon, I think, and o...It's an interesting phenomenon, I think, and one I don't have a solution to. The progressive paradigm begins with a virtuous goal of leveling the playing field of systemic injustices. But, categorization is the inevitable next step.<br /><br />Our perception of truth is tenuous and requires frequent adjustment. I liken it to walking a straight line through a pasture. It seems easy - the most natural thing. But, put a blindfold on, and within meters, you could be walking in any direction. Truth seeking requires constant feedback.<br /><br />But, group cohesion is served by constancy. So, a movement based on categories is bound to see those categories ossify. An unchanging symbol of the truth replaces an ever-changing estimate of the truth, because group loyalty naturally builds around it. A never-changing villain is the ultimate tool for group cohesion. And, I'm afraid this is where modern American progressives have ended up.<br /><br />The indignation is the thing. Racial and economic power imbalances are the villain. Any policy position is acceptable, as long as it is couched in anti-villain rhetoric. So, Bernie Sanders can be the savior of the downtrodden while bragging that he is against hiring or trading with Mexican workers (it's a Koch conspiracy, believe it or not) and we can prevent pretty much anyone in the bottom half of the income distribution from buying a home (got to keep a thumb on those predatory lenders).<br /><br />Yoram Bauman is a left-leaning economist who managed to pull together a group to try to get a carbon tax initiative on the ballot in Washington state. He's getting push-back from the left because he dared to make the proposal revenue neutral.<br /><br />https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=1AUK<br /><br />An actual quote from the article:<br />"Climate change will disproportionately affect poor and minority communities, they note, so any climate initiative ought to place racial equity front and center."<br /><br />You know, making that statement was really the goal for those activists. The symbol is the important thing, not the end result. The damage gets done when in the process of engaging in an arms race for symbol loyalty, they actually pass legislation.Kevin Erdmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07431566729667544886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110014885778996459.post-38944113143334975522015-08-08T10:27:59.209-07:002015-08-08T10:27:59.209-07:00around here we hate the big businesses when they f...around here we hate the big businesses when they fire people because the fired people r miserable, and we hate them when they hire because "the new hires drive rents up"<br /><br />it's hard for me to tell what sort of enterprise meets Dem standards for approvalghengis blondhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05370680836937017757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110014885778996459.post-39953200044310365532015-08-04T16:45:30.110-07:002015-08-04T16:45:30.110-07:00Thank you, sabre51.Thank you, sabre51.Kevin Erdmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07431566729667544886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1110014885778996459.post-64934750202995514672015-08-04T01:28:09.448-07:002015-08-04T01:28:09.448-07:00Great post- that last line in particular is very w...Great post- that last line in particular is very well said.sabre51https://www.blogger.com/profile/03179907799910210659noreply@blogger.com