It's heartbreaking, isn't it? I moved to a mostly red state many years ago in part because there was such tremendous variety of perspectives, communities, and personalities and I really enjoyed that. This is the first year I've felt, "Jesus, they're trying to kill me."
With respect to the perception gap, is it actually useful to have an accurate gauge on what the rank-and-file of the other side thinks? For instance, I have more than a few republican friends and relatives who I know have nuanced and considered views on a lot of subjects but keep electing the same maniacs over and over again.
That's a good question. I think it is useful. Our attitudes toward the other side reflect what we think they think. If we think the other side wants to put us in cages and drink our blood, when there's actually no partisan difference with respect to caging and exsanguinating of our political rivals, we're going to freak out and act like we're in a war for survival, which will make the other side freak out and act like their in a war for survival, and then suddenly everybody actually *is* in a war for survival despite the fact that nobody actually disagrees about anything all that important.
Or more to the point, to represent "accuracy" as the self-conception of what the rank-and-file of the other side thinks. It's one thing to respond in the affirmative to a questionnaire about whether "many Muslims are good Americans" or "it would be nice if you could keep guns out of the hands of bad people." But at some point you need to address how, say, racialized fear is (and has been) the animating force behind GOP politics at every level. In some ways our enemies know us better than we know ourselves.
You say that as concerned as you are about this problem, you're not going to be moving your family closer to Republicans. Can you elaborate? I totally understand what you said about the Hy-Vee, but Covid really won't last forever. Do you mean the Jan 6th events--are you afraid of violence from them? Or you now find yourself simply disliking them?
I am asking these questions and concerned about this precisely because you seem to be announcing that you yourself aren't willing to take the medication you just prescribed..... (i.e. forming neighborly relations with ideologically different people.)
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It's heartbreaking, isn't it? I moved to a mostly red state many years ago in part because there was such tremendous variety of perspectives, communities, and personalities and I really enjoyed that. This is the first year I've felt, "Jesus, they're trying to kill me."
With respect to the perception gap, is it actually useful to have an accurate gauge on what the rank-and-file of the other side thinks? For instance, I have more than a few republican friends and relatives who I know have nuanced and considered views on a lot of subjects but keep electing the same maniacs over and over again.
That's a good question. I think it is useful. Our attitudes toward the other side reflect what we think they think. If we think the other side wants to put us in cages and drink our blood, when there's actually no partisan difference with respect to caging and exsanguinating of our political rivals, we're going to freak out and act like we're in a war for survival, which will make the other side freak out and act like their in a war for survival, and then suddenly everybody actually *is* in a war for survival despite the fact that nobody actually disagrees about anything all that important.
Or more to the point, to represent "accuracy" as the self-conception of what the rank-and-file of the other side thinks. It's one thing to respond in the affirmative to a questionnaire about whether "many Muslims are good Americans" or "it would be nice if you could keep guns out of the hands of bad people." But at some point you need to address how, say, racialized fear is (and has been) the animating force behind GOP politics at every level. In some ways our enemies know us better than we know ourselves.
You say that as concerned as you are about this problem, you're not going to be moving your family closer to Republicans. Can you elaborate? I totally understand what you said about the Hy-Vee, but Covid really won't last forever. Do you mean the Jan 6th events--are you afraid of violence from them? Or you now find yourself simply disliking them?
I am asking these questions and concerned about this precisely because you seem to be announcing that you yourself aren't willing to take the medication you just prescribed..... (i.e. forming neighborly relations with ideologically different people.)