Friday, March 30, 2012

How to argue about politics

Everyone interested in convincing others about politics should watch this bloggingheads with Robert Wright and Jonathan Haidt. Haidt's idea is that liberals and conservatives think differently about morality, with conservatives putting weight on additional aspects of morality than liberals--in particular, more emphasis on loyalty, purity, and authority, in addition to liberals' emphasis on caring and equality. I feel an Amazon.com order coming on.

Haidt makes a wonderful point halfway in about how to convince conservatives that gay marriage is a good thing, which is a point that I've been making for a while now. Gays and liberals should say, "Marriage and love are good things, and we want them for us too." Loyalty also plays a big role in the thought process behind this. "I'm loyal to my brother or son or cousin, and I want him (or her) to be happy." Maintaining a proper distinction between the civil aspects of marriage and the religious aspects would help too. If I were to get married, I'd keep the church and the Pope's authority out of it. My 88-year-old grandmother is hung up on the last point. "The Pope and Bible say no, so I'll side with them." This is someone who loves shrimp and wears polyester.

For a non-conservative, Haidt does a great job at understanding the conservative mind. For those who care about freedom and good policy in general, it's necessary to understand how people think. Maybe the strategy should be to make friends, not enemies.

Listen to the whole thing. I'm buying the book.

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