Two views to explain the loyalty of Trump voters.
There was a long NYT op-ed by David Brooks posted a couple days ago and printed in today’s paper, offering an irresistible counter-intuitive thesis. And a response today by a writer for Vox. And my perspective given the Sagan/Druyan book I just read, and my own recent understanding.
NY Times, David Brooks, 2 Aug 2023: What if We’re the Bad Guys Here?
Brooks wonders, as do many of us, why so many people still support Trump, despite… everything.
A couple hours ago I finished that Carl Sagan/Ann Druyan book I mentioned a couple days ago, and it’s remarkable how its conclusions resemble my own recent observations about how certain forms of human morality align to conservative politics, and Trump worship.
Here are passages from the last three pages. Keep in mind the book is about the history of life on Earth and how the study of all life, but in particular the lives of other primates, illuminates our understanding of ourselves. Also keep in mind that the book was published in 1992. Yet from the middle of the third paragraph below, it could be about today.
These first three are from a site that obviously tracks such items.
Joe.My.God, 3 Aug 2023: Jordan: “Hillbillies Are So Sick Of Attacks On Trump”
The relevance of this item to my discussions in recent days about conservative morality is left as an exercise for the reader.
Items today respond to the latest indictment of a certain former president, how his supporters respond, and me trying to wrap my mind around what his supporters think morality and law and order actually is. But I have an idea about that, based on my recent reading about… chimps.
Tom Nichols, The Atlantic, 1 Aug 2023: This Is the Case, subtitled “Special Counsel Jack Smith has sounded the call, but voters must answer it if they wish to preserve American democracy.”
Here’s a piece, which I probably stumbled upon via Facebook, with a provocative premise, that sounds like it might be aligned with the theme (and title) of the Rolf Dobelli book I read early last year, called STOP READING THE NEWS (review here). As I sometimes do, I haven’t actually read the article yet, but am sitting down to do so while writing this blog post.
The Conversation, Ralph Hertwig et al, 2 Feb 2023: When critical thinking isn’t enough: to beat information overload, we need to learn ‘critical ignoring’
This is my own thought, not something I’ve read — well, indirectly it’s about things I’ve read, but not concerning this song.
There’s a core of truth in the song’s justification of small town justice. Continue reading
Perhaps I should cut back on the doomscrolling. I don’t actually scroll looking for doom (and I’m not scrolling a Facebook or any other social media feed, but rather checking a dozen or so favorite news and opinion websites every day), but these are the kind of pieces that catch my eye. I look at articles like these to try to figure out, is humanity doomed by its psychology, fixed over hundreds of thousands of years in a relatively unchanging world? What will it take for the deniers — in the US, the conservatives, the Republicans — to acknowledge that there is a problem, a truly existential threat, and something dramatic needs to be done? (Like giving up fossil fuels ASAP?)
CNN, Ella Nilsen, 30 Jul 2023: Why Republicans can’t get out of their climate bind, even as extreme heat overwhelms the US
No, I don’t mean disinterest.
I’ve mentioned before that people who are unfamiliar with science fiction, or with science fiction writers and fans, tend to assume that SF folks are credulous along the lines of “believing” in UFOs, where “believing” means having reached the conclusion, or simply assuming, that they must be spacecraft run by extraterrestrial aliens. (Not to the mention assumptions of “belief” of claims about psychics, ancient astronauts, etc. etc.)
Nothing could be further from the truth. (Nonsense, all of it.) SF folks are in general far less credulous and gullible than the general population. In part because they (we) know more about science and reality, and know the difference between evidence-for-belief and wishing-to-believe.
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Jerry Coyne’s website today has this post: Andrew Doyle: The culture war is not fake, but real and dangerous concerning the wokeness wars and a column by one Andrew Doyle, a political satirist.
Recalling Sinéad O’Connor.
