In the movie Excalibur, Arthur spoke of a hope he knew he'd never see fulfilled. "It is a dream that I have," he said, thereby suggesting that a forlorn hope is better than no hope at all. During the Los Angeles riots Rodney King said, "Can't we all just get along?" when he saw what was happening in Los Angeles and across the country because of what was at its root a symptom of the divisions between black and white. But what he asked could just as well apply to conservatives and liberals. Unfortunately, in the current political climate, King's plea seems to be as forlorn as the quote from Excalibur.
We liberals often wonder why it is, when the conservatives are presented with facts so obvious, so crystal clear in the health care reform and global warming debates, that they still continue to ignore those facts. But we don't often realize that the conservatives are wondering the same thing about us.
In today's polarized political world, conservatives tend to consider liberals as clueless children, as naive little Pollyannas adrift in a world beyond their comprehension... whereas we liberals tend to frame conservatives as mindless Ayn Rand clones, as Nietzschean fugitives from the wrong side of Pink Floyd's rock opera The Wall.
It's said that there is much truth in jest, and vicious hyperbole aside, it appears that the opinions that liberals and conservatives hold of each other are true at least in some measure. In a 2008 study by scientists at Northwestern University, the scientists found that conservatives tend to fear losing the status quo, the collapse of social institutions such as marriage, family, and government, while liberals tend to fear a life without deep feelings and experiences, a life without real meaning. One of the authors of the study said, "The study findings may shed light on why conservatives prefer more authoritarian leaders while liberals do not."
I suspect that the previous paragraph will only serve to reinforce the opinions that liberal and conservative readers of this article hold of each other.
A 2007 study showed that once a habitual response to a certain stimulus is formed, a conservative is significantly more likely to stick with that response even when the stimulus is changed to something different, whereas a liberal is significantly more likely to give something other than the habitual response when presented with the aforementioned infrequent stimulus. In other words, a liberal adapts more readily to a change in the situation.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - roger nowosielski
You're asking for it, Glenn, but I'm certain you already know it.
2 - Glenn Contrarian
Yeah, you're right. The trench is already dug....
3 - Realist
I agree with roger, Glenn. You are going to get what I would have should I have beaten you to this topic. Enjoy the calumny, my brother, for it will make your case for you!
Your use of the forced opening of Japan by Commodore Perry is an apt one. I'm sure that the conservatives of 1852 cheered as loudly at the news of new profit opportunities as the modern version did after 2000 (see: Iraq and Afghanistan).
But put the shoe on the other foot, and put the conservatives in the place of the people of the forced to offer that opportunity, and all of a sudden that situation isn't such a good thing.
I'll use Andy Griffith's mythical Mayberry as the template to explain. Suppose one day Andy is strolling about the town keeping an eye on things, and someone flies a plane into the Mayor's office. He finds evidence that the incident was not an accident, and the perpetrator didn't act alone. This conspiracy is made up of non-WASPs, and they intend to force Mayberry to do something (pick your own poison here) they aren't willing to do. Would the people not call upon Andy to pick up that forsworn gun and fight in their defense? Would they not insist that Barney be given a full load for that revolver and sent into their midst? Would they not expect Andy to restore that lost delusional innocence? What happens to Andy when he cannot deliver?
It is not without reason that conservatives tend to look backward with longing, for the past is completely known and unsurprising. They want life to ever be so predictable. To preserve that delusion is why Buckley proclaimed the effort to stand athwart history to yell STOP. Unfortunately for such a learned man, he didn't seem to accept or understand that history will never stop, and allowed a mass of lesser-educated people to believe that such a thing was even possible through his example.
But Buckley wasn't nearly as staunch as the Tea Baggers are today. We can't say for sure, but his son publicly stated that his father was an Obama supporter and probably would have voted for him. It's a good thing for Obama that he died before he could, for no one would be more vituperative in his condemnation of Obama today than a betrayed Buckley!
Suffice it to sum up that current-day conservatives are the embodiment of Jim Morrison's famous demand: They want the world and they want it NOW! For Free! And don't you dare expect Sales Tax!
4 - jeannie danna
Glenn,
I have tried to break through to many conservatives here, and I probably should give up and go home right now.
However, I'm too stubborn to leave.
The one thing that you did not talk about here was the learning curve. The learning curve is tied in with a persons IQ, and this really is what determines someones' comfort level when they're faced with new experiences, challenges, and obstacles in their respective environments.
Are you saying that Liberals have a narrower curve, and that they learn more easily? or Are you saying that conservatives have a wider curve and are slower in adjusting to change?
Because this curve does not know politics.
5 - jeannie danna
I like this article, but you really shocked me! I was expecting an article on health care reform.
:)I bookmarked this so I'll see you tomorrow, nite
6 - cannonshop
I'd rather be a Morlock, than an Eloi, honestly.
READ the WHOLE book, right to the end, wehn the Traveller saw how the Eloi devolved, and consider how that relationship must have come to be-the productive, the builders and makers, they wound up living under ground and preying on the unproductive in their dream-bliss surface lives.
7 - Ruvy
Cannonshop,
Re-read Glenn's article, will you? He places himself and other Democrats in the place of the liberal Morlocks - and his rendition of Wells' stern warning is against that kind of symbiosis.
Unfortunately, it uses American divisions of "liberal"versus "conservative" - rendering useless outside of the United States. And worse, at the end, it degenerated into a cheesy piece on Democrats and Republicans working together to push the Obama agenda.
8 - jeannie danna
Cannonshop,
I saw the movie.
they wound up living under ground and preying on the unproductive in their dream-bliss surface lives.
The people on top had clean energy and a wonderful social system where everyone happily worked, until the greedy Morlocks surfaced to kidnap them and force them underground to work in slavery.
:)I'm a blissful Eloi.
9 - jeannie danna
Ruvy,
It's way too early to mention cheese.
:)Good morning.
10 - Ruvy
Jeannie,
I read the book. The Morlocks kidnapped the Eloi to eat them. The Eloi were like calves for the meat eating (and liberal) Morlocks. The Eloi weren't conservatives at all - they were food. Nice innocent calves who barely ever grew to adulthood.
Now, what is it you were saying about cheese again?
11 - Jordan Richardson
I bought the T-shirt.
12 - Glenn Contrarian
C-shop -
Notice that I didn't give my own opinion on who were Morlocks, who were Eloi, and which was preferable.
My whole point was the unwilling symbiosis that existed between the two. The Eloi and Morlocks both despised and (at least in the case of the Eloi) feared the other. Neither wanted to be like the other. Neither wanted to socialize with the other.
But like the conservatives and liberals of today, both needed the other, whether they liked it or not.
That was my point.
13 - Glenn Contrarian
Jeannie -
Thanks for your kind encouragement.
Are you saying that Liberals have a narrower curve, and that they learn more easily? or Are you saying that conservatives have a wider curve and are slower in adjusting to change?
I would say that we liberals are more open and accepting to things outside our comfort zone. I believe that the raw intelligence of conservatives is just as great as our own (which was the reason for the small rant against IQ tests in the article), but their own conservatives personalities may hinder their mental agility by deeming this or that certain understanding too "disgusting" to learn, to accept - or, in the case of the health care debate, it is too disgusting for them to accept the Democrats' idea...not because it's a Democratic idea (since the centerpiece of HCR is a Republican idea from 15 years ago), but because it's the Democrats who are supporting it!
They are just as intelligent as we are (of course), but they do not realize that their own conservative bent is hindering their mental progress...and I feel that is precisely the root cause of what the fourth study found.
14 - roger nowosielski
A Star Trek episode based on the book offers a somewhat different interpretation.
15 - Dr Dreadful
Thanks, Glenn, for a lively and highly enjoyable article.
I would say that the conservative approach is often - not always; often - characterised by the following assumptions, in ascending degree of error:
1. It worked before.
2. It worked for everybody.
3. It will always work.
On the opposite side, liberals often tend to be so open to change that they have few to no concrete ideas of how to effect it, simply because it is outside the bounds of experience.
I suppose Wells's world is what might happen if Left and Right were to become so utterly polarized that they could no longer tolerate one another at all, and eventually evolved into two biologically distinct species... :-)
16 - roger nowosielski
For all practical purposes, they already have.
17 - jeannie danna
Glenn,
I never read a truer statement than this!
They are just as intelligent as we are (of course), but they do not realize that their own conservative bent is hindering their mental progress...and I feel that is precisely the root cause of what the fourth study found.
:0 You should see how much energy I feel as though I wasted today. Well maybe it wasn't a waste, they were young Conservatives and we all change eventually, whether we want to or not.
18 - Glenn Contrarian
Doc and Jeannie -
Thanks for the support - I figured I would either be roundly denounced from all sides, or if the BC liberals did agree, the conservatives might reply little if any at all...and so far, that's the case.
"This article is repugnant and I'm not going to dignify it with a reply."
I suspect the above statement is a close approximation of what wen through the minds of a few certain BC conservatives...and if that's the case, it only strengthens my point.
19 - roger nowosielski
May I refer you, Glenn, to an earlier article of mine, "A Political Quiz and Its Implications."
It sort of accords with what you're saying, so there it is.
20 - Glenn Contrarian
Rog -
Moreover, facts never convince! “You have to win hearts before you can win minds!”
Hm. Where've I heard that before? And while I do agree with your maxim, I have yet to learn to follow it.
Long ago, I made a decision in my life that it is more high-minded and noble to be other-directed rather than self-directed, that taking the side of an underdog represents a more enlightened state of being.
And again, I strongly agree with you...but I have yet to truly learn to abide by it. I think I've achieved the first step by doing my best to remain sincere and to refrain from insults, but the hardest part, the most difficult is to learn to go for the heart and not the mind, and that a position of weakness may well mask a position of strength. In fact, I remember very well that Sun Tzu said precisely the same thing, that one in a position of strength should endeavor to appear weak, while one in a position of weakness should endeavor to appear strong. Of course, you're referring to a state of being while Sun Tzu was referring to conflicts between armies and nations...but I think the basic principle is the same.
Please have patience with me - I'm working on it. And I really do appreciate constructive criticism.
21 - Glenn Contrarian
And I should agree that the idea was yours before it was mine. Give credit where credit is due, I always say...
...but when I point that out to the banks, they still won't increase my credit limit. They said something about a credit score should be more than two digits....
(couldn't resist)
22 - roger nowosielski
Glenn,
Please, I didn't mean to claim any credit for your article.
We are on the same page, that's all that counts. I tried not to come across as strong as you did, but we both know that the essence of conservatism - what really defines is - is a stubborn resistance to change. How can anyone deny that?
I don't want to say more for fear of estranging our online friends.
Good job, but I am glad that this time it's you rather than me on the receiving end. I'd like to think I've learned my lesson.
23 - jeannie danna
Roger,
I don't want to say more for fear of estranging our online friends.
Spoken like a true politician? Who cares what people think.
Speak you heart and mind so that you can find the truth.
:)I'll still like you and I bet so will everyone else.
24 - Glenn Contrarian
When it comes to a discussion between conservatives and liberals on this thread, it's starting to remind me of the sound of one hand clapping....
25 - jeannie danna
Roger,
I stand corrected, buddy, after having just read your #37 on the other thread...:)there's hope for you yet.