Liberals want to understand, conservatives want to forget

by phil on Sunday May 9, 2010 11:21 AM
politics

Why is it that liberals are more interested in understanding the conservative mind than conservatives are? There's liberal books like Don't Think of an Elephant and What's the Matter with Kansas? while as conservatives have Liberalism is a Mental disorder: Savage Solutions and How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must). An uncharitable interpretation is that liberals are wusses, and more interested in understanding their captors. Remember how after 9/11, liberals wanted to assign the Koran as required reading for college students. Then again, a charitable interpretation is that liberals adhere to the "know your enemy" principle.

Comments

dirk said on May 9, 2010 5:26 PM:

I think it's safe to say that the desire to understand is a trait not shared in whole or in majority by either liberals or conservatives. I think the polarization shared by the media and our political system is evidence for that. And the attempt to require college students to read the koran was not so they could "know their enemy", it was done to prevent backlash on people who appeared "middle-eastern" by educating people on the differences between Islamic Extremists and the normal everyday Muslims. From what I remember, the people who attacked someone who looked "middle-eastern" didn't have the best educational or economic background. So asside from trampling the 1st amendment I doubt it would have had any effect. Don't get me wrong though I think a comprehensive education of theology should be taught in schools, but that's a different discussion completely.

Dan S said on May 28, 2010 12:28 PM:

Terms are a bit too loosely defined, but if the oft-capitalized Liberals and Conservatives of current American politics are being implicated, it could be related to prognostication being based on understanding 'historical patterns' vs. 'implications of current configurations.'