{"id":5833,"date":"2017-01-25T10:52:04","date_gmt":"2017-01-25T10:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2017\/01\/25\/is-productive-discussion-with-leftists-possible\/"},"modified":"2017-01-25T10:52:04","modified_gmt":"2017-01-25T10:52:04","slug":"is-productive-discussion-with-leftists-possible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2017\/01\/25\/is-productive-discussion-with-leftists-possible\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Productive Discussion with Leftists Possible?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This<\/a> is from Robert Paul Wolff's blog:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

As the horrors of the next four years unfold, with Climate Change deniers, women's reproductive rights opponents, public school opponents, gun enthusiasts, proponents of eliminating any minimum wage at all, those eager to up the rate of deportations, and war starters in control of the government, there are people on the left who will devote all their time and energy to condemning what they see as the inadequate ideological purity of others well to the left of the center of American politics.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"R<\/a>This is typical leftist stuff from a very intelligent and learned man.  Judging from it, how could one imagine a fruitful conversation with a leftist?<\/span><\/p>\n

My thesis is that productive discussions with leftists are highly unlikely.  This is because they take as settled<\/em> questions that to an objective and fair-minded person are not settled.  My present point is not that they give the wrong answers, although I believe they do; my present point is that leftists refuse to admit as genuine questions what are in fact genuine questions.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Climate Change<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

A skeptic is a doubter, not a denier.  To doubt or inquire or question whether such-and-such is the case is not to deny that it is the case.  It is a cheap rhetorical trick of Global Warming (GW) activists to speak of GW denial<\/em> and posture as if it is in the ball park of Holocaust denial. People who misuse language in this way signal that they are not interested in a serious discussion.  When GW activists speak in this way they give us even more reason to be skeptical.  Their claim is not just that there is global warming, but that there is catastrophic, anthropogenic global warming, the human and non-human causes of which are understood, and that this catastrophic warming trend can be stopped or impeded by human efforts, efforts the effect of which will not be as bad, or worse, that the effects of the supposed catastrophic, man-made, global warming.  Obviously, there is quite a lot to be skeptical about here.  For one thing, has it been established that the human contribution to global warming is large enough to justify drastic measures?<\/span><\/p>\n

Women's Reproductive Rights<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

To subsume abortion under the rubric of women's reproductive right is willfully to blind oneself to the moral questions that abortion raises. Again, there is a refusal to admit as genuine questions what are in fact genuine questions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Education<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

To support vouchers and school choice is not to oppose public education. Here again a signature tactic of the leftist ideologue: the slandering of the political opponent and the refusal to present his position fairly.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Enough of the howling of Howlin' Wolff and his pack of destructives.  This garbage is really beneath reply. Luckily, we now have a president who knows how to counterpunch.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRelated articles<\/span><\/legend>\n
\n
<\/a>Robert Paul Wolff on Netanyahu<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a>The Decline of the Culture of Free Discussion and Debate<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a>Why the Left Will Not Admit the Threat of Radical Islam (Revised and Expanded)<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a>Global Warming: Questions That Need Distinguishing<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fieldset>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is from Robert Paul Wolff's blog: As the horrors of the next four years unfold, with Climate Change deniers, women's reproductive rights opponents, public school opponents, gun enthusiasts, proponents of eliminating any minimum wage at all, those eager to up the rate of deportations, and war starters in control of the government, there are … Continue reading “Is Productive Discussion with Leftists Possible?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[163],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leftism-and-political-correctness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5833\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}