{"id":6053,"date":"2016-11-10T05:08:16","date_gmt":"2016-11-10T05:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2016\/11\/10\/on-the-abysmal-depth-of-disagreement\/"},"modified":"2016-11-10T05:08:16","modified_gmt":"2016-11-10T05:08:16","slug":"on-the-abysmal-depth-of-disagreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2016\/11\/10\/on-the-abysmal-depth-of-disagreement\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Abysmal Depth of Disagreement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why do we disagree so fundamentally about so many things?  And can anything be done about it?  Jonathan Haidt offers a solution<\/a> in terms of more proximity and interaction and less separation; if people in opposing camps just got to know each other they would find common ground.  Really?  Consider the following opposing views of Trump's election triumph.  The first passage is the opening paragraph of An American Tragedy<\/a> by David Remnick writing in The New Yorker<\/em>:<\/span><\/p>\n

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The election of Donald Trump to the Presidency is nothing less than a tragedy for the American republic, a tragedy for the Constitution, and a triumph for the forces, at home and abroad, of nativism, authoritarianism, misogyny, and racism. Trump\u2019s shocking victory, his ascension to the Presidency, is a sickening event in the history of the United States and liberal democracy. On January 20, 2017, we will bid farewell to the first African-American President\u2014a man of integrity, dignity, and generous spirit\u2014and witness the inauguration of a con who did little to spurn endorsement by forces of xenophobia and white supremacy. It is impossible to react to this moment with anything less than revulsion and profound anxiety.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Remnick continues in this vein, his stridency increasing as he proceeds, in a piece that is representative of the Left's reaction to Hillary's defeat.  My second passage is from Goodnight, Mrs. Clinton (A Partial-Birth Campaign is Laid to Rest)<\/a> by Michael Matt writing in The Remnant<\/em>:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Had she been elected it would have said much more about us than about her. We would have shown ourselves a soulless and heartless people, beyond hope, beneath contempt.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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There was so much at stake. Much of our work here at The Remnant, for example, would have been criminalized over the next four years. Our home schools would have become illegal enterprises in the village Mrs. Clinton had in mind. Even our ability to move about freely would have been exponentially undermined. (As the \u201cleader of a hate group\u201d, according to the infamous Southern Poverty Law Center, it isn\u2019t difficult for this writer to imagine how enthusiastically President Hillary would have enforced hate crime legislation against Christian America.)<\/span><\/p>\n

So, yes, like everyone else, we\u2019re still trying to process the news of this truly awesome political and moral and even spiritual upset (if Trump repeals the Johnson Amendment, even the Catholic Church in this country might become relevant again). There\u2019s much to learn from what we saw last night, not the least of which is that the mainstream media, far from omniscient, are in fact clueless ideologues never to be trusted again.  <\/span><\/p>\n

No matter what happens with a Trump presidency, we now know that a substantial percentage of the American people are not beyond hope\u2014that they still have enough Christian sense to recognize and reject the demonic when they see it. And what\u2019s the takeaway from that? Demons are not invincible. In fact, last night they had their tails handed to them by a \u201cbuffoon\u201d they\u2019d mercilessly mocked for 18 months, and who decided he\u2019d be the first politician in decades to give God-fearing Americans a voice again\u2014a comparative small concession that nevertheless silenced the left-half of this country for the first times in decades. Donald Trump let pro-life, pro-God, pro-family America loose from their shackles\u2014and the demons scattered before them like roaches.  <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

My thesis is that the differences exemplified above run so deep as to be irreconcilable.  No amount of conversation, however well-intentioned and amicably conducted, could possibly lead to agreement on fundamentals.  <\/span><\/p>\n

What then is to be done?<\/span><\/p>\n

I suggest that what we need to mitigate tribal hostility is not more proximity and interaction, pace<\/em> Haidt, but less, fewer 'conversations' not more, a government restricted to essential functions, more toleration, voluntary segregation, a return to federalism, a total stoppage of illegal immigration, and a reform of current immigration law to favor people who share our values. (Sharia-supporting Muslims are an example of a group that does not share our values.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you have a better idea? <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\nRelated articles<\/legend>\n
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<\/a>Who is Caius?<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/a>Stay Quiet and You'll Be Okay<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/a>A Quasi-Kierkegaardian Poke at Paglia<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fieldset>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why do we disagree so fundamentally about so many things?  And can anything be done about it?  Jonathan Haidt offers a solution in terms of more proximity and interaction and less separation; if people in opposing camps just got to know each other they would find common ground.  Really?  Consider the following opposing views of … Continue reading “On the Abysmal Depth of Disagreement”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[251],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disagreement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6053","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=6053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6053\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}