jaylake's definition of conservative and liberal in his collection of links for today:Conservatives' Deep-Set Fear of Women's Rights — Very interesting piece. To me this gets at the heart of the difference between liberals and conservatives. Conservatives by definition want to foster a narrow, smaller worldview. Liberals by definition want to foster a wider, more diverse worldview. The liberal worldview almost always leaves plenty of room for conservative ideals. Don't want an abortion? Don't have one. Hate and fear homosexuality? Be straight, with my blessing. Want to deny evolution? Party on with the flat Earthers. The conservative worldview very rarely leaves room for liberal ideals, seeking to deny all of society anything conservatives themselves don't agree with. On the basis of sheer, simple fairness, I could never be a conservative.
In the meantime, today is an odd one at school. We are on a schedule that shortens all the classes to 35 minutes so that we have the afternoon free for our "Spring Fling," an hour-and-a-half long barbeque and activities session. Then we are off tomorrow and Friday to compensate for the four evening-long parent/teacher conferences we've had in the year. A four-day weekend will give me time to catch up on both grading and gardening.
And, on an unrelated note, according to The Guardian, here are the 10 best first lines in fiction.
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Comments
That's always been my favorite explanation for inexplicable decisions.
But businesses don't represent me, and sometimes I can't do it all myself.
Lo and behold, conservatives understand liberals more than liberals understand conservatives. And the liberals don't realize they don't know they don't understand.
This is why liberals write screeds like that.
Attitudes like this is why compromise between the left and the right has become impossible.
Try applying this argument to a different issue:
You: I oppose honor-killings of women.
Me: If you're against it, don't participate in it. But don't interfere with those who approve of the practice.
Would you accept that as an acceptable compromise on honor-killing?
Sam
That's because your "wider, more diverse worldview" stops short at the idea of people's disagreeing with you. You would not accept anyone's calling someone you call human not human -- why should anyone else? What makes you so special?
(Also, it's very anti-science of you. What species do you think it belongs to, if not H. sapiens?)
A pro-lifer would have to be a very steely-eyed person when asked about those fertilized eggs, which is many pro-lifer's definition of a human, to say they'd let the six-month old burn to save a thousand test tubes.
Edited at 2012-05-04 05:26 am (UTC)
But it's not a moral question; it's a matter of priorities.
To see what I mean, let's extend that hypothetical to add a third building -- a nursing home with a dozen invalid geriatrics. So now you have the choice of saving a thousand unimplanted embryos, one infant child, or a dozen invalid geriatrics.
I'd still choose to save the baby. But that doesn't mean I seek to deny that geriatrics have human rights. It's simply a matter of which life I'd give priority to saving.
Uh . . . how is this hypothetical supposed to an argument for or against anything?
I think that folks who present the burning fertility clinic problem would say that the geriatrics in your third building raise a different question. That hypothetical is no different than a life boat scenario. It's neither a pro-life or pro-choice relevant situation. It's merely a (terrible!) ethical decision that would make anyone who chose either feel horrible for the rest of his life.
That you think it raises a different question does not entitle you, in your broad-mindness, foster a narrow, smaller worldview by refusing to admit that other people do not accept your opinion? Or any rate, have no business not accepting your opinion?
Stupid hypothetical anyway. I can't save the newly conceived children in the lab. sam's counter-analogy is missing one point: the elderly folks are hooked up to machine that they need to survive and that you can't move. By the same token, the children will not survive without being implanted, which I can't do on the lawn.