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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dale Baker who wrote (12433)	2/17/2006 11:42:37 AM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541355

I think, perhaps, we need to all admit (in our 12 step partisan program) that we are all partisan. I have always believed (since I am at core deeply partisan about relativism) that we are all, uniquely, and fundamentally partisan (by which I mean deeply welded to our view of things) at the git go, in how we perceive the world- and we never really understand that, because language glosses over so many of our differences. When I say tree, in my mind, I probably have a different concept of treeness than you have- and I'm wedded to this by my perceptions of reality and my belief in what I have experienced of reality). Anyway, when we add, to our already subjective and individual perception of the universe, our varied experiences as we are raised, our various educations, or different desires for the way we want the world to be, we can't help but we strongly committed to a certain world view- influenced, whether we realize it or not, by how we perceive the world, which is dependent on our wiring and how we were nurtured. I think if we just started writing EVERY post with the realization that we are not seeing or experiencing the world in the same way, most of us would realize that there really aren't many "right" answers except in the quantitative sciences (but maybe I'm being overly optimistic). Just as there are no "correct" books, or "right" movies, there is not a "right" perception of the world- and so many of these arguments come down to arguing over a preference for a particular shape of the world, or over perceptions of reality, which (imo) can never be resolved. I've come to the point where I just won't proceed in talking if I feel I'm bumping up against these things- because the argument tends to take the same turns and twists- I swear, if you do it enough, you could write the other person's posts. I guess that doesn't leave much hope for bipartisanship- but I think there are things on which most people agree- I think you focus on those, and touch as little upon the things that fundamentally separate people as possible, because barring reprogramming people, I don't see how you alter their perception and core beliefs.

To: Dale Baker who wrote (12433)	2/17/2006 5:47:35 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 541355

That is the eternal dilemma here. Most people don't consider their own views partisan because they seem valid, hence reasonable and objective. I would agree, but probably change the wording to "Most people don't consider their own views ideologically biased..." You can have a strong ideological bias without being partisan. Partisanship is identification with and support of the group, "us vs them". Even people in the middle can have such partisanship (particularly if they had a party or other formal political group to represent them). They can see "the center", or "moderates" as being the superior group that they support against "radicals on both sides". Tim