Moralistic implications of political parties.

[BabyHeadCrab]

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind.html

In this video Dr. Jonathan Haidt discusses the moral roots of the major political affiliations in the U.S. political spectrum.

I figured many of the politics junkies on these boards would really appreciate this to gain a better understanding of what goes on around here. Or if you're already accustomed to it, a little insight into the moral/emotional reasons why people put into certain political camps. Worth a view for anyone, really.

Psychologist Jonathan Haidt studies the five moral values that form the basis of our political choices, whether we're left, right or center. In this eye-opening talk, he pinpoints the moral values that liberals and conservatives tend to honor most.

 

[Dinkleberry]

Excellent vid, good post :thumbs:

 

[PvtRyan]

One thing he seems to forget though is that a liberal is more likely to employ reason and thus to be objectively right about something.

Take for example gay marriage.

Conservatives: marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a woman.

Which is demonstrably wrong. That argument is based on religious views and while those may be valid to use for your own behavior, it's not valid to assume everyone else must adhere to those views because religion is inherently a subjective thing. So to use a religious argument for something that affects everyone is simply wrong.

A liberal: there is no reason why a person should not be able to marry someone of the same sex.

Which is right. However, if a reason did crop up, like a man marrying another man would cause someone on the planet to die instantly, then a liberal would also be likely to concede that gay marriage isn't a good idea.

Of course, any side using just a dogmatic ideology to back their beliefs rather than reason is wrong. But if you label yourself as a conservative, the chances are overwhelming that you are a jackass.

 

[Laivasse]

One thing he seems to forget though is that a liberal is more likely to employ reason and thus to be objectively right about something.
*snip*

Well put.

I haven't actually watched this vid yet but the description makes the subject matter sound very much like that of an essay I read recently, which made the same omission that you point out.

Yada yada, no blacks and whites only greys, blah, we all value different stuff - that's all fine and true.

But disdain for logic, and the will to deceive yourself and others in order to preserve your moral values, are not moral values in and of themselves. These things are traits, rather - quite shitty ones - that are typically exhibited by the ultra-cons that pervade America.

Personally I believe self-deception to be a major source of suffering and oppression in the world, so this particular point really rankles with me. For instance, if you can convince yourself that your crack money is the most important thing on the planet, then that little old lady on her way home from collecting her pension is fair game. If you can deceive yourself (in spite of any reasoned arguments to the contrary) that what you are doing is right, then you are liberated from all those mesy feelings like uncertainty and compassion; you can take a shortcut through conventional morality to carry out any number of spectacularly atrocious acts without feeling one iota of guilt - burning jews, crashing airplanes, dragging your country into an unnecessary war, whatever.

As such, I find it annoying when I see the neo-conservative moral spectrum depicted as if it's just a simple, well-intentioned alternative viewpoint on the world (the implication being that us bullying liberals and our biased media should try to understand it a little better and be more tolerant). It may well have been simple and well-intentioned at some point, but the deception and fallacy by which it is propagated at the moment are no more excusable just because they're the work of people who are simple folks fightin' for what they believe in, or whatever.

 

[Sulkdodds]

I worry that there is an extent to which contemporary US politics is not left vs right, but truth vs lies.