wilde_man t1_j0urvzq wrote on December 19, 2022 at 4:05 PM

Reply to comment by coyote-1 in Our stated political beliefs are irrational when taken as a package – the don’t appear to form coherent wholes. But we should be skeptical about whether these irrational political beliefs are really beliefs by IAI_Admin

Your first mistake is thinking that over 300 million people can be divided into 2 coherent teams.

>that simultaneously proclaims itself pro-life, yet wants to remove roadblocks to capital punishment AND wants to flood the streets with guns? That proclaims the sanctity of life in the womb, yet seeks to dismantle all systemic support for young disadvantaged families?

That said even a single person has many competing and simultaneous reasons for believing what they do. someone who is pro-life, pro-guns, and pro-capital punishment may believe in protecting the lives (unborn children too, as they reckon) of the innocent rather than an inherent sanctity of life.

Even if someone disagrees with their goals and/or methods (myself included, not that it matters because I'm not American) they are doing themselves and their opponent a disservice by not even trying to understand their opponent.

>One just has to be willing to look at the dark side of life to grasp the unifying theme: a will to cruelty, to punishment. The moment you do that, the varied positions of that particular ‘team’ all form a coherent package.

"the dark side of life is all the people who disagree with me, they are being evil for kicks"

TLDR: the person I replied to can't fathom how someone might be of a different political persuasion.