The rise and fall of rationality in language
Great HN post. Thank you for OP for supplying the link.<p>Through my various social engagements, I&#x27;ve spent time in many political discussions. Trump, politics, race, and anti-vaccination are recurring themes. Some observations:<p>* Those on the left tend to insert race into situations in which it does not naturally arise as I see it. Here focus is nominally on inclusion&#x2F;significance of minorities. It periodically comes with a tone of judgement something like getting a visit from an evangelical at your door. Listen to NPR: at least around north east cities it&#x27;s replete and centered on identity politics.<p>* Those on the right tend to insert race into situations in which it does not naturally arise as I see it. Sometime emphasis here comes as self-righteous anger, feeling excluded, and kind of self-imposed victimization of thought or culture putatively at the hand know-it-all-liberals.<p>* Older guys on the right side who are pro-Trump, anti-vax tend be the angry individuals spending time recollecting the good-ol-days when guys were hardcore men. I sometimes probe these older guys with questions. What I tend to get is a lot o whining, frustration but little in the way of answers. That&#x27;s a shame: us older guys are supposed to have some answers standing on the shoulders of our own experience.<p>My view then is the emotionalism, complaining, putative self-righteous anger, and whining is a layer on top of a more basic problem which is victimization. And that sits on an even deeper layer of lack of competence broadly speaking on what to do about it.<p>Whether it&#x27;s &quot;stop the steal&quot;, deep state, MSM (mainstream media) there&#x27;s a running sense of we&#x27;re victums. Look at headlines. You&#x27;ll see plenty of &quot;The real truth behind...&quot; (i.e. you&#x27;ve been lied to elsewhere), &quot;The dirty little secret at...&quot; (i.e. people have omitted information we&#x27;re strong enough to tell you).<p>I yet remain convinced that the majority of Americans (of which I am one) know full-well the solutions are at the center. I also feel like almost all Americans are sick-and-tired of the 24-7 soap opera from the talking heads on TV, and headless voices on AM&#x2F;FM.