Loved this. I think people just find it hard to believe people can be so sincerely wrong. "Surely someone this wrong must be insincere! Nobody could possibly disagree with me this much, they must also be evil and also probably lying!"
Yes, this is the problem with polarisation. I think the Tories are absolutely wrong, but what of they think they're trying to make the country better, and sincerely think they're doing that? How do we debate that?
Good point. We assume the "other side" are pure evil. Maybe the Conservatives actually believe they're genuinely making the country better? I think they're dead wrong, but what if they believe it, quite sincerely? How does the Labour Party, or any other party, demonstrate they're wrong? Misguided at best, wrong at worst, but maybe not evil, just with different values and scales of judgement?
This is a very balanced argument, which I wish more people would make. Instead of demonising the opposing party, grapple with the substance of the policy proposal, even if you believe it's actually about electoral advantage. Being able to boil down why a policy proposal is wrong, for the TV interview/soundbite format, is hard but worth doing. In this instance, it's not hard at all. I'd like to see more pithy arguments against the policy from Labour, although at this stage anything the Conservatives propose is going to land badly. But I don't want to see Labour trying to do "politics on easy mode", as this certainly won't help once in government.
Loved this. I think people just find it hard to believe people can be so sincerely wrong. "Surely someone this wrong must be insincere! Nobody could possibly disagree with me this much, they must also be evil and also probably lying!"
Yes, this is the problem with polarisation. I think the Tories are absolutely wrong, but what of they think they're trying to make the country better, and sincerely think they're doing that? How do we debate that?
Good point. We assume the "other side" are pure evil. Maybe the Conservatives actually believe they're genuinely making the country better? I think they're dead wrong, but what if they believe it, quite sincerely? How does the Labour Party, or any other party, demonstrate they're wrong? Misguided at best, wrong at worst, but maybe not evil, just with different values and scales of judgement?
This is a very balanced argument, which I wish more people would make. Instead of demonising the opposing party, grapple with the substance of the policy proposal, even if you believe it's actually about electoral advantage. Being able to boil down why a policy proposal is wrong, for the TV interview/soundbite format, is hard but worth doing. In this instance, it's not hard at all. I'd like to see more pithy arguments against the policy from Labour, although at this stage anything the Conservatives propose is going to land badly. But I don't want to see Labour trying to do "politics on easy mode", as this certainly won't help once in government.