Part of the problem is that our models of knowledge were flawed. The basis was the information deficit model; the assumption was that people were missing data, and that if they learned more they would shift their understanding.
It turns out that this isn’t a good fit for human psychology, but approaches based on it still persist today.
Another problem is a fundamental misunderstanding of world views. People on the left tend to think that equality is a good thing and should be a goal. People on the right do not believe in equality. Not in the sense that they opposed it, they literally don’t believe it is possible. So any attempt to improve the lot of the worst-off is interpreted as an attempt to disrupt the hierarchy, ultimately ending up worse off for themselves. “You’re just jealous and want to be in charge.”
I think that there are communication strategies that can work, but maybe not. Humans have suffered under hierarchy for millennia, and maybe we are too flawed as a species.
It may seem unfair that the left would have to put so much effort into communicating with the right, who doesn’t give a fuck. That’s true, but the forces of hierarchy have had many more centuries to refine their propaganda. And what the left asks is for change and growth, while the right merely asks for a return to the way humans lived for most of civilization: a powerful few getting all the benefits and most of humanity struggling to survive.
It may seem unfair that the left would have to put so much effort into communicating with the right, who doesn’t give a fuck.
It’s about, nay, exactly the same reason why therapy is harder than causing trauma. The good news is that not causing trauma is not as hard as fixing it so it’ll get easier over the generations, the important bit is to find ways to effectively chip away at things.
Looking at the US, and thinking a bit out of the box: Start by de-normalising hitting kids, and don’t shy away from “if you don’t, then they’ll be able to get better jobs” type of arguments. You might think “but but am I not advocating for individualist turbo capitalism like that” – not really. Or at least not in the long term: To make anyone listen you have to simultaneously teach parents how to deal with the little shits in a non-hierarchical way, thus also teaching the kids that that’s possible, making them more prone to act like that once they’re adults. The “think of your kid’s career” part is just the hook, the rest is prefiguring Anarchy. Baby steps but hey you gotta start somewhere.
Part of the problem is that our models of knowledge were flawed. The basis was the information deficit model; the assumption was that people were missing data, and that if they learned more they would shift their understanding.
It turns out that this isn’t a good fit for human psychology, but approaches based on it still persist today.
Another problem is a fundamental misunderstanding of world views. People on the left tend to think that equality is a good thing and should be a goal. People on the right do not believe in equality. Not in the sense that they opposed it, they literally don’t believe it is possible. So any attempt to improve the lot of the worst-off is interpreted as an attempt to disrupt the hierarchy, ultimately ending up worse off for themselves. “You’re just jealous and want to be in charge.”
I think that there are communication strategies that can work, but maybe not. Humans have suffered under hierarchy for millennia, and maybe we are too flawed as a species.
It may seem unfair that the left would have to put so much effort into communicating with the right, who doesn’t give a fuck. That’s true, but the forces of hierarchy have had many more centuries to refine their propaganda. And what the left asks is for change and growth, while the right merely asks for a return to the way humans lived for most of civilization: a powerful few getting all the benefits and most of humanity struggling to survive.
It’s about, nay, exactly the same reason why therapy is harder than causing trauma. The good news is that not causing trauma is not as hard as fixing it so it’ll get easier over the generations, the important bit is to find ways to effectively chip away at things.
Looking at the US, and thinking a bit out of the box: Start by de-normalising hitting kids, and don’t shy away from “if you don’t, then they’ll be able to get better jobs” type of arguments. You might think “but but am I not advocating for individualist turbo capitalism like that” – not really. Or at least not in the long term: To make anyone listen you have to simultaneously teach parents how to deal with the little shits in a non-hierarchical way, thus also teaching the kids that that’s possible, making them more prone to act like that once they’re adults. The “think of your kid’s career” part is just the hook, the rest is prefiguring Anarchy. Baby steps but hey you gotta start somewhere.