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I've yet to meet any right-winger whose logic hasn't been twisted to suit their own prejudices. It isn't objective.
How exactly can empathy lead people to voting George Bush, Tony Blair or Nick Griffin?
conned again.
i may well never ever vote again.
Yep, but if you hold the position through logic then you will abandon it whenever it stops suiting you. If you hold the position through an empathetic view it's much more likely to keep hold of it against logic and reason.
Because it's limited empathy. i.e. only white people are people, only card carrying republocrats are people etc etc. Everyone does this, we all walk passed other people in the street without bothering about them in the slightest. The difference is the context in which a racist will do this and whether or not we like it or not.
Racism in itself might be due to mental impairment - the ability to distinguish groups of people but not recognise that everyone is different from everyone else.
Either that's your own prejudices showing through (lack of objective thinking) or you haven't met many right wingers
Quite a diverse group you've got there (again I could point to lack of objectivity). I suspect a lot of left wingers voted for Blair - him being the leader of the Labour Party.
And whilst I'd probably agree that anyone who goes to Nick Griffin shows a lack of empathy, I would also suggest so do many of those who voted for Galloway*
However on voting for Blair and Bush (come to that Michael howard or charles Kennedy) people can empathise and still vote for them. You may think that society should look after its weaker members, should base itself on the equality before the law and protecting human rights and think that the best way to do that is economic and social liberalism, rather than a socialist model.
Now you can argue they are wrong, but it seems a little arrogant to suggest they lack empathy and that not only are the left intellectually superior, but also morally.
* I always liked this piece of grovelling to Saddam by Galloway "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength your indefatigability. And I want you to know that we are with you until victory, until victory until Jerusalem.", but I think it may have been overtaken but this one "The courts killed this woman and I don’t think there can be any justification for it.” - George Galloway on the death of Terri Schiavo (BBC Question Time, 3/31/05)
I used to be vehemently right wing, and have known plenty of likewise others - my opinion is completely objective.
Labour are proponents of capitalism - they're not left wing, and never truly have been. And how am I lacking objectivity?
Economic and social liberalism is a con. We don't trade freely, our societies are still illiberal in some respects, we plunder other countries potential wealth...it doesn't matter if you vote Labour, Conservative or Lib Dem...they all advocate the same basic approach within a capitalist framework. Mainstream politics is a sham.
Of course right wing parties are lacking in morals. They support a system based on corruption, war, terrorism, misinformation and greed. How can that be moral?
I can veighly understand why someone deeply intellectual might veer towards the right wing on certain issues, but for the masses, supporting the right wing is largely a result of ignorance, dubious media output, a false sense of self-interest and personal prejudice.
So none of those poor ignorant normal folk actually vote for the Tories becasue they actually want their taxes to be lower or becuase they are for lowering the abortion time limit or because they support fox hunting?
They are just being conned are they?
I mentioned self-interest. Of course a lot of small-minded people vote according to their own social/psychological position - something which isn't objective.
Arrogant much?
Well, only myself and millions of others :rolleyes: .
Well, dozens.... the millions of others are supporting the Tories, Labour and the Lib-Dems and the capitalist system. It must be a real fucker
Liberal != left
Maybe he's just honest about his ideology?