Yo, Charlie, if ever you need to wedge open the mind of a decent but tribally Right-hating guy like the one I described here, link this classic article by Orwell at them. Well, to me, anything by Orwell is a classic, but this one’s seriously kickass, paying real and sincere respect to one’s opponent while still attacking most of his values and beliefs (but also pointing out the considerable hypocrisy and moral cowardice of most people who slammed him merely out of fashion). Who said that the Left can’t do it… - well, sigh, we mostly can’t - …don’t know it’s possible?
Just, I’d exercise judgment in which of the thinkers you support to compare to Kipling in this way, you understand? Someone like Aurini, explicitly sharing basic priors, like reductionism and the value of human rights and an ordered society, is far less alien to our Hypothetical Left-Identifying Guy than Kipling was to Orwell’s circles.
On the other hand, if said guy, like me, will first try to see if there’s anything thoughtlessly hateful that fits his stereotype of the Right in the vicinity of whatever caught his eye—don’t waste the analogy on defending a really sadistic/retarded/etc thing said by someone on “your” side (hint: my link fucking counts, nigga!). Point out all the things that the Guy already believes stupid or worse (like supporting the USSR or making the iconoclastic hero that was MLK the lifeless object of America’s state cult) that “his” side has done over the years, then remind him of the need to evaluate every cluster of thought by the best ideas present in it, not the below-mainstream people latching on to it.
Yo, Charlie, if ever you need to wedge open the mind of a decent but tribally Right-hating guy like the one I described here, link this classic article by Orwell at them. Well, to me, anything by Orwell is a classic, but this one’s seriously kickass, paying real and sincere respect to one’s opponent while still attacking most of his values and beliefs (but also pointing out the considerable hypocrisy and moral cowardice of most people who slammed him merely out of fashion). Who said that the Left can’t do it… - well, sigh, we mostly can’t - …don’t know it’s possible?
Just, I’d exercise judgment in which of the thinkers you support to compare to Kipling in this way, you understand? Someone like Aurini, explicitly sharing basic priors, like reductionism and the value of human rights and an ordered society, is far less alien to our Hypothetical Left-Identifying Guy than Kipling was to Orwell’s circles.
On the other hand, if said guy, like me, will first try to see if there’s anything thoughtlessly hateful that fits his stereotype of the Right in the vicinity of whatever caught his eye—don’t waste the analogy on defending a really sadistic/retarded/etc thing said by someone on “your” side (hint: my link fucking counts, nigga!). Point out all the things that the Guy already believes stupid or worse (like supporting the USSR or making the iconoclastic hero that was MLK the lifeless object of America’s state cult) that “his” side has done over the years, then remind him of the need to evaluate every cluster of thought by the best ideas present in it, not the below-mainstream people latching on to it.
Upvoted for linking to an essay by Orwell, I hadn’t read that particular one before.