October 30, 2018

Nationalism Rising: When and Why Nationalism Beats Globalism, Jonathan Haidt

This article is two years old, but it might as well have been written today. It's a longish article, but well worth the read. I've hacked it down to it's essential prescription, which may be painful for liberals to hear. But I really think he makes a good argument for why immigration is SO important to the right. It isn't just racism (though there is some of that), but the view that the structures and values that bind our communities together are perceived to be under threat. If this is true, then the way to beat back the rising tide of intolerance is to emphasize our common bonds as Americans, and our shared cultures and values.

https://www.the-american-interest.com/v/jonathan-haidt/


NATIONALISM RISING
When and Why Nationalism Beats Globalism
JONATHAN HAIDT
And how moral psychology can help explain and reduce tensions between the two.

What on earth is going on in the Western democracies? From the rise of Donald Trump in the United States and an assortment of right-wing parties across Europe through the June 23 Brexit vote, many on the Left have the sense that something dangerous and ugly is spreading: right-wing populism, seen as the Zika virus of politics. Something has gotten into “those people” that makes them vote in ways that seem—to their critics—likely to harm their own material interests, at least if their leaders follow through in implementing isolationist policies that slow economic growth...

...[A]ll the available evidence indicates that exposure to difference, talking about difference, and applauding difference—the hallmarks of liberal democracy—are the surest ways to aggravate those who are innately intolerant, and to guarantee the increased expression of their predispositions in manifestly intolerant attitudes and behaviors. Paradoxically, then, it would seem that we can best limit intolerance of difference by parading, talking about, and applauding our sameness…. Ultimately, nothing inspires greater tolerance from the intolerant than an abundance of common and unifying beliefs, practices, rituals, institutions, and processes. And regrettably, nothing is more certain to provoke increased expression of their latent predispositions than the likes of “multicultural education,” bilingual policies, and nonassimilation.

If the story I have told here is correct, then the globalists could easily speak, act, and legislate in ways that drain passions and votes away from nationalist parties, but this would require some deep rethinking about the value of national identities and cohesive moral communities. It would require abandoning the multicultural approach to immigration and embracing assimilation.

October 27, 2018

At least 7 dead in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting

Still ongoing. Suspect exchanged gunfire with police, 2 officers injured.


https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2018/10/27/heavy-police-presence-near-synagogue-in-squirrel-hill/

October 20, 2018

Social Psychologist Ted talk on moral roots of liberals and conservatives

Jonathan Haidt has done a lot of research in moral psychology and politics. He identified the basic inborn categories of moral thinking we all share, but liberals and conservatives weight them differently. His work is a great resource for anyone who wants to understand the other side better, or for that matter our side too. If you want to think all conservatives are racists, this might not be for you. 18 1/2 minutes.

This is from 2008, but still applies and he continues speak about current topics.

October 6, 2018

The October March - What a bunch of angry women can do

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_March_on_Versailles


The Women's March on Versailles, also known as The October March, The October Days, or simply The March on Versailles, was one of the earliest and most significant events of the French Revolution. The march began among women in the marketplaces of Paris who, on the morning of 5 October 1789, were near rioting over the high price and scarcity of bread. Their demonstrations quickly became intertwined with the activities of revolutionaries, who were seeking liberal political reforms and a constitutional monarchy for France. The market women and their various allies grew into a mob of thousands. Encouraged by revolutionary agitators, they ransacked the city armory for weapons and marched to the Palace of Versailles. The crowd besieged the palace, and in a dramatic and violent confrontation, they successfully pressed their demands upon King Louis XVI. The next day, the crowd compelled the king, his family, and most of the French Assembly to return with them to Paris.

These events ended the king's independence and signified the change of power and reforms about to overtake France. The march symbolized a new balance of power that displaced the ancient privileged orders of the French nobility and favored the nation's common people, collectively termed the Third Estate. Bringing together people representing sources of the Revolution in their largest numbers yet, the march on Versailles proved to be a defining moment of that Revolution.