I'm really concerned with the division in this country. I know everyone says that, but think about it...

The way left wing peeps talk about conservatives is not any different than how a normal person talks about Nazis. The way conservatives generalize about lefties is no diff than how ppl talk about tankies. I don't say that a civil war is gonna break out or anything overly dramatic like that, but I do think cultural divide is making it harder for society to do anything cohesive.

I'm more right wing, culturally speaking at least. But I am always careful never to act like lefties are bad, or that it takes some particularly deviant mind to be a run of the mill leftist. I don't. I don't even think lefties are nessecarily any worse ppl than cons, like legit. I also recognize that given who I am and my demographic, it's statistically normal for me to believe what I do.

I think most lefties are left wing for this reason: Because they were born in Oregon, or california, or scandanavia.
I think most conservatives are conservative for this reason: Cause they were born in the south, or texas, or from the 50s, or some shit like that.

I think that if we forget that what makes people virtuous is their interpersonal empathy and daily deeds, we can avoid the division. I have way more in common with a left wing person who volunteers are a childrens hospital and and a homeless shelter than I do right wing individual who think charity is stupid because of some stupid Ayn Rand bullshit. I'd hope the lefties feel the same too.

I think it's just outright ignorance to suggest that being right or left is highly influenced by brain chemistry, genetics, or personality. Yes, these things are a factor. I'v been cited studies about the difference in the average lefty brain that righty brain. It's a predictor, but what's far more of a predictor is where you come from.

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Crazywaterspring · 61-69, M

Society does its bit to form one's politics. Once I was a right leaning "moderate.". Serving in the military with most of my time overseas made me into a committed leftist.

ViciDraco · 41-45, M

@Crazywaterspring I know a lot of people who served and a lot of their world outlooks tend to boil down to a similar commonality.

A lot of people who took their chance to get off base when stationed abroad and actually tried to take advantage of learning the local cultures in other places wound up going pretty far left later in life. Those who stayed on-base and within the 'safely americanized' zones tended to stay fairly right-wing.

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ViciDraco · 41-45, M

@BRUUH There are two definitions for racism at play. Prejudice or discrimination by race is one of them. Wanting any kind of ethnostate is part of that definition regardless of who wants it and for whom.

The second definition is prejudice or discrimination by race AND the power to make it systemic. This is the racism that mostly gets applied to white people, because white people are the most likely to hold the power in most of the world (thanks to earlier European colonialism). There are exceptions to this, but broadly speaking white people hold more power around the globe in the current era.

A lot of vocal activists only care about the second definition because the group in the second definition could actually pull it off if they wanted to.

I'm against either form of racism myself. I don't like to make excuses for other groups perpetuating hatred. But I also recognize that being the group with power puts responsibility on us to lead the change away from racism. That's why white people get criticized harder for racism. It's not perfect, but there is some rationality behind it.

We've sort of moved two steps forward and one step back over time. Overall, it's progress despite the backslide. But people really panic about that backslide. It's not just in racism though. People outright panic if progress doesn't appear to be constant in any aspect. Just look what happens to a corporation that has three record breaking years in a row and then only makes a profit equal to the first year of record breaking in the fourth year.

BRUUH · VIP

@ViciDraco The systematic power definition pretty much started and ended with academics working in social science. It's from sociology books. I put no stock on it cause it's not what anyone who isn't dealing in that field (or a left wing activist) is talking about. Plus,

I don't really agree with you on anything else you say, tho I think you are well meaning. You want a color blind world, and not a LITERAL color blind world (I hate when ppl say that) but one where race becomes a relevant as hair color. I think you mean well. I personally think it's way better for everyone if we stop moral fagging and let people govern themselves locally. Do you personally wanna tell all the cubans to stop caring when non cubans like myself move into their neighborhood? I don't, even tho i'm the one who got mean looks and ignored daily. I think it's way more reasonable to let people who wanna live in a homogenous ethno-state do it, and let people who wanna live in diverse spaces do it to. I support direct democracy on many issues, especially locally one. I think cubans should be allowed to make little havannah a municipality and ethno-state, and white ppl can also do the same, as can black people if they want to.

BRUUH · VIP

@ViciDraco And just to clarify, even tho i'm an extremist, I don't wanna live in a white ethno-state. Only time i'd wanna do that is if I have white kids. If I marry a brown girl and have zeebra babies, then I wouldn't want to live in one.

ViciDraco · 41-45, M

@BRUUH one correction: It is not my goal for race to become as relevant as hair color. It is my firm belief, based on genetics, that that is actually a fact and I would like human behavior to begin recognizing it as such.

The thing is, is I don't believe in forcing people to change their behavior overnight. It takes a lot of time and diligence to see that change. The actions I can take today are planting the seeds of trees I certainly won't live long enough to enjoy the shade of.

One of the problems with giving into people's desires to live in ethno-states is it leads to conflict over resources between ethno-states. Trade eventually breaks down between those structures and wars become genocides to remove people from desirable lands.

A secondary problem is that they tend to become more and more narrowly defined. If a white only community formed in the US, how long would it take before Italians are considered no longer white? It's happened in the past. Used to be trouble to be Scottish too.

I definitely agree that racism is not just a white people problem. I just think white people have the power and resources to go first because it's going to take a long time to rebuild lost trust and then even longer to make inroads where xenophobia is prevalent. Trying to force it is only going to reinforce the resistance.