You are a proud member of a group. Your group believes in living a virtuous life and spreading those beliefs onto the non-believers. The leaders of your group constantly announce viewpoints that you should live by. They recently told everyone that whenever you want to toast bread your toaster should be set to the highest level, and you will always be assured that your toast will come out perfect. Not under done nor burnt. You enthusiastically follow this new directive. Every day you have a piece of toast for breakfast. You are confused because now every day your toast comes out burnt. You go to the group leaders looking for help. You are told that the directive is correct but maybe the ambient temperature in your kitchen is causing the issue. Or maybe you are just using the wrong type of bread. Regardless of the refinements that you make the result is always the same – burnt toast. This latest failed directive reminds you of other directives from the leaders that have yielded outcomes that are not what was guaranteed. At this point you need to decide whether you want to flee the group and live in reality or take a leap of faith and continue following the group directives. Many will remain as group members because it gives meaning to their lives. In just a short time they will convince themselves that the toast is actually not burnt and live the rest of their lives happily eating burnt toast convincing themselves that it just perfect.

We spend too much time with allegiance to political parties and individual politicians. It is always about policies and the provable outcomes of those policies.

  • Pennomi@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    It’s not a generalization, it’s speculation. At least until you provide evidence.

    • Bo7a@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      I mean – Gestures broadly at everything conservatives support

      I don’t particularly like to use boring tropes. But in some cases they fit too well to avoid.

      • Pennomi@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I mean, conservatives have a pretty solid track record of fighting against the science in favor of their opinions:

        1. No sex ed (or abstinence-only sex ed), which conservatives support, is less effective than comprehensive sex ed, which liberals support.
        2. Mask wearing and vaccinations are negatively correlated with Republican affiliation, even though they are scientifically proven to work.
        3. The majority of Republicans still believe that Trump won the election in 2020, despite an immense amount of legal scrutiny proving otherwise.
        4. Gun control laws reduce both suicides and homicides, despite Republicans claiming that looser gun laws make people safer.

        You’re right — I see a disturbing pattern here. Across a great diversity of topics, Republicans support policies that directly contradict the research.

        • intensely_human
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          5 months ago

          No sex ed (or abstinence-only sex ed), which conservatives support, is less effective than comprehensive sex ed, which liberals support.

          Fine.

          Mask wearing and vaccinations are negatively correlated with Republican affiliation, even though they are scientifically proven to work.

          Both have costs and benefits, which I’ve never seen a conservative deny. Republicans have different value weightings than whoever you’re comparing it to. They are scientifically proven to have certain benefits. They are also scientifically proven to have certain costs. Republicans weigh those costs more heavily and the benefits more lightly than others.

          The majority of Republicans still believe that Trump won the election in 2020, despite an immense amount of legal scrutiny proving otherwise.

          Your comment is about science. Legal scrutiny is not science.

          Gun control laws reduce both suicides and homicides, despite Republicans claiming that looser gun laws make people safer.

          Are government massacres concurrent with civilian weapons bans considered in these homicide numbers, or is it only citizen-on-citizen crime that’s counted here?

          • Pennomi@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            I’m always willing to listen to counter arguments, if they are supported by peer reviewed studies. Got any recorded evidence for your claims?