False equivalence

[blearyboy]

*skated to work. After last year's Snowpocalypse, which saw me fall over more often than is acceptable for a grown man, I was quite pleased to have made it through the winter with only one slight slip. But today the whole of winter seemed determined to put me on my ass properly. The sleety snow of the last few days had frozen and reset, turning our

Comments

[lizzie_and_ari]

There's a possibility you are getting more right wing as you get older, but have perhaps moved from say, 1 on the scale,to 2, where these nutters are on 5 billion.

[blearyboy]

I've set a test for myself: I'm officially a UK-style conservative when I start liking Jeremy Clarkson.

At the time of writing, I hate Clarkson.

[the0lady]

Have you heard the one about the parliamentary inquiry to look into the funding of political NGOs, but *only the left wing and human rights ones*? Oh yes, yes they did. And a government minister stood up in the Knesset and approved the inquiry on behalf of the government despite the fact that the whole thing was pushed through *without a discussion in cabinet*. I'm looking into larger apartments in preparation for the inevitable day when I become a refuge for persecuted dissidents.

[blearyboy]

Here's a simple reason while I'm a liberal in this day an age:

When I was born, the population of the world was 4,260,000,000 people. Today it's 6,790,000,000. Progressive, co-operative politics are the only viable option in a world that's changing like that.

[the0lady]

You craven utilitiarian you. =)

The problem is that for the majority of people alive in this populous world of ours, this argument is completely and utterly unhearable over the terrifying rush of blood in the ears and the thump of "me! mine! me! mine!" in the heart. They're not wrong, ignorant or stupid (or evil) - they just can't hear you. Well, us.

I've no idea what we can do to chnage that. The pessimistic view is that things have to get a heckuvallot worse before the atavism of selfishness can be put aside for collective action. It has to be said, the recent history of e.g. Liberia does seem to give some credence to that notion. To which end you may find this interesting: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/01/02/unconventional_wisdom?page=0,9