Democrats and Republicans Both Seen as Too Extreme

[T'Chenka]

Somewhere between 2% and 10% of Democrats are extreme woke Twitter socialists.

Somewhere between 50% and 80% of Republicans are either right wing extremists and/or don't prioritize the rule of law and/or don't prioritize democracy, OR they are at least willing to vote candidates into office with those policies or priorities to make sure a Democrat doesn't win.

Capitalism is a hell of a drug for mainstream media though...

[T'Chenka]

This is a thread where Atlas is really showing how much of a Democrat echo-chamber it is LOL

Atlas:  "Democrats couldn't POSSIBLY be extreme!  They agree with all MY positions!"

Many posters on here genuinely believe that Democrats are the morally upright and only legitimate political party, and that Republicans are an illegitimate party that is fascist, authoritarian, and anti-American. The poll referred to in this thread certainly demonstrates how far apart this forum's members are from the majority of Americans, in terms of how they view the world.

If school funding and education was better in America, more people would learn critical thinking skills in school and would therefore be more likely to open up their eyes to this. Republicans know this, and it's one of the reasons they promote private schooling and defunding public schools (along with other reasons).

[T'Chenka]

If school funding and education was better in America, more people would learn critical thinking skills in school and would therefore be more likely to open up their eyes to this. Republicans know this, and it's one of the reasons they promote private schooling and defunding public schools (along with other reasons).

That's a big generalization to make seeing as if some of the top schools at least where I live anyway, are Private.

Jesuit High School in Sacramento is very high quality. So is Christian Brothers and St Francis.

I'm saying that Republicans are trying to destroy public schools and make private school the only way to be properly educated.

[T'Chenka]

If you put politicians like Harper, Poilievre , Truss, Cameron, May here, they would not be much different from the GOP either on the issues.

Stephen Harper wasn't anti-democracy and was a law and order politician. Poillevre's positions on democracy and law and order are questionable at best after the Freedom Convoy occupation.

[T'Chenka]

If school funding and education was better in America, more people would learn critical thinking skills in school and would therefore be more likely to open up their eyes to this. Republicans know this, and it's one of the reasons they promote private schooling and defunding public schools (along with other reasons).

That's a big generalization to make seeing as if some of the top schools at least where I live anyway, are Private.

Jesuit High School in Sacramento is very high quality. So is Christian Brothers and St Francis.

I'm saying that Republicans are trying to destroy public schools and make private school the only way to be properly educated.

And they won't probably pass the smell test to enter a top tier private school to begin with.

That's my point.


Conservatives say Public schools are so woke and all..

Private schools are even MORE WOKE.

There are left wing private schools and right wing private schools. And I suppose a whole bunch in the middle. I'm not really an expert. There are certainly private schools that are Republican-friendly, is my point.

[T'Chenka]

If school funding and education was better in America, more people would learn critical thinking skills in school and would therefore be more likely to open up their eyes to this. Republicans know this, and it's one of the reasons they promote private schooling and defunding public schools (along with other reasons).

Everyone needs to be taught to critically think in schools. Then they will agree with me. If they do not agree with me, they clearly haven't done enough thinking.

If you have an opinion or political position that is the opposite of mine, but you can explain it and defend it using logic and reason, then you are critically thinking. Some Republicans do this, and I applaud them for that, despite not agreeing with them.

Of the tens and tens of millions of people that vote Republican, a lot of them lack critical thinking skills, objective analysis skills and the ability to avoid confirmation bias.

[T'Chenka]

If school funding and education was better in America, more people would learn critical thinking skills in school and would therefore be more likely to open up their eyes to this. Republicans know this, and it's one of the reasons they promote private schooling and defunding public schools (along with other reasons).

Everyone needs to be taught to critically think in schools. Then they will agree with me. If they do not agree with me, they clearly haven't done enough thinking.

If you have an opinion or political position that is the opposite of mine, but you can explain it and defend it using logic and reason, then you are critically thinking. Some Republicans do this, and I applaud them for that, despite not agreeing with them.

Of the tens and tens of millions of people that vote Republican, a lot of them lack critical thinking skills, objective analysis skills and the ability to avoid confirmation bias.

In other words they are just like everyone else.

Somewhat but no. Studies have shown that conservatives think differently than people who aren't conservatives. They are less likely to learn critical thinking skills, for various reasons, including their own lack of desire to do so.

Look at how many politically-engaged people vote Democrat but refuse to identify as Democrats, and then compare it to how many politically-engaged people vote Republican but refuse to identify as Republicans. Right wingers are more likely to conform and less likely to be independent thinkers.

[T'Chenka]

I would be interested to see what studies you are looking at that compare critical thinking skills to political views.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/conservative-and-liberal-brains-might-have-some-real-differences/

Liberals proved more attentive to incongruent information, especially for Democratic candidates. When they encountered such a position, it took them longer to make a decision about whether it was good or bad. They were likely to show activation for incongruent information in two brain regions: the insula and anterior cingulate cortex, which “are involved in helping people form and think about their attitudes,” Haas says. How do out-of-the-ordinary positions affect later voting? Haas suspects that engaging more with such information might make voters more likely to punish candidates for it later. But she acknowledges that they may instead exercise a particular form of bias called “motivated reasoning” to downplay the incongruity.


https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2021/06/04/ohio-state-university-study-conservatives-liberal-political-misinformation/7524485002/

Garrett said the study doesn't necessarily prove that conservatives are more biased than liberals, because all participants believed statements that boosted their political party — and rejected those that didn't. But claims that benefited Republicans were more likely to be false, while true statements frequently furthered Democratic interests.

This puts conservatives at a disadvantage because they're ultimately exposed to more misinformation, Garrett said, and confirmation bias makes them more inclined to buy what they see. It's not clear why false information is more favorable to Republicans.

"Conservatives’ consistently poor performance in distinguishing truths from falsehoods appears to be largely explained by the fact that widely shared falsehoods were systematically more supportive of conservatives’ political positions," the authors wrote.