Progress vs. dazzleman

[Bono]

Progress just shows why public schools should be abolished.

[Bono]

And? Why don't you take a look at some Bush vs. Kerry polls.

Bush is an extremist with a low approval rating. That proves nothing.

Virtually no one on this forum has changed his mind since the campaign.

Both the leftists and the rightists on this forum tend to be smarter than the average leftists and rightists. The fact that the forum leans left doesn't mean they're going to support a minimum wage increase. Again, why don't you do a poll on the Federal Marriage Amendment?

The fact is that on minimum wage, it isn't even close. It has only 45% support, with 47% opposition on this forum, versus 86% support and 12% opposition. The forum is far to the right of the average American on minimum wage.

As for gay marriage, almost everyone on this forum is under 30, and a majority of Americans 18-29 support it, so who cares.

It's not so much an issue of left-right.  People without significant life experience are more prone to support more doctrinaire positions on issues, and those positions can either be right or left.  The minimum wage and affirmative action are good examples of this, as is the death penalty.

That's rather patronising, isn't it?

[Bono]

It's not so much an issue of left-right.  People without significant life experience are more prone to support more doctrinaire positions on issues, and those positions can either be right or left.  The minimum wage and affirmative action are good examples of this, as is the death penalty.

What exactly is a "doctrinaire" position? Are you saying people without significant life experience (and therefore people on this forum) are more likely to be against raising the minimum wage, affirmative action, and the death penalty?

A doctrinaire position is one that works perfectly in theory, but doesn't work quite as perfectly in real life.  There are many examples of this.  In fact, almost nothing works quite as well in real life as it does in theory.

Affirmative action is an example.  Neither polar position on affirmative action works out as well in real life as it does in the theory, whichever theory you happen to agree with.  First, for the anti-affirmative action position -- the theory is that you simply hire the best person for the job, regardless of race, gender, etc.  I agree with this, but the issue then becomes what your perception is of the best person for the job, and how it might be affected by things like race, gender, etc.  There is also the tendency to hire people similar to onesself, and to hire through word of mouth which will generally exclude people of different backgrounds and races.  On the other hand, the position in favor of affirmative action hasn't worked out as well as expected in many cases because of poor implementation and flaws in the theory vs. the real world.

Those without significant life experience often lean more heavily on the theory than on life experience, and sometimes are more idealistic than is warranted.  As I said earlier, this is not always a bad thing.  Many people learn the wrong lessons from their life experiences, and become cynical and jaded, so it's necessary to have both perspectives.

A cynical is nearly always an idealist.