House of Eratosthenes

Melissa Clouthier put this up at Liberty Pundits blog. Miss this one, you miss a lot…even if you’re a lefty. This should be required reading if you’re a lefty. Might save your sanity.

A leftist has all the panicked mission of a person struggling to Change The World Or Else. So, every generation has had a pseudo-religious substitute whether it be the next Ice Age, Ebola, HIV, or now, Global Warming aka Climate Change aka Gaia be pissed.

When it all depends on you, the anxiety must be nearly impossible to bear. And then, when the leftist has it all–all branches of government–in their very grasp; and for the elected officials to fail at stopping war and famine and general unfairness and badness, it’s so defeating and misery-inducing.

The biggest hippie dream came to fruition with Barack Obama and guess what? He’s in bed with corporations. He acts like a war-monger. He refused to ensure the public option, aka socialized medicine.

Sad part is, for them at least, right now, this moment, is the pinnacle for like forever. They worked for a generation to achieve this win. They have the most liberal president in ages, who has set America on the road to the kind of socialism most only dreamed of, and it’s not enough.

So yeah, miserable.

Just from sharing the experience of being human with liberals and conservatives, it seems to me if there’s one thing everybody has in common it is this: The impulse to come up with a fix when you see something is busted. I think we all have this. Even the lazy people who never do anything; I believe they’ve got the glimmering of an idea of what needs to be done, they’re just waiting for someone to come along and do it for them.

What makes the conservative mind a more practical fit for an increasingly complicated world, is that after this plan has germinated and is in a state of growth, it is kept pliable. The conservative’s query is one of “Wouldn’t something like this do the trick? What am I missing here?” Reality, invited, comes swaggering into the conservative’s idea just like a bull in a china shop. And the conservative learns. This is all expected.

The liberal plan, on the other hand, crystallizes before implementation. What’s that?? No!! You shouldn’t have to do that!! Because what?? What?? No!! Why are you doing that?? Well, that shouldn’t happen!! They shouldn’t want it!! What?? Why do they think they want that?? No!!

It gets back to a quote from one of their own economic heroes, John Maynard Keynes: “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” Is there anyone, anywhere, of any ideological stripe at all, who can forcefully argue the Obama administration has been a decent example of this way of thinking? Is there a great abundance of examples of the administration changing its mind when the facts changed?

Before Melissa got to her point, though, she quoted from a lefty friend of hers. In my opinion she would have done well to grant this a bit more weight. Perhaps she is right that there is more to add at the end of this, but that’s always going to be the case. To me, an explanation that stopped at the end of what follows would have been, if not complete, adequate for the moment and thought-provoking too.

…because conservatives cast a more skeptical eye toward human nature, they are much more willing to simply say, “Life isn’t fair – deal with it.” Conservatives get frustrated just like anyone else, but it’s been my experience that they are, on balance, better able to vent their anger, let it go, and move forward. Their skepticism of human nature allows them to possess and sustain a cultivated awareness of life’s difficulties, which then enables them to develop a tougher and more resilient attitude to life. It’s not cold – surely not to conservatives themselves – but merely a steely defense mechanism, a necessary survival tool that liberals would do well to cultivate on a more consistent basis. Lefties aren’t as ready to admit that life isn’t fair; we want to make life fairer! [emphasis in original]

This is an Architect/Medicator split. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: These people I call “Architects,” by which I mean the people who think like Architects, have it in common that when they’re working on something there is some kind of a line drawn around whatever it is. The work exists within a perimeter. The train model sits on a tabletop. The engineering drawing is taped to a drafting table. The software solution is “checked in” to a repository that sits on the network and there is a group with privileges to check it out. This is a forever-thing; it is a situation that exists outside of the subject matter, it is timeless. It is a prerequisite for the control they have over the work they do.

They are doing work with some delicacy to it, that relies on an environment. And to control an environment, you first have to establish its scope.

Liberals run into the same frustration I see visited upon the heads of Medicators, because at heart that is what liberals are. And the Medicator’s cross to bear is that, without a perimeter, they have to become vexed and piqued the instant they learn about something that should not be happening.

This observation of mine has a lot of overlap with the observation of Melissa’s, her “everything depends on you” insight. But this global-scope I’m calling out, is subtly different. Imagine a worldview that makes frustration possible, or likely, every single time your feet carry you out of one valley and into another. Further angst becomes a real likelihood every single time a hilltop summit is crossed.

What one mindset seeks to do with an acre, is precisely what the other mindset seeks to do with the universe. Dissatisfaction becomes a constant companion, until such time as ignorance and immobility displace it as the new constant companions. Only then is everlasting bliss possible, when the protagonist is reduced to a stationary, fetal posture.

Shrewd readers will notice this is the polar opposite of the condition liberals started out wishing to embrace. They must unavoidably become the antithesis of what they wanted to be. They are learning people, finding out the hard way the virtue of the project-scope; they are liberals because they haven’t had their flash of insight about this just yet.

Update: One of them came along, yesterday morning, and apparently bumped into the cross-posting of the Racism Test over at Cassy Fiano’s place. This person didn’t particularly cotton to negative sentiments expressed against His Holiness, and felt entitled to presume all kinds of things about anyone who would deign to such an utterance…so s/he let me have it with both barrels.

globalpeace Says:

You didn’t get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.

You didn’t get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy.

You didn’t get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.

You didn’t get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.

You didn’t get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.

You didn’t get mad when we spent over 600 billion(and counting) on said illegal war.

You didn’t get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq.

You didn’t get mad when you saw the Abu Grahib photos.

You didn’t get mad when you found out we were torturing people.

You didn’t get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.

You didn’t get mad when we didn’t catch Bin Laden.

You didn’t get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.

You didn’t get mad when we let a major US city drown.

You didn’t get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark.

You finally got mad when.. when… wait for it… when the government decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all ok with you but helping other Americans… well f*ck that. That about right? You know it is.

What makes this germane to the subject at hand, is my response.

…[I]t’s clear you have a class of people in mind whose priorities/value systems leave you less than thrilled. Now, with a name like globalpeace it seems likely…perhaps undeniable…you have some plan in mind, or know someone who has a plan in mind, that is to be implemented with influence upon everybody. All of us, all over the globe. The globe which is home to those of us who are obviously ticking you off.

What exactly is it that you plan to do with us?

This is a train of thought that leads to dark and ominous places.

I think we should leave that for later, and wish Cassy a joyous 26th birthday.

ou finally got mad when.. when… wait for it… when the government decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all ok with you but helping other Americans… well f*ck that. That about right? You know it is.

You know, I happen to think that Peter Beagle is a fine author, but I don’t believe in unicorns. I assume in globalpeace’s mind, fantasy IS reality: leprechauns in every pot, gold creating fairies filling everyone’s bank accounts and lightning bolt throwing deities generating all of the power we’ll ever need.

If I were to make new t-shirt for the next Tea Party, the design would be a horned horse inside of a no circle. But that of course would be racist.
- Physics Geek | 08/02/2010 @ 06:35

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Why Are Liberals So Miserable?Saturday, July 31st, 2010

Why Are Liberals So Miserable?
Saturday, July 31st, 2010