We're not talking to each other @crouton@aus.social
There's an old joke that goes:
If reality conflicts with worldview, then reality must be wrong.
Minds aren't changed by facts.
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2024/2/14/6-rules-for-actually-changing-peoples-minds
#AusPol
#USpol
@DropBear@theblower.au I think that article neatly summarises things- there's a lot of evidence across different academic areas that says the same thing, and it certainly matches up with personal experience.
Article in question:
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2024/2/14/6-rules-for-actually-changing-peoples-minds
The same mechanisms at play also applies to spread of conspiracies, and it feels like it may have hit some sort of critical mass in the US (still building up here in Oz). Its certainly going to take a lot of effort to unwind- effort that could well have been used for so much more - oh I don't know, maybe tackling climate change?
#uspol #auspol #warningwalloftextbutIputinparagraphsforyourreadingpleasure
Some musings on the adversarial nature of politics. With the aftermath of the US election fresh on mind, Australia has also been through something similar with Morrison (and going through something else now with Albo, with more surface level politeness, i.e. "business as usual").
Its very easy, and intrinsically human, to pin issues on the other side and vent, especially when everyone else is doing it, and its amplified by media & social media - even mastodon. And obviously venting gets ignored by the other side, whoever the other side is.
It is a lot harder to reach across the gap and find commonalities in the hope of a future agreement; it works against human instincts and there is often pushback from others within our own group.
I want to share that in the technical field I work in, we often create different perspectives to assess issues. If we look at a particular issue from perspective A, everything just looks messy as hell and there's no insight to be gained. In that case, perspective A is not particularly useful and it gets parked. We look to find another perspective (say B) which allows us to gain useful insights. And even then, we might look to perspective C to find another useful set of insights (which may be in apparent conflict with insights from perspective B). And so on. The issue hasn't changed at all, all that's changed is the viewpoint from which we see it.
That same approach works imo for politics - and for clarity, the other perspectives I'm suggesting here aren't different political parties or explicit political outlooks. e.g. rather than seeing X industry that fuels climate change through political lens, maybe its helpful to look at from the perspective of people needing to earn a living, from the perspective of ongoing job opportunities, perspective of availability of education/training for current employees and their children, perspective of relocation/being uprooted from community, etc.
And so I circle back to adversarial nature of politics. Here's another, wider, perspective: the existence of billionaires who are able to pull political levers that extreme wealth gives them access to, how voters get only limited voting options, and are encouraged to yell at each other and the clouds whilst ignoring the billionaires who benefits from status quo.
Drop Bear