The operative phrase was "on another list". I'm not talking people, in general. If anyone from that other list is paying attention, they'd probably point out to you that I'm pretty tolerant of conservatives and enjoy sparring with them. This one, though, is a mushroom. Besides, in that context and on that list, I wouldn't get to send my 'shroom buddy love letter ascii art, like this:
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That said, I think the crucial difference is this. When you're a lefty, you become acutely aware that your views run against those held by most of the people you live and work with. Since no one escapes ideology, getting to the point of having a lefty view does require some effort at self-reflectively examining your own biases, ideologies, etc. You're also constantly doing a balancing act, trying to get through the day, knowing what you know, thinking what you think, and yet saying what you have to or what you can get away with or nothing at all just to get through a meeting. Pretty much every day is spent knowing that everyone around you kind of expects a justification of your views which are, to them, about as absurd as believing the moon is made of green cheese.
We are constantly challenged about our beliefs. We challenge one another. We constantly have to defend what we think. We learn a skill that enables us to realize when we are doing the cognitive dissonance thing. We do, I think, learn to be a lot more self-reflective than most people. I'm not saying superior, just _different_ skills. (And were the situation reversed, with lefty view dominant, then you'd get the same thing, only in reverse)
Conservatives are going to be less likely to do that--at least the variety we have today. And the fact is, there are some who are simply disingenuous assholes. They know better, but they won't acknowledge it. Rush, for instance. He's not suffering cognitive dissonance.
Bush's incurious reputation is hard to beat: http://slate.msn.com/id/2100064/
Do you really think it's just cognitive dissonance that leads someone like Rush to liken all of this to "hazing" or a "frat prank"? Do you really think that Peggy Noonan and other have blamed this on the feminization of the military and feminism because they're in cognitive, uh, pain?
I don't.
As for kool-aid drinking mushrooms, let's say people love Apple Pie. Apple Pie IS American. Apple Pie is all that is Right, Good, True, and Beautiful. The problem is, that's not all it's about. Apple Pie IS Apple Pie because it's NOT something and that something is us, that is, the left.
People like Ernie the 'Shroom don't just love apple pie, they love it because their love of it is founded on hating the left or anything that smacks of it: the French, Canadians, The New York Times, Bill Clinton, gays, atheists, agnostics, sissies, fags, weakness, intellectuals, expresso (sic), etc. etc.
So, you'll forgive me if every so often I vent on this list about 'shrooms whose racist, sexist, ethnocentric, and yes extraordinarily INCURIOUS views make it really clear just how wrong Noam Chomsky is to think that people will bow down before facts and truth as if they have no ego-invested stake in remaining in the dark and standing in shit.
Kelley