On 8/11/2013 1:47 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Sun, 11 Aug 2013 22:35:21 +0200, andrel wrote:
>
>> Except that we (taking the liberty to speak also for your other
>> 'opponents') don't think humanity is stupid.
>
> Yep.  I think most of humanity understands that issues are not as black
> and white/simple as some would make them out to be.  It's naïve to
> oversimplify things without regard for their inherent complexity - and
> when people are involved, life is rarely simple.
>
> That's one of the problems we have with extreme conservatives over here
> in the US, I think.  (And, truth be told, extreme liberals as well)
>
> Jim
>
To be honest, if you define "conservative" as, "Having a strict dogma, 
which must be followed.", then.. there is no "extreme liberals". The 
problem is inflexibility, from both extremes, with respect to accepting 
any fact, idea, or proposition, which doesn't fit their perception of 
how the universe works. That, and, much more to the point, both fear of 
the imagined consequences, and denial of the possibility they could be 
wrong about it.

We have, in effect, the problem that nothing ever broke the back of the 
evangelical/Pentecostal type movements in the US, the middle ground has 
become something that no one, outside maybe the middle east, or parts of 
Africa (where they might open the meeting with an argument about altie 
meds, and close it with a vote on what to do about the local population 
of "witches" they think are stealing their socks at the laundry), might 
call "centrist", and the left fringe has reacted to the rise of the 
right fringe by radicalizing at well. By comparison, most of the 
bullshit we see in the US would never happen in most of Europe, and if 
it did, the people involved would be laughed out of the room.

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