tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post7823907322324022327..comments2024-03-18T17:28:44.693-07:00Comments on Rondam Ramblings: Trump is a personality cultRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11752242624438232184noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-53800434023377857752018-07-09T23:24:43.308-07:002018-07-09T23:24:43.308-07:00> > > Yes, you're absolutely right ab...> > > Yes, you're absolutely right about that. Sometimes force is required. Hitler could not be reasoned with. Force was required. I don't think ISIS and Boko Haram can be reasoned with. And yes, I think some of Trump's supporters are in the same category, and for the exact same reason: they all believe that they and they alone have been ordained by God.<br /><br />> > Lukehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18395549142176242491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-45556851605814176002018-07-09T14:31:43.962-07:002018-07-09T14:31:43.962-07:00> I see zero EE&R.
Then you're not pay...> I see zero EE&R.<br /><br />Then you're not paying attention. The OP included a link to an LA Times article. That's an example of the first E in EE&R. The rest of the post was an argument based on that article. That's an example of the R in EE&R. (There's no 2nd E in this case because it's very hard to do experiments in the socio-political domain.)<br /><Ronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11752242624438232184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-14779828767105987752018-07-09T13:56:38.237-07:002018-07-09T13:56:38.237-07:00> Yes, you're absolutely right about that. ...> Yes, you're absolutely right about that. Sometimes force is required. Hitler could not be reasoned with. Force was required. I don't think ISIS and Boko Haram can be reasoned with. And yes, I think some of Trump's supporters are in the same category, and for the exact same reason: they all believe that they and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/Lukehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18395549142176242491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-34868697323027269232018-07-09T11:23:28.699-07:002018-07-09T11:23:28.699-07:00@Luke:
> I'll end by saying that the decla...@Luke:<br /><br />> I'll end by saying that the declaration of any human to be "beyond reason" is an immediate justification for dehumanizing him/her or imposing your own values on him/her by how much ever force is required.<br /><br />Yes, you're absolutely right about that. Sometimes force is required. Hitler could not be reasoned with. Force was required. I don't Ronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11752242624438232184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-6003091965477237322018-07-09T10:44:17.012-07:002018-07-09T10:44:17.012-07:00> But I think the answer to that is pretty clea...> But I think the answer to that is pretty clear: humans are easily deceived because the ability to be deceived had survival value in our ancestral environment. The tribe as a whole has better reproductive fitness if some of its members can be convinced that glory awaits them in the afterlife and that therefore they should go fight the enemy.<br /><br />That level of analysis seems rather Lukehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18395549142176242491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-49514225489030297522018-07-09T09:57:30.540-07:002018-07-09T09:57:30.540-07:00> If this is not the first time humans have wan...> If this is not the first time humans have wanted Armageddon, we might learn something about what produces yearning for Armageddon and what breaks that yearning.<br /><br />Fair enough. But I think the answer to that is pretty clear: humans are easily deceived because the ability to be deceived had survival value in our ancestral environment. The tribe as a whole has better reproductive Ronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11752242624438232184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-8337481455216159312018-07-08T23:10:10.107-07:002018-07-08T23:10:10.107-07:00> EE&R is not going to help much if people ...> EE&R is not going to help much if people decide that they want Armageddon.<br /><br />If this is not the first time humans have wanted Armageddon, we might learn something about what produces yearning for Armageddon and what breaks that yearning. Oh, there's also this for those who claim to revere the Bible:<br /><br />>> Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! <br />>>Lukehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18395549142176242491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-18276817202864232022018-07-08T12:26:15.314-07:002018-07-08T12:26:15.314-07:00> I would like to see "the gospel of evide...> I would like to see "the gospel of evidence, experiment and reason" used to tackle this matter.<br /><br />EE&R is not going to help much if people decide that <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/trump-will-bring-about-end-worldevangelicals-end-times-779643" rel="nofollow">they want Armageddon</a>. EE&R only tells you what is true or false, not what is good and bad.<br /><br Ronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11752242624438232184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-77138607389700949742018-07-07T11:44:07.594-07:002018-07-07T11:44:07.594-07:00Surely this kind of loyalty-in-the-teeth-of-the-ev...Surely this kind of loyalty-in-the-teeth-of-the-evidence has happened many times before. In <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10671.html" rel="nofollow">Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government</a>, Christopher H. Achen and Larry M. Bartels note that <i>loyalty</i> is a much bigger factor in voting than anything which an intellectual would understand as Lukehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18395549142176242491noreply@blogger.com