Are You Left Or Right?

[Pommer]

So?

Numbers mean nothing.

Jesus only had 12 followers, and the crowds demanded he be put to death.

Was he wrong because a small minority of Jewish men followed him?

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. - Matthew 7:13-14

Sometimes unpopular ideas are unpopular for reasons.

 

[JEBofChristTheLord]

I shall be neither. I shall deny myself, take up the tasks the Father has given me, and follow Christ the Lord.

 

[Chesterton]

I will repost a post I made a while ago explaining my custom title.

"I do not believe masculinity or femininity is something that is 100% clear-cut. At the same time, I do not believe masculinity or femininity are just social constructs. Instead, they have biological underpinnings that are molded and influenced by culture. While they are not 100% clear-cut, I do not believe that makes them built on sand. I do believe there is a degree in which we can understand what masculinity and femininity actually are, more than people give it credit for. Nor does trying to understand what they are, and thinking they have biological underpinnings means one has sexist motives. On the contrary, as an egalitarian myself, I believe it is important to understand how things work. Even if the mechanisms behind it may be unsettling.

My model of masculinity and femininity is one of a parent/child model. It evolved to deal with reproductive realities. A woman can only give birth every 9 or so months while a man can impregnate as many women as he is able. Evolution is blind and works incrementally. Our evolved psychology is based on a lot of what I like to think of as psychology programs that are reused over and over. Psychology, I believe, is helped looked at as systems slightly modified and complied on top of each other. Masculinity and femininity being one such example. Not only are women more reproductively valuable than men they are also more vulnerable for long periods of time when they are pregnant. It is easier to piggyback a more ancient psychological program (the care and nurturing we have towards children) onto how we treat the different sexes.

Women are more neotenous on average compared to men. Smaller skeletal structure, higher pitched voice, less muscle mass and etc. Growing up in a socially conservative environment as a kid I came to the conclusion on my own that masculinity and femininity resembles a parent/child relationship. I didn't have an evolutionary framework as a kid, but when I learned about neoteny as an atheist and an adult it made so much sense to me. I was like... bingo.

I do not really want to get into a heated gender debate topic on here, but I also see a lot of the parent/child dynamics I hated as a kid during my socially conservative upbringing also in the "progressive" places I tried finding solace in as an adult."

Saying all this, I do understand why some people do not think I am left leaning but instead right leaning. I will list a few reasons why people may be confused by my conduct...

1. Despite sharing little political views with my conservative parents, they did provide me with a very loving upbringing. When I lost my faith and became an atheist, I had absolutely no fear that my parents would have an overreaction or disown me. Even my socially conservative church friends didn't treat me negatively when I came out as an atheist. While others might have less of a loving conservative upbringing, I didn't, and I cannot pretend that conservatives have different views than me because they are evil.

My father is pro-life, but I know the reason he is pro-life isn't because he wants to control women. He genuinely believes a fetus is a valid form of life that deserves to grow up and develop. If for some reason men were magically changed into being the ones who go pregnant, it wouldn't change his stance on abortion one bit. I can't, find myself able to be personally enraged by this opinion.

2. Reading my posts, it's clear I talk more negatively about the left than the right. I freely admit the left emotionally stirs me up more than the right, not because I am right but because I am left, and I hate how the modern left operates. I care more about the opinions of those closer to me. Kind of like how I notice some Christians hate other Christians more than they hate unbelievers. Not because they are unbelievers but because they care about their faith and want it to be displayed in the way they personally see as correct.

In fact, despite my father and I have very opposite political views one way we bound is by trash talking our own side. Sometimes we even get into heated arguments over it, lol.

3. As I said in my previous post, the reasons why some people are more left leaning, and some people are more right leaning will vary. On paper I share a lot of similarities with those on the left, but when the reasons are fleshed out, I find myself often very opposed to many on the left. A big one being gender equality. I am for gender equality, but the paths to achieve this are very different in my mind. I have a view that is more biological/evolutionary than social. This can have profound changes on how you view gender and what needs to be corrected. The biggest difference I think I have with feminists as a result is that I believe that we should still care for women's issues, but we need to do this with a more rational and less emotional mind. That men's strong reactions to women in pain compared to men in pain contributes greatly to the cycle of how the genders are treated in society (positive and negative). Feminists often encourage others to feel very strongly for women in pain, while I believe the opposite. That it's harmful and sometimes abhorrent.

4. *or maybe more of an elaboration on point 3* I have always been left leaning, even when I was too young to grasp the terminology. This being important in possibly explaining my differences with others on the left... I grew up in a conservative household with conservative values. I had to attempt to understand the psychology of others all by myself. I hated the idea of gender roles my conservative father was trying to instill in me. To combat these traditional gender roles my father was trying to make me believe, I had to come up with a model of masculinity/femininity all by myself. I came up with conclusions that really differ from messages I see from feminists.

Very interesting post. The fact that you accept the reality of neoteny shows that you are "right" (in terms of both science and intuition), but that you feel the need to explain your acceptance of it shows that you are intimidated by the Leftist culture by which you're surrounded. You have that in common with people like Styxhexenhammer666, Dave Rubin, Sam Harris and others, who are 90% conservative but can't cross the line and admit they are conservative.

 

[ozso]

Right. The left is sinister.

(Give me a like if you got the joke).

 

[MehGuy]

Very interesting post. The fact that you accept the reality of neoteny shows that you are "right" (in terms of both science and intuition), but that you feel the need to explain your acceptance of it shows that you are intimidated by the Leftist culture by which you're surrounded. You have that in common with people like Styxhexenhammer666, Dave Rubin, Sam Harris and others, who are 90% conservative but can't cross the line and admit they are conservative.

Why do you believe I am conservative?

 

[BCP1928]

Why do you believe I am conservative?

Why not? The terms "Left" and "Right" came about when the French National Assembly was first convened after the revolution in 1789. Purely by chance the conservatives sat together on the President's right, the liberals on the left. Back then, of course, and for a long time after, the terms had to do with one's stance on political and economic issues. We're past all that now. Conservative and liberal, left and right, those terms are merely an indication of how much or little right you think you have to interfere with other people's sex lives.

 

[RileyG]

Sometimes unpopular ideas are unpopular for reasons.

Trump is rather popular though

 

[Chesterton]

Why do you believe I am conservative?

You know how the gays have gaydar? I have con-dar, lol. But you're still young. Another 5 to 10 years and you'll be walking around carrying an automatic rifle and a Gadsden flag.

But seriously, it's just things I've seen you say over the years. Obviously I can't tell you what you are. If you consider yourself of the left, fine. But I wish more lefties were as sensible as you.