Saturday, April 23, 2022

Liberal vs Conservative

 

Love Me, I'm a Liberal

Once I was young and impulsive
I wore every conceivable pin
Even went to the socialist meetings
Learned all the old union hymns
But I've grown older and wiser
And that's why I'm turning you in
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

Why is being a liberal a slur on both the left and the right?

Later, Trump Jr. responded to a tweet that exclaimed “the best part of lifting the mask mandate is that you can now tell with 100% certainty exactly how many libs are on your flight.”

“99.9% I’ll keep wearing one so I can stay under the radar,” Trump replied.

https://news.yahoo.com/donald-trump-jr-says-hell-064106917.html 

I take statements by  Donald Trump Junior, and Donald Trump, Senior for that matter, personally because they are both graduates of the University of Pennsylvania and I have a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. If they make stupid statements, then it diminishes the value of my degree. 

Donald Trump, Junior has previously said that increasing the mean wealth increases everyone’s wealth because that is how math works, (Spoiler alert, it does not). Now he seems to be adopting a one-dimensional view of the world as liberal versus conservative ( which does a disservice to conservatives. Let’s just say whatever the heck he is.)  A one-dimensional view is not very enlightened. At the Wharton  School of the University of Pennsylvania,  I learned that economists have a two-dimensional view of the work: goods are rival and exclusive. ( The Trumps must have missed those classes). Particle physicists have adopted a three-dimensional model where particles, such as quarks, come in families of three. The US Post Office ( at least the old US Post Office.  Who knows what Trump appointee Louis DeJoy will do?) measures packages in three-dimensions ( length, width, height). Virtual Reality creates a  three-dimensional world. I have proposed that human behavior is also NOT one dimensional (i.e. liberal versus conservative), but three-dimensional ( Individual vs. Team; Nature vs. Nurture; and Fact vs. Fiction) 

Rather than characterizing the wearing of masks on public transportation one-dimensionally as a liberal versus conservative issue, I would characterize it as a Team versus Individual issue and a Fact versus Fiction issue. If I believe that my individual rights are paramount and that your rights have no value, and if I believe that there is no risk catching  COVID (which I believe is fiction) then this is different than a liberal versus conservative issue. Conservatives who have a team perspective and believe in the facts may indeed wear masks.

I understand the risk of catching COVID on a plane if I am unmasked is small. But I also understand that the risk of being struck by lighting in an open field during a thunderstorm is also small. If seeking shelter during the latter is not odd, then  wearing  masks during the former doesn’t seem so odd, and might even be a conservative, not just a liberal, position.

 


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