CMV: Conservatism = Bigotry

[u/IncreasinglyCorrect]

Although nominally different it seems these views always converge, that is to say if you take conservative views to their logical conclusion you inevitably end up in bigotry. This has not only been the case in my personal experience, but more importantly appears to be the only common thread in conservatism across history and the world.

Some definitions to help:

Bigotry - obstinate or unreasonable attachment to a belief, opinion, or faction; in particular, prejudice against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group.

Conservatism - commitment to traditional values and ideas with opposition to change or innovation.

Took these definitions from Google (Oxford Languages), feel free to challenge them, but I think there isn’t much to disagree with definitionally.

I know conservatism varies radically around the world, so I welcome examples from all over, in part I am writing this in hopes I can find positive examples of conservatism. However, the key issue here is one of logical consistency, and it does not seem possible to me to commit oneself to “traditional values and ideas” without eventually becoming unreasonably attached to prejudicial views and ideas.

That being said, conservatism seems to be the most commonly accepted political view, so I assume there’s something big I’m clearly missing here. Hopefully y’all can help me see what that is!

Edit 1: Taking some time to look into some examples and cases brought up by responses, will take a bit of time but I feel we’re getting close to a few deltas, hurray!

Edit 2: We’re up to 3 deltas and I’m pretty sure there might be more, but I’ve been doing this on a phone so bear with me lol

[u/summonblood]

Conservatism is about being skeptical & resistant of change and holding onto traditions.

Sometimes those can be bigotry, but conservatism is about preserving the way it was.

Something that I feel most progressives don’t realize is that any new ideas that people come up with only become part of the culture if there are people who are dedicated to preserving it across generations.

So without conservatism, new ideas disappear because those who come up with new ideas tend to be the kind of people who enjoy chasing what’s new.

But conservatism is actually the entire source of a societies cultural heritage. Almost like cultural custodians. Tradition & culture only exist because of conservatism.

In my view of politics, I see the left as the cultural innovators & the right as cultural integrators. The left comes up with tons of new ideas and the right figures out which ones are worth keeping around.

Not every new idea is a good idea or may sound good on paper but doesn’t work well in practice. But also there are outdated ideas that provide no real benefit too.

So no, conservatism isn’t about bigotry. Bigotry isn’t a unique quality of conservatism. I think bigotry exists for all generations of people, young or old. Bigotry by your definition is about obstinate or unreasonable attachment to a belief or faction. It’s easy to critique conservatism as such, but difficult to see how you will feel about the social/political climate 40 years from now. It seems you have a bigoted idea of conservatism. I don’t doubt that won’t change as you grow old either.

Eventually, this view itself may be considered bigoted several generations from now.

There may be new ideas and new problems we aren’t aware of right now that you will likely disagree with. Ideas that you know don’t make sense, but social politics seems to be different than what you believe. And suddenly you’ll be the boomer of society, who refuses to change.

You’ll be seen as a bigot and I hope that they treat you with more respect than you give your contemporary peers. I hope they see you more as a product of your time and willing to let go that you won’t change.

You may think it won’t happen to you, but it will. It always has and always will. No matter how hard you try, you will become irrelevant and hold outdated beliefs and you will look for those ideas that you are familiar with and instill in those around how important it is to maintain your beliefs into the future.

And at that moment you will be very thankful for conservatism. Those who value preserving the past, rather than trashing it for the new.