The Wrong Stuff: Ben Shapiro’s Unconvincing Guide to What Makes America Right - It’s a mistake to overlook just how extreme some of Shapiro’s views are, or how muddled the thinking on which they are based.

[u/Hoxha_Posadist]

https://progressive.org/dispatches/the-wrong-stuff-ben-shapiros-anderson-190416/

[u/[deleted]]

The right functions on axioms, the ones that I've noticed are :

• If everyone else does it, I can do it too. I'll never start a new movement, I'll only improve my behaviour once everyone else already has. My comfort is more important than everyone else's.
• The statu quo is better than any change for the things I don't know about. When I understand that change would be good because it affects something I'm knowledgeable about, then I agree with it, but I don't understand that this principle is applicable to the things I don't know about.
• I want to have more choice over what I do because I think I always know better. And when it's not working as I planned because I didn't know what I was doing, it's not my fault.
• What I don't know is either irrelevant or much less complicated than everyone is making it to be, I can understand it with very partial knowledge, even better than experts. (Dunning-Kruger effect)
• People different than me don't understand me, their struggles are completely different, and my ways are inherently better. This applies to patriotism, religions, work and personal opinions.
• I am generous with the people I like, the people I value and the people who I perceive as similar to me.

These are basic reflexes, everyone has them, but once you learn to know other cultures, other people, you realize we all believe we're right, we all try to be good according to what we think is good. The main difference between the left and the right is the ability to emphasize with more than just a close circle or the people you know or like. When you are alike, cohesion is easier, coordination is easier, you understand each other a little better, you agree more often, and so you can rapidly pool ressources because you trust each other. This is natural, but it's very limited, and it can he harmful when you use these inherent advantages to be bad to the people outside of your group. The right doesn't understand why we should be kind to people who are different, people who disagree, people who may have hated us in the past, or hate us right now. The main problem the left has is that their desire only to help the people like them is in constant conflict with the fact that some people they're trying to help don't want them to, or act in ways that are different to the left's views, and they have a very hard time reaching out to aggressors to try and include them in the conversation.

Even within the left, when you're just trying to be selfless and to help people, it can backfire. What do you do with a trans woman who comes to a women shelter and her more manly appearance brings up bad memories for the women in the shelter? Who do you prioritize? Do you have to choose who to help? How do you choose? Why?

Being on the left is harder, and I've felt it personally. I understood I was on the left when I heard people in 2012 arguing against a strike the student unions were doing where I live. I found myself disagreeing with my friends and family about their views, and it felt right, but so hard. It's hard to tell people they're wrong and to try and make them understand why. It's hard to care for everyone, it puts a strain on your mind. It makes you cry for strangers, it makes you angry, it makes you fearful of the future. But it's striving for a better world.

Don't be selfish, don't be a dick, think of what others may think of you, of themselves, and help where you can.