The 3 Languages of Politics

3 Axes

The 3 Languages Of Politics by Arnold Kling explains why nobody can agree on nuttin'.

An excerpt:

The Three Axes

– Progressives will communicate along the oppressor-oppressed axis. “My heroes are people who have stood up for the underpriviliged. The people I cannot stand are the people who are indifferent to the oppression of women, minorities and the poor”

– A conservative will communicate along the civilization-barbarism axis. “My heroes are people who have stood up for Western values. The people I cannot stand are the people who are indifferent to the assault on moral virtues and traditions that are the foundation for our civilization”

– A libertarian will communicate along the liberty coercion axis. “My heroes are the people who have stood up for individual rights. The people I cannot stand are the people who are indifferent to the government taking away people’s ability to make their own decision”

Conservatives who complain about their treatment on college campuses, including having conservative speakers “disinvited” from college events or shouted down when they do appear. Conservatives might label this treatment as “oppression”. But progressives would never agree to categorizing conservatives as belonging to an oppressed class

Whenever we communicate about issues, we tend to fall back in one of the 3 axis. By doing so, we engage in tribalism.

The three axes are orthogonal. You can be at any one point on one axis and still be able to slide along the other two to any value you choose.

Via IAman