Want to know why you shouldn’t discuss politics at the dinner table?
I’m going to cross post this here because I think it’s important. I originally posted this on my FB wall:
WANT TO KNOW WHY YOU SHOULDN’T DISCUSS POLITICS AT THE DINNER TABLE?
So if two people have a disagreement about their favourite film or their favourite ice cream or their preferred colour of duvet cover it rarely gets heated. People enjoy debating these issues but nobody loses friends over it. Most people won’t get emotional about it.
If you like Chocolate ice cream and I argue strawberry is better you won’t tend to get very angry because at the end of the day you can have chocolate and I can have strawberry and we’re both happy.
Politics is different. An political argument is extremely real and very visceral. It’s a zero-sum game at its core.
Suppose person A begins to the make the argument that sugar should be banned because it’s bad for your health. Person B likes sugar so they realise that the inevitable consequence of person A’s argument is that they will have legal threats made against them if they try to do what they enjoy (eating sugar). So if we take out all the bullshit person A isn’t just “debating” with person B they are saying “If I could get enough people to agree with me, I’d be in favour of using our collective strength to violently force you to stop eating sugar. I’d even be willing to jail you if you kept insisting on going with your preferences.”
This is true of pretty much *ANY* political argument so WHENEVER there is diagreement it will be HIGHLY CHARGED AND EMOTIONAL because person A isn’t saying “This is my opinion you’re welcome to yours” they are saying “Here’s what I think people should do to YOU violently if only I could get my way.”
You think the minimum wage is a great idea? I don’t. We argue back and forth and it ends in tears. Why was I so emotional about the topic? Because I can think of LOTS OF EXAMPLES where I would GLADLY WORK FOR BELOW MINIMUM WAGE. Your position is a direct attack against my liberty. You are advocating violently preventing me from voluntarily contracting with an employer at a wage we both find agreeable.
The libertarian position tries to MAXIMISE win-win outcomes. NON-VIOLENT outcomes. Peaceful outcomes. Politics, on the other hand, is really just gang violence. People desperately forming varying coalitions so they can inflict their violence on the other people before they can get a bigger gang and inflict it the other way. It’s a sad, sad thing to get involved with.
July 6th, 2012 at 7:54 pm
I had EXACTLY this argument with a liberal on twitter, who happens to be a vegan.
He said, with a very straight face, that he would support an authoritarian state if it banned people from eating meat because it is evil to eat meat and it’s a lesser evil that people be forced into an action, for the “greater good”.
Totally outstanding ball-cocks :)