It goes against our nature; but the left has to start asserting its own values

[Judi Lynn]

It goes against our nature; but the left has to start asserting its own values
The progressive attempt to appeal to self-interest has been a catastrophe. Empathy, not expediency, must drive our campaigns

George Monbiot
guardian.co.uk, Monday 11 October 2010 20.59 BST

So here we are, forming an orderly queue at the slaughterhouse gate. The punishment of the poor for the errors of the rich, the abandonment of universalism, the dismantling of the shelter the state provides: apart from a few small protests, none of this has yet brought us out fighting.

The acceptance of policies that counteract our interests is the pervasive mystery of the 21st century. In the US blue-collar workers angrily demand that they be left without healthcare, and insist that millionaires pay less tax. In the UK we appear ready to abandon the social progress for which our ancestors risked their lives with barely a mutter of protest. What has happened to us?

The answer, I think, is provided by the most interesting report I have read this year. Common Cause, written by Tom Crompton of the environment group WWF, examines a series of fascinating recent advances in the field of psychology. It offers, I believe, a remedy to the blight that now afflicts every good cause from welfare to climate change.

Progressives, he shows, have been suckers for a myth of human cognition he labels the enlightenment model. This holds that people make rational decisions by assessing facts. All that has to be done to persuade people is to lay out the data: they will then use it to decide which options best support their interests and desires.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/oct/11/left-values-progressive-self-interest

[MisterP]

1. technically, they were protesting against receiving healthcare, but also against the HCR

that would leave them without healthcare anyway

[Tesha]

2. Some of the best threads here sink silently and quickly...

...while crap is routinely kept afloat.

Tesha

[Newsjock]

3. Here, let me bail some water

I was just about to post this article but did a search first and found this one. Too bad the 24 hours for K&R is already expired.

[musiclawyer]

4. I think fear works best

copy the template
Vote GOP you will lose all your retirement safety nets
Vote GOP you will oose your healthcare or or will become cost prohibitive
Vote GOP jobs will never come back and wil never get started here.
Vote GOP you are voting for people who will do anything for profit, including selling of the USA to China and Russia and whatever otehr highest bidder comes along
VOTE GOP, you are voting for permanent war and putting your soen and daughters in jeopardy

Thing is, it's all factual.

[KoKo]

5. K&R...It's a good read. Can't believe the Rec Time is already expired.