(06-10-2019 05:01 PM)Rice93 Wrote:  

(06-10-2019 04:14 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(06-10-2019 04:07 PM)Rice93 Wrote:  

(06-10-2019 04:02 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(06-10-2019 03:50 PM)Rice93 Wrote:  Right... I think we're on the same page here. I have not seen first-hand racist behavior by any progressives that I know. I don't know what otherwise lurks in the minds of my friends and acquaintances.

But are you sure you would be willing to recognize it? Again, my own experience is that when leftists who engage in overtly racist behavior are questioned about it, the response by themselves and many of their fellow leftists is denial, excuse-making, deflection, sometimes name-calling, and ultimately a claim that leftists BY DEFINITION cannot be racist -- a retreat to tautology. It's hard to have much confidence in the observational ability of judgment of people who act like that.

There has been nothing obvious. We all have biases that will affect our perception of situations and I am clearly no different than the next person in this regard. I am open to the possibility that I missed subtle instances somebody with a different set of biases would have picked up on.

Are you open to the possibility that you might be different from the next person in a relevant respect -- e.g. that your biases might be stronger than average, or that your observational powers might be weaker than average?

One factor which speaks against my own bias is that I was strongly conservative until roughly my mid-30's. I gradually became less and less conservative as I felt that the GOP was becoming less interested in balancing the budget and more interested keeping evangelicals and the NRA happy. Obama was the first Democratic presidential candidate that I ever voted for.

If you had asked me at age 30 (at which time I strongly identified with the GOP) about racist behavior I would have given you the same answer that I gave in this thread.

Guns and Biblethumpers I can see, but how in the heck did an interest in a balanced budget lead you to the Democrats?

Similar, but opposite to my journey. I went left to right, crossing the Divide in my thirties. Now 73.

I became aware that rhetoric about taxing millionaires from the left always seemed to end up with taxes on the middle class.

Still hearing the same ol’, same ol’ stuff about taxing millionaires - from millionaires. Fool me once...