Haidt, Derbyshire, and Hate
04/11/2012
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From my new column in Taki's Magazine:

The Derbyshire Affair, America’s latest Two Minutes Hate over race, provides a fresh example with which to assess social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s framework for why some people are liberal and others conservative. Although Haidt’s readable new book, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, does much to explain this dichotomy, he never quite articulates the most fundamental explanation.

I don't recall ever articulating quite so reductionistically before my theory of what, deep down, distinguishes liberals and conservatives, of what decides who the "Who?" in "Who? Whom?" will be.

So, read the whole thing there, and see if it makes sense to you. I didn't give a lot of examples, but I think you'll be able to come up with some.

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