Maybe it's all about pain

[TrogL]

(clicked submit by mistake)

I live inside a broken, messy biological organism.

The thing I consider to be "me" is affected by its operations. I get cranky when it gets sick. I get happy when it gives me a shot of certain neurotransmitters (eg. dopamine and norepinephrine). My particular organism is broken because (according to some research) it does not deal correctly with seratonin and there are problems in the wiring having to do with socialization. I did not know this for a long time. To me, it was just "me". Now I know there are reasons why being around people it literally such a pain. God, the headaches.

In other threads we've been seeing about research saying that liberals have a different reaction in the (amdy-whatever it is) when confronted with pictures of violence(?). To them, it hurts. To Freepers, it doesn't.

For the purposes of keeping this to a manageable length, I'm going to engage in a bit of stereotyping. I'm going to clump into three groups - liberals, (old-school) conservatives and Freepers (fascists).

I believe one way of understanding them is not by what makes them tick, but what makes them hurt.

My mother can't stand being in places where I live. She says it hurts. The mess gets to her. She is also upset with my "lifestyle" mostly because it's non-Traditional. Nevertheless, she can understand why the traditional "lifestyle" just plain isn't going to work for me (I'm gay, I'm a musician, I'm an Aspie), nevertheless she recommends the old tried-and-true ways unless something breaks. She's what I call a "conservative". I feel her pain even if I don't experience it. She worked at her conservatism and I respect her for it even it won't work for me. To read about this kind of conservatism, have a look at G. K. Chesterson. She makes her pain go away by cleaning my house and venting about my "lifestyle" (note, she makes the distinction between sexual orientation and flaming-queendom).

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[msmcghee]

1. I think you're on to something.

If something causes pain, every time we are exposed to it - we will avoid it.

Likewise, if something causes pleasure, every time we are exposed to it, we will be drawn to it.

It even operates at the plant level that have vegetable analogs of pleasure/pain.

This is the basic engine of life and governs behavior of all living organisms from the simplest bacterium to the most intelligent human.

Psychology and sociology are complicated and difficult and confusing (and not very predictive as sciences) because humans like to believe that we are governed by more noble forces, such as our intellect, our reason, or loyalty or compassion or . . whatever.

But that is an illusion. Those are only add-ons to our basic software - that compels us to seek pleasure and avoid pain according to the dictates of the physical body that we live in - as you say.

[TrogL]

2. Now let's look at the stereotypical liberal

It pains me to see the homeless. It pains me to see someone sick especially if it's fixable and not being fixed. It pains me to see the starving kids in Bangladesh when they have their weekly famine/crop failure/flood/drought/other act of God. Most liberals would want to "do something" eg. send money. My parents took it to the extreme and put together a delegation of teachers, nurses etc. etc. and actually showed up (not in Bangladesh, someplace else nearby) to teach sanitation, crop management, basic science etc. etc.

A liberal society tends to be "big tent". It hurts to see people being left out of the goodies, so they find a way to include them even if it means the majority of people get less goodies individually.

Think of it like this. Nothing will do but kids have to go to camp. Camp costs money and most people can afford it, however Johnny's parents can't. Rather than Johnny being left out, somebody passes the hat and people chip in and somebody else digs an old sleeping bag out of their basement and next thing you know Johnny's on the bus.

Now relate this to the Canadian health care system. Everybody pays a monthly fee but there's subsidies if you can't. That covers basic care. You can buy into a heavily subsidized extended plan (drugs, dental etc) (most employers split it). The provinces are pushing for a Pharmacare plan. There's a hefty federal income tax, sales tax, yada yada, but the Feds turn around and give it back to the provinces in the form of transfer payments that go directly into funding hospitals. Drugs themselves are subsidized (which is causing hassles down the States).

Now let's look at the thorny problem of Tradition as it relates to the liberal and old-school conservative. Again, going to stereotype, a conservative wants to keep everything the same for the sake of keeping everything the same (tried and true) and the (sterotypical) liberal wants to change everything for the sake of changing things (progress for progress's sake). A lot of this relates to making the tent bigger.

A few years ago there was a big kafuffle about Sikh headgear as they related to uniforms. One was, what should a Sikh RCMP officer wear on his head. The other was, what about places where hats were normally not allowed (I think this was the issue in Legions). Conservatives wanted to maintain the traditional Mountie headgear. Liberals wanted Sihks to have the religious freedom to wear proper headgear. A compromise was found - a Mountie-headgear-coloured turban with a Mountie badge on it. The Legions were told to go stuff it - a turban isn't a hat.

Gay marriage is the same sort of issue. It pains a conservative to see a change in the tradition. Traditions are strong. The church I attend refuses to use the new prayer book, hymnal and psalter. My priest retired rather than have to serve under a female bishop. It pains a liberal not to allow gays the rite. Neither side wants "separate but equal". I'm sure a compromise will be found eventually for those people who can cope with compromise.

Multiculturalism is another conservative vs. liberal hotspot. I will not attempt to address the conservative position. I think the liberal position is best indicated by a local cultural group. It's an African drumming band, but the lead drummer is white, there's a bagpiper and a mixture of African and Celtic dancers. One time they performed in conjunction with a gay choir. One of Edmonton, Alberta's big events of the year is its Multicultural Festival - held at a huge city park. Cultural groups representing dozens of nations put up tents with cultural displays, things to eat, bands, dancers and martial arts. It's a chaotic mishmash of colourful display and noise. It alleviates the sometimes painful realities of cultures attempting to live side by side.

To sum up, I believe the conservative position is that there should be one tent. There should be rules about who goes in the tent and what they wear and do. People who can't or won't follow the rules have to go elsewhere. Liberals want a big umbrella. Under that umbrella are multiple tents. People move around between tents (or not). If the umbrella isn't big enough to hold all the tents, they make a bigger umbrella. (yes, I know I wrecked the "big tent" analogy).