General Election 2019

Cartoonist Polyp writes:

Here's my long, angry and bitter political rant about this
easily-predicted train wreck of an election result-

It's a virtue to be able to learn from experience.

Being open minded and willing to question your core beliefs, in the
light of new evidence, is a good thing. It is painful and requires
intellectual courage, but is ultimately strengthening. That isn't the
same as abandoning your core ethics.

Being pragamatic about how to acheive at least some of your objectives
under very difficult circumstances is not a betrayal of basic
principles.

Elevating feelings above thinking is not a virtue. Feelings may
motivate us, but if we want to make something happen, we have to also
use cold, detached reason to examine our strategies, and to change
them if the evidence indicates they may well fail.

Innacurate, short sighted ideologically driven models about what
motivates the populace leads to disasters when trying to persuade
them. We need to engage with people as they are, not lecture or scold
them for not being as politically pure as we see ourselves to be.

It is a very bad thing to avoid exposing your ideas to the critical
assessment of those who don't agree with those ideas, or to knee jerk
dismiss those critical assessments because they threaten your
emotionally invested world view.

Only ever talking to those who will re-inforce your assumptions and
your world view is a fatal mistake, and will guarantee you never spot
the flaws in your own thinking.

Digging into ideological trenches and branding anyone who disagrees
with your assumptions as a heartless bastard will persuade no-one. Not
everyone who disagrees with your interpretation of what's possible is
a callous shit. Many are just wary pragmatists.

The only way out of this mess is for it to become a cultural virtue
within 'left / social justice' circles to practice the habit of
skeptical thinking, particularly in relation to its own basic
assumptions. It doesn't produce easy or emotionally gratifying
results, but it's the best route to becoming more effective.

Dogma is fatal. It brings a warm internal glow of certainty, but
politically it's deadly. Trying to spot it in your own ways of
thinking is a brave, good thing to do.

Groupthink is something to be very ashamed of.

Rose tinted world views are self defeating.

And finally, yes, the Tory party elite are utter, callous, greedy
scum... but they are now in power with a robust majority, and it
should have been possible to easily defeat them.