Conditioning echos; why it's good to be contradicted

[The Barbarian]

And while people generally don't want to be thought of as extremists, it's not necessarily a bad thing to have an extreme position. Abolitionists were extreme in their denunciation of slavery.

And while some, like John Brown,carried it to criminal action, most did not.

The point is that it's a lot easier to become an extremist if you spend all your time with people who mostly agree with you.

As Rusha says, it works both ways. All ways, really.

 

[Grosnick Marowbe]

Extremists are on the far end of their respective positions. The point is that on forums with a right-wing bias, most of the moderates will be leftists and on forums with a left-wing bias, most of the moderates will be right-wingers.



That's one of the issues. No one really wants to think of themselves as extreme.

Rationally, you could produce an inventory, from which you could find liberals, conservatives, and moderates. And some would be more extreme than others.

Gun control, for example, would vary from the NRA to those who want to ban all guns.
Most Americans are in between those extremes.

You seem to have a propensity towards GENERALIZING things. Where did you 'pick up' this inclination? I suppose you have an unyielding desire to say; "Everybody likes chocolate Ice Cream" rather than; "Some people like chocolate Ice Cream." That's just the way you roll, I suspect.

 

[The Barbarian]

You seem to have a propensity towards GENERALIZING things.

Scientist. Anyone who spends a lot of time in the sciences and math will tend to do that as well. It's about finding out how things work, and how things are different.

Where did you 'pick up' this inclination?

Always had it. Far back as I can remember, I was taking things apart to see how they worked.

I suppose you have an unyielding desire to say; "Everybody likes chocolate Ice Cream" rather than; "Some people like chocolate Ice Cream."

Nope. That's a bad example. Maybe "why do some people like chocolate so much, and others not like it at all?" would be a better way to describe how curious people look at it. We just like to know how things work.

That's just the way you roll, I suspect.

Yep. Downside is, we tend to value the truth above concern for feelings, and to be blunt and insensitive to feelings in ourselves and others.

Mrs. B is pretty much diametrically opposite. Which is not uncommon for spouses of NTs. Opposites really do attract. I compensated by learning to write poetry, communicating feelings that way. Works for us.

Upside is, we can disagree vigorously with other people without hating them.