Journal pudge_confirmer's Journal: A light is dawning for me. Can we choose between liar, self-delusion, wrong... 6
In a way, it is all coming together for me with respect to pudge.
Of course, pudge often uses the term "liar", when a less judgmental term such as "self-deluded", "wrong", "mistaken", "I disagree", or such could be used.
Many would like to call him a liar, or worse- myself among them at times.
When I see something like, for example, when pudge writes:
"If you had asked, however, whether I am open to change, irrespective of the calendar, then yes, always." ,
I confirm I am tempted to take issue with the word "always" used in the context of "open to change".
What is dawning on me is that probably it is very hard for him to help himself- he thinks he has free will, he thinks he is open, but how much do any of us have free will?
But the Tao is in all of us.
Pudge doesn't know anything (Score:2, Insightful)
It doesn't need a confirmer to confirm that.
Everything is political to him. He judges truth as a political function. This is great for insulating yourself from having to consider new ideas. It's not so good for actually knowing what's true or not.
He's fond of calling people liars. He is aware of how much he tells lies, so he assumes that others lie just as much or even more. He will never consider that he's wrong about this, because he derived that position by political means. It fits his politics perfectly
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I am inclined to agree with the tenor of what you say.
But I take it as a given that people can change. And while I admire many things about pudge (I really do), his actions show him to be very very very resistant to change or even its possibility, but his self-image is just the opposite. He seems amazing unaware of this cognitive dissonance, but very aware of the topic of cognitive dissonance.
Quite an interesting guy.
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his actions show him to be very very very resistant to change
That's kind of the definition of a conservative, isn't it? And change is kind of the definition of a progresive (which conservatives call "liberal").
The left wingers get hit by oncoming traffic, the right wingers get hit from behind, those of us in the middle of the road watch the carnage and laugh.
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Pay attention to what I wrote. I'm not writing about it any longer, but the old articles are there that explain what a conservative is.
Conservatives are defined in terms of moral values, not in terms of conservation. Resistance to change is an artifact of their moral values. It's not definitional - if they could change this country into a Taliban-like theocracy overnight, they would do it so fast your burka would catch fire.
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But, some people can change from conservative to liberal, and liberal to conservative, even more than once. I find that hopeful, but pudge I find less hopeful.
But I presently think his inflexibility may be the best he can do, to avoid even more cognitive dissonance than people already give him, possibly because he has attributes of a high functioning autist.
People will often find ways to overcome cognitive dissonance, but many can change to relieve it and face consequences about self image of an 'incorrect'
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But, some people can change from conservative to liberal, and liberal to conservative
That's true. My dad wasd a lifelong Republican, but has been voting Democrat for the last twenty or thirty years. I think the change came when he realized that without all the programs liberals put in place (Social Security, Medicare, etc) his mother would have spent her last thirty years in misery.