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“Our political opinions emanate from deep cultural and biological sources...This explains why we get so emotional about politics and why political compromise is generally impossible. When someone criticizes our politics, they attack our very being. Political debate is futile because it is based on the naive premise that we can be convinced by the logical arguments of our enemies to change our inner selves.”
― Red Genes, Blue Genes: Exposing Political Irrationality
― Red Genes, Blue Genes: Exposing Political Irrationality
“Our certitude and vehemence in political argument are way out of proportion to our knowledge...In politics, everybody is always very sure that they are right. But they simply can't be. When the Democrats and Republicans take opposed positions, they can't both be right. Thus, on any critical policy debate, about half the electorate and politicians are completely wrong, yet are blithely and majestically assured that they are right.”
― Red Genes, Blue Genes: Exposing Political Irrationality
― Red Genes, Blue Genes: Exposing Political Irrationality
“The biggest cost of our innate group-bias is that it sustains America's two-party duopoly. The Democrats exploit hostility toward Republicans in order to monopolize liberals. Republicans exploit hatred of liberals to monopolize conservatives. Americans become like like the citizens of two, parallel Soviet states, with most voters turning out at every election to vote for the same party they did in the previous election. Consequently, our Congressional incumbents are re-elected at the Soviet-style rate of 98%,”
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“True love, true friendship, true benevolence, true tenderness, were beautiful to her,—qualities on which she could descant almost with eloquence; and therefore she was always shamming love and friendship and benevolence and tenderness.”
― The Eustace Diamonds
― The Eustace Diamonds
“The conflict between left and right in modern republics is a sort of perpetual-motion mechanism and negative spiral at the same time. When we support political parties, it is regrettable more than just a matter of adopting certain political beliefs. We are also expected to agree that our party's beliefs are better than those held by the other party. Feelings of hostility and superiority are an inevitable byproduct of partisan competition. The media encourages representatives of both sides to vent their emotions, because this sells newspapers and boosts ratings. When we hear that other disagree viscerally with us, we tend to return the feeling of emotional dislike.”
― Red Genes, Blue Genes: Exposing Political Irrationality
― Red Genes, Blue Genes: Exposing Political Irrationality
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Guillermo’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Guillermo’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
683 books
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190 friends
108 books
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47 friends
6 books
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222 friends
105 books
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412 friends
126 books
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26 friends
3 books
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58 friends
4 books
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162 friends
7 books
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36 friends
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