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0 pointssofixa3y ago0 comments

> Dilbert's commentary has so far been entirely appropriate based on my experience, hence it's puzzling to me when people think there's something particularly conservative about being concerned or critical about these societal changes

Isn't it pretty much by definition (social) conservative?

> Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional social institutions and practices

> In political science, a reactionary or a reactionist is a person who holds political views that favour a return to the status quo ante, the previous political state of society, which that person believes possessed positive characteristics absent from contemporary society

> Progressivism is a way of thinking that holds that it is possible through political action for human societies to improve over time. As a political movement, progressivism purports to advance the human condition through social reform based on advancements in science, technology, economic development and social organization

You might disagree with the changes being made, but (social) progressives believe they're making them for the betterment of humans. (Social) conservatives want to stop them, (social) reactionaries want to go back to "the good old times" where the woman kept the house etc.

It's pretty much textbook definitions.

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ravenstine3y ago

In a reductionist sense, sure, to be critical of particular de novo political views is conservative. Yet no one would call progressives conservative or reactionary for opposing the overturning of Roe v Wade. Are progressives being conservative when they oppose nuclear energy? But somehow it's commonly recognized as being conservative to be critical of policies that single out particular groups (the original intent notwithstanding).

That is what I find peculiar. At least in the United States, being "conservative" or "progressive" and their various synonyms aren't really defined strictly by Miriam-Webster but by the zeitgeist.

> You might disagree with the changes being made, but (social) progressives believe they're making them for the betterment of humans.

Most people believe this of their own policies, not just progressives. That's a very unhelpful way of describing these two poles, as is relying on the dictionary.

throwaway4aday3y ago

Under which definition does the belief that you should be able to criticize and push back against changes you believe will be detrimental but still believe that other changes will improve human societies over time belong?

AinderS3y ago

You can do anything if you control the definitions:

Ethno-nationalists want to progress into a world where conflict is avoided by clear borders between naturally antagonistic groups, while globalists want to revert to a time before clear nations and borders, to plunge the world into perpetual ethnic conflict, such as what happened in India and Africa after colonialists drew borders without regard for which groups lived where.

Anti-immigrationists want to progress to strict enforcement of the US border, while pro-immigrationists want to maintain the status quo of loose enforcement and origin-agnostic immigration policy that has been in place since 1965.

Ukraine wants to maintain the nationalist, separatist status quo of an independent country, while Russia wants to progress towards a larger, unified, multicultural whole.

See? Easy.

PaulDavisThe1st3y ago

This sleight of hand would work, if only it weren't for the constantly backward-looking statements on the part of the "progressors" in your examples.

The definitions are not the only thing that matter: how those who propose particular social transformation (or lack thereof) talk about those changes (particularly w.r.t. history or an imagined future) is just as important.

AinderS3y ago

I see. So for example, India's government revoking Kashmir's independence and imposing demographic change on it [1] is progressive, and resisting it is conservative. Likewise, unifying China is progressive, while ethno-religious resistance by the Uyghur's is conservative. The Republicans efforts to advance from a country of immigrants, to a country of natives, is progressive, while Democrats wishing the US remains a country of immigrants is conservative.

But these are just a handful of counter-examples, sorry, exceptions, sorry, sleight-of-hand. Add more epicycles to your theory of how your ideological opponents are just irrationally evil and want to bring back all the worst parts of the past, and all these exceptions will be explained away, and we shall see that the Earth stands still.

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/08/08/kashmirs-new...

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0 pointssofixa3y ago0 comments

Isn't it pretty much by definition (social) conservative?

> Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional social institutions and practices

It's pretty much textbook definitions.

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ravenstine3y ago

That is what I find peculiar. At least in the United States, being "conservative" or "progressive" and their various synonyms aren't really defined strictly by Miriam-Webster but by the zeitgeist.

> You might disagree with the changes being made, but (social) progressives believe they're making them for the betterment of humans.

Most people believe this of their own policies, not just progressives. That's a very unhelpful way of describing these two poles, as is relying on the dictionary.

throwaway4aday3y ago

AinderS3y ago

You can do anything if you control the definitions:

Ukraine wants to maintain the nationalist, separatist status quo of an independent country, while Russia wants to progress towards a larger, unified, multicultural whole.

See? Easy.

PaulDavisThe1st3y ago

This sleight of hand would work, if only it weren't for the constantly backward-looking statements on the part of the "progressors" in your examples.

AinderS3y ago

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/08/08/kashmirs-new...

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