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The Overton Paradox | Brilliant (brilliant.org)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/technology

11 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Do you really think this is still true in 2023?

all 12 comments

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[–] SinningStromgald 25 points 1 year ago (2 children)

As I have aged, and not necessarily gracefully, I've gotten far more liberal in my politics. I attribute this to the fact I want the world I leave to be better than the world I've lived in. That's it.

[–] Wogi 13 points 1 year ago

I attribute my gradual progression towards fanatic, militant socialist to the decaying state of our union and the corrupt nature of capitalism in general.

[–] shalafi 3 points 1 year ago

I've gotten far more liberal as well. OTOH, with the benefit of life experience, I can see why conservatives are objecting to various things and why they're ticked off. Doesn't mean I agree, but I still get it.

[–] AbouBenAdhem 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They’re trying to invent a new name for a phenomenon that’s already well-known in statistics: Simpson’s paradox.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

/u/[email protected] I am pleasantly surprised that Simpson is the name of a mathematician and not some pop-science based on Homer & Bart.

[–] gcheliotis 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I liked this, but I feel like it is just one possible explanation for the common observation that people feel more conservative as they grow older. And it may seem confirmed when society is growing more liberal. But what if this changes? After all there is no objective reason that I know of why societies will have to grow ever more liberal. When conservatism is on the rise, this may become reversed. What then? Older people will appear ever more radically liberal I guess? Hmmm, it is late here and I am too tired to think this through.

Also why is this in technology and not politics? Although, come to think of it, I am glad it is, because politics is so filled to the brim with US politics that I unsubscribed.

[–] dpkonofa 10 points 1 year ago

There is an objective reason why societies grow more liberal, though. Namely, conservative ideologies function off of exclusions while liberal ideologies typically function off of inclusion. As conservatives move to the next group to alienate, the previous group becomes accepted by society and the diversity of that group increases. Any population whose ideology requires the exclusion of subgroups will always shrink as those subgroups are removed.

[–] Rally 2 points 1 year ago

Really cool to see.

[+] randon31415 -11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

At age 18, a particular 7 students in a class are "liberal" and 3 are "conservative" (70/30%). In their 20s, one liberal commits suicide due to harassment about being LGBTQ (66/33), in their 30s one liberal dies from a drug overdoes (62.5/37.5), in their 40s one liberal dies from a workplace accident (57.1/42.8) and in their 50s on liberal dies from lack of health insurance (50/50). At their 40th high school reunion, half of the class is republican. "Oh, ya, people get more conservative as they get older." No one changed their position, yet looking at just the percentages, people would think that this phrase is true.

This is why the one time democrats got the trifecta, they pushed through healthcare reform. This is why democrats (should be/are) for workplace safety, drug decriminalization and drug treatment de-stigmatization, mental heath reform and LGBT "it gets better" initiatives. Democrats literately have been dying at a higher rate than the WASPs, and loosing this demographic warfare. Now things are turning around and people are surprised that democrats are winning the under 50s now, but it has been a multi-decade project to get to this point.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Democrats literately have been dying at a higher rate than the WASPs, and loosing this demographic warfare.

You are absolutely going to need to provide a source for this claim. I can already imagine some nutjob twisting this statement from "people who live longer tend to be conservative," into "people who are conservative tend to live longer!"

I could just as easily take this hypothetical class reunion and say "well one conservative died at 30 from accidentally shooting himself, one conservative died at 40 from being antivax and getting COVID, and one conservative died at 50 from lack of health insurance (everyone needs health insurance)."

[–] Edgelord_Of_Tomorrow 9 points 1 year ago

You said it facetiously but in reality COVID really did kill almost 50% more conservatives than liberals.

Conservative governments around the world made the connection that a virus that mostly killed old people was going to be bad news for their polling if left uncontrolled. Only in the US did conservatives seem to do not only the exact opposite, but added anti-mask, anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination on top - as if they were trying to get their voters killed.

Biden beat Trump by 10,000 votes in Georgia. Thanks antivaxxers!