Do you think your political opponents are misguided or just bad people?

Question

Why do you think most of your political opponents hold different beliefs than you do? Is it because they are misguided anduninformed? Or is it because of their character, such as being selfish, lazy, amoral, or just plain evil?

If you think it's both, how many of your opponents are misguided vs. evil? Which factor tends to motivate them the most...their ignorance, or their lack of values?

Wow, these are some great answers. Thanks. It will be hard to choose the best one.

Answer 1

It depends. For the most part, I think a lot of political differences come down to tribalism. You go with what your tribe says. If you watch Fox news and they are of the opinion that global warming is a hoax, well that's what you believe. On the other hand, if you love Al Gore, you basically believe in global warming. They've actually done functional MRI's on people's brains and they've found that a lot of partisanship is almost biological fact of nature. Areas that lit up tended to those associated with emotion, not reason. So I think you can't look at your political opponents necessarily as evil or amoral. I think we have to realize that a lot of what we call political differences are simply emotional responses, not well thought out in any depth.

Answer 2

I think it can be either one or both at once, depending on the person.

The dumber the person is, the more likely that they are misguided - influenced by other, smarter, stronger people.

Although some dumb people can also be bad. G.W. Bush doesn't seem to be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he's done some things that were just plain BAD (weaseling out of his military service during the Vietnam era, for example.)

Then too, some people who are bad and actually evil, are also misguided. Take "DICK" Cheney, for instance. He's not dumb, he's very intelligent. And I'd say he's evil. Enough to make me think there might be a Satan after all - and he might be it!

But I don't think he's ONLY bad. He's not stupid, but he genuinely believes in some stuff that IMHO is just plain misguided, like letting business run roughshod all over everybody else.

This is a very good question. How much of a person's faulty thinking is due to lack of intelligence, or being taught stupid things and believing them, or knowing the truth but not caring and being evil anyway?

Answer 3

Well intentioned, thoughtful, intelligent people confronted with the same facts, can disagree. That doesn't make one side evil and the other good. And it certainly doesn't mean that one has to "defame and destroy" his "opponent".

Functionally, this "tension" is what keeps our government on a more middle course. The Liberals rein in the Conservatives when they push things too far to the right. And the Conservatives rein in the Liberals when they push things too far to the left.

Sadly, of late, we have lost sight of the pendulum that is the American Political System, and have, instead, pursued the politics of personal destruction.

Apparently, no where is this more true than on YA!

Answer 4

I usually believe that the truth of things are in the middle. Ie I believe abortion to be amoral but also needed to allow sexual freedom for women. Or in the case of Iraq war. I know that it is a design for american influence in the middle east. I dont buy into the theory that it was just to get a bad man out of power and to liberate Iraqi's nor do i believe it was for Oil wealth or Bush's personal vendetta.

Its the Fringe (far right, far left) on the political spectrum on both sides of the issue that is f'ing things up. They are both misguided and it has a lot to do with their character

Answer 5

There are a couple of different types:

1. True believers. These people were raised in a different environment than me, and have different values. They hold them as sincerely as I hold mine. They want good schools, a better life for their kids, all the same things I do, they just see different solutions than I do.

2. Tools. Some people simply seek power. They are willing to do whatever, and make bargains. These are the people who are going have property rezoned for their buddy, so that it suddenly becomes more valuable.

Most people are mixtures. They have to make a deal with whatever special interest is involved, trading something they really don't care about for something they do.

Answer 6

I don't believe that any of my political opponents are evil at all. They have their opinions & I have mine. And by the end of the day, we'll all get together for every NFL Superbowl Party like nothing happen!!! :lol:

BTW, people in general are victims of receiving bad infomation, not just my political opponents alone.

Answer 7

I think it's a mix. Most working class and middle class conservatives are misguided, or distrated by social "wedge" issues like abortion, banning gay marriage, etc. to notice that the very people who support their religious and moral values are also financially raping them in the *** ( read "what's the matter with Kansa.)" But I think the people who are misleading them are mainly motivated by greed.

Answer 8

its because there are always multiple ways to look at matters...opponents look at you as misguided or perhaps evil, thats why you look at them and wonder the same....there's always two sides to a story...

Answer 9

As a liberal democrat I believe that:
70% of conservative republicans are misguided
30% are selfish and evil

Answer 10

1)misguided
2)They where brainwashed
3)Yes
4)Character politicians have it? No those are subjective terms.
5)Redundant question, see 1).
6)Neither its biological and social programing tainted by mental illness.