[ExI] antiscience from both sides

[Dan TheBookMan]

On Tuesday, May 5, 2020, 04:22:44 AM PDT, John Clark via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote: 
> A leftist is a rightist who got drafted.
> A rightist is a leftist who got mugged. 

How would that work given that there's been no conscription in the US since before I and many others here were born? Presumably, at least some of the folks here identify as on the Left.

Oh, and I get the joke. An uncle of mine told me a different one:

A liberal is a conservative who's been arrested.
A conservative is a liberal who's been mugged.

That makes a wee more sense, though it reduces people's political views down to particular life trauma, which I find a bit overly reductive. Don't you? (Of course, if it's merely a joke, fine. But I think some people take these things seriously. For instance, ask someone why they believe the views they believe, and they often come up with reasons that seem to make sense -- they've examined the facts, looked over different views, and made a rational choice. Asked why their adversaries believe what they do and the tune changes -- my adversaries ignore the facts, have a bias because of their background, experiences, family, etc., and are irrational to some extent.)

Regards,

Dan