24 May 2004
Homogenized, Like Milk
I grew up in Bakersfield, one of the more consistently conservative communities in California. I don't think I ever met any Democrats while I was growing up. "Democrat" might as well have meant "leprechaun" or "sasquatch". Literally everyone I knew voted Republican, parroted the Republican party line, and referred to liberals as "fascists". As any anthropologist knows, it's natural to simply adopt the popular beliefs of your local community and shun any deviant beliefs, because this helps maintain the community's coherence and prevent infighting.
But although I always had liberal tendencies, I wasn't as bugged by the conservativism in Bakersfield as I was by that herd mentality. If you don't critically examine your inherited lifestyle, how do you know whether it can stand up to criticism? If you've never had to defend your views, how do you know they're defensible? If haven't spent time with people who think differently than you do, then how do you know they're not just as intelligent and worthy of respect as you are?
So in Bakersfield, you're a Republican if you don't want to be ostricized, and you agree that Democrats are, without exception, stupid and evil. Any other point of view is simply out of the question, not worth considering. So you make cruel jokes about liberals and say how they should all be taken out behind the wood shed and shot with a 12-gauge.
Now try this: Replace "Bakersfield" with "San Francisco", "Republican" with "Democrat" and vice versa, "liberals" with "conservatives", and "shot with a 12-gauge" with "bludgeoned with a four-foot glass bong". That's the environment in which I now live. There's still one and only one acceptable political stance and little tolerance for any others—it just happens to be the opposite of the one I grew up with. It's easiest to simply agree with your neighbors, and say terrible things about people you've never met. "We" are always right, and "they" are always wrong. "They" are causing all the problems. "They" suck!
If only life were that simple. But it's not. So now I have to confess to having a few conservative values, including these:
- It's good to have the right to keep and carry firearms.
- Sometimes it's a good idea to go to war. Examples include the American Revolution and World War II.
- Even hippies ought to bathe regularly.
Now, before you lynch me from the Golden Gate Bridge, you should know that I voted for Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez. I'm pretty stinking liberal. But lately I've begun to wonder: Am I giving fair consideration to diverse points of view? I'm not sure! A few years ago, my Libertarian friends helpfully provided cogent conservative opinions that kept me politically well-rounded. But most of them have moved away, and I find myself immersed in a fairly homogeneous crowd. Without diversity, it's easy to simply congratulate ourselves for being right, without having asked, "How do we know we're right?"