Preferred Enmity
Politics is an enjoyable pastime: let us assume this to be the case, since so much money, talk, emotion, and effort is put into it. Why would people engage so thoroughly in an activity if it weren’t enjoyable—even when it is infuriating? Maybe because it’s infuriating—and sometimes we’d just like to get our dander up.
The fun and satisfying part of politics often lies at the point where it intersects with emotion. We can become deeply committed to a political position to the point that our emotions run away with us. Part of it has to do with our neurological wiring to be tribal. We experience good feelings when we belong to a social group. And part of belonging to a social group is knowing which other social groups we are supposed to despise. Enmity is a potent fuel.
Arnold Kling suggests an alternative approach to enmity: try to assume positive motivation. Enmity is made easier when we consider our political adversaries (real or imagined) to have Evil as their motive: They’re doing what they’re doing because they want to cause harm and/or injury to us, our tribe, the world. Instead, we could reduce the emotional temperature by thinking of rivals as motivated by a desire to improve things. Kling says he learned this while working at Freddie Mac in the 1980s and 1990s from a management directive:
The most interesting operating principle that senior management came up with was “Assume Positive Motivation.” The idea was to recognize that no matter how much frustration Finance might be causing Marketing by insisting on fees that Marketing thought were too high, it was not the intent of Finance to make it impossible for Freddie Mac to compete with its rival, Fannie Mae.
The principle could also be applied to politics:
Try applying Assume Positive Motivation to any contemporary political or cultural issue. For example, on the abortion issue, the intent of the pro-choice side is to promote the autonomy of women. The intent of the pro-life side is to protect lives that they believe begin at conception.
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Assume Positive Motivation does not mean that you have to say that both sides are equally valid. You can still believe that your side of an issue is 100 right and the other side is 100 percent wrong. What you have to let go of is the belief that the other side is evil.
Sounds like a good idea. Yet it may suffer from the weakness that it goes against our nature for tribalism. Our neurotransmitters reward us on an emotional level for remaining vigilant against the other tribe.
Assuming positive motivation may not be as immediately rewarding, but it could serve to reduce the power and influence of those who would appeal to our natural enmity to keep us engaged.
Whew! Kinda tired. I just got back from the Colosseum; fortunately I didn't have to rescue any students from the lions! or as lions say, nom nom nom. We then went to the Roman forum, where we let the students act like locals, allowing them to go Roman about the grounds.
They had a map of seating in the colosseum, which reminded me of the online ticket sellers. It made me wonder if back then the Romans used StvbHvb, or TicketCeasar for their events?
I am gonna grab some fruit punch mix, and mix it with my water, guzzling it down. It was a good day, and students enjoyed it. I got in several bad puns (including StvbHvb above), but several students cheered when I mentioned the lions went undefeated at the Colosseum, but they have struggled ever since they moved to Detroit. I think I annoyed the tour guide.
Afternoon everyone...
Geez, am I not human or what...lol...I rarely assume evil, in fact, personally I think real evil is rare ( as in conscious , non incurably mentally ill decisions to do harm). It is mostly human nature and human failings/weaknesses that cause people to do bad or unappreciated things.
I tried to expand on this idea four times and was not happy with any of the results....let's just say I do not see as evil any political position someone might have, as long as it doesn't hurt people, especially vulnerable or marginalized people in what I think are really awful ways...
Both politically and personally, how other humans are treated matters more to me than any other issue...I like fair, I like compassion and empathy, and I like equality in all ways, for all people without any caveats....( as in has the same opportunities and is not mistreated based on things like age, race, gender etc....