Comments on: Reviewing a Cold-War Era Book

By: R Richard Schweitzer

R Richard Schweitzer — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 02:42:20 +0000

In reading other chunks of Nisbett (his work does come in chunks), the essay on the “quest” will lead to reading it as well.

What seemed missing was some (even slight?) reference to the “value” currently assigned to “Diversity” in determining the nature of the community to be sought.

Perhaps the “quest” has really taken on efforts to construct a community, rather than finding those commonalities of individuals that result in the condition of “community.”

By: collin

collin — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 17:23:34 +0000

When conservative writers like Levin, Vance, Dreher, and especially Murray write about the ideas of Quest For Community and strengthening local institutions, I left wondering how these writers are building their communities while they are living somewhere else from their childhood. Their actions show they care little of their community and from your writing you really don’t care much for your Missouri homeland. (Although Dreher did return 20 years to LA after leaving.) If the successful people are moving away, then how do you teach young people that building their community is important. My kids are certainly not expecting to live in their current neighborhoods when they are 25. (Oddly enough people are moving less today than anytime during WW2 so that local communities benefit.)

Anyway, for the complaints of the modern world, almost all social issues are improved from the 1970s and 1980s. So it does not seem society is collapsing?

By: baconbacon

baconbacon — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 13:28:53 +0000

This sounds like a just so story. Does this lens at all explain the 2000 election? Or ’04- ’12? How many of the other major campaigns (Bush, Gore, Kerry, Obama, McCain, Romney, Clinton) would fit this mold in recent elections? What are the other predictions that came true (breaking down of social ties is usually associated with higher, not lower, crime rates)? It doesn’t appear to me that the there is any other serious support for the hypothesis.

By: freetofu

freetofu — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 12:04:09 +0000

I really get annoyed by attempts to equate the Sanders phenomenon with the Trump phenomenon. Sanders supporters are overwhelmingly repulsed by Trump, and Sanders views are the sort that were fairly mainstream within the Democratic party a few decades ago, and are still mainstream in social democratic parties all over the world. His popularity is the result of frustration with the two-party system and with the rightward turn of the Democratic party over the last few decades.

Save the psychological analysis for the Trump Nazis all over the internet spewing racism and Jew-hate at anybody who criticizes him. There’s no parallel.

[please do not let this troll provoke you–ed.]