# What "Conservative Values" aren't based on bigotry?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [July 16, 2019, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176 "2019-07-16T16:36:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 16

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**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176/301 "2019-07-19T01:21:14Z")

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> [@jayjay](#):
>
> Stark difference between the **Scylla** of 2000 and the **Scylla** of today. The 2000 version would never have defended this kind of right-wing bigotry, period. I’m sad to say that no, the **Scylla** of 2019 is NOT better than this.

You make a common mistake. He has no fundamentally different beliefs than 19 years ago. He’s just now feels empowered to embrace it. There are millions of others just like him.

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**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176/302 "2019-07-19T01:32:57Z")

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> [@JohnT](#):
>
> Seems that Will may have forgotten the three social structures in which conservatives agree “communism/socialism” is better… families, churches, charity… but points have to be made in this discussion, I guess.

‘Socialism’ works in small groups because in such groups people know and understand each other, and therefore have trust. Also, small groups can communicate easily within their numbers, making self-organization possible.

Look up ‘Dunbar’s Number’. Groups at roughly this size and below can function informally and charitably with each other, and share resources with each other, because everyone knows everyone else and people who don’t play the game can be spotted and either criticized or ostracized. Therefore, everyone has an interest in the group doing well, and trust levels are high.

This model does not scale. The minute you try to apply it to large communities where people don’t know each other, trust starts to break down. And when there is no trust, you can’t self-coordinate, and you need laws, government, and authorities. Socialism just doesn’t work at this level, because the people tasked with making decisions for the collective do not have the information required to make rational choices. This is why we need markets: To coordinate economic activity between people.

Societies are complex systems. In complex systems, the vast amount of information is created from the bottom up. The people at the top just don’t know what the people at the bottom need or want. And without market forces, no one can assign relative values to goods and services.

This is a seminal paper by Friedrich Hayek: [The Use of Knowledge in Society](https://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/hykKnw.html). This is the subject for which he won his Nobel prize. It’s short, and it’s worth reading even if you are on the left.

The first paragraphs:

> [@Friedrich Hayek](#):
>
> What is the problem we wish to solve when we try to construct a rational economic order? On certain familiar assumptions the answer is simple enough. If we possess all the relevant information, if we can start out from a given system of preferences, and if we command complete knowledge of available means, the problem which remains is purely one of logic. That is, the answer to the question of what is the best use of the available means is implicit in our assumptions. The conditions which the solution of this optimum problem must satisfy have been fully worked out and can be stated best in mathematical form: put at their briefest, they are that the marginal rates of substitution between any two commodities or factors must be the same in all their different uses.
> 
> This, however, is emphatically not the economic problem which society faces. And the economic calculus which we have developed to solve this logical problem, though an important step toward the solution of the economic problem of society, does not yet provide an answer to it. The reason for this is that the “data” from which the economic calculus starts are never for the whole society “given” to a single mind which could work out the implications and can never be so given.

The first paragraph generally describes the assumption of central planners: If we just had really smart people, and maybe lots of computers, we can scientifically plan society and help everyone get what they want and need. This is better than the ‘chaos’ of the market. Unfortunately, it can’t work. You can’t figure out what people need, because absent personal agency and bidding between citizens for goods and services (i.e. a market), the information does not even exist.

Markets are a process of DISCOVERY. We constantly test new goods and ideas in the marketplace, and by so doing we discover what people want. When we sell goods at a specific price, it establishes that good in the hierarchy of values of the purchaser. We discover, for example, that an iPhone is worth more than a meal, and that a car is worth more than an iPhone. And through failed products we learn what people do not want or need. There is no way for central planners to know this, because the information does not exist without a market.

The old Soviet Union tried very hard to scientifically manage the economy. GOSPLAN, the state planning bureau, hired thousands of scientists, engineers, economists, accountants, etc. They spent enormous energy determining the exact mix of goods and services the people needed, and they tried to plan out the various industrial supply chains, etc. Despite enormous effort, they failed miserably. And they had lots of help by being able to inspect the markets of other countries and determine relative values that way. In addition, they tolerated extensive black markets to take the pressure off of lousy state planning.

In very small groups, you can sort out supply and demand by simply talking to each other, trusting in the others to tell you straight and not scam you. But if a regulator for a million people says, “Who needs a free hammer?”, what do you think will happen? Lots of people will say “I DO!”, even if they don’t. Because hey, free hammer. And trying to figure out exactly who does need a hammer is impossible. For example, I may have an old, chipped hammer, so I say I need a new one. But maybe other people don’t have one at all. How am I to know? Or maybe I don’t have a hammer, but neither does the guy in another city who desperately needs one for his activities, and I just need one ‘in case’. How can this be sorted out absent a market that sets prices? How can a central regulator possibly figure out how to deliver a million hammers to the right people? Answer: She can’t. She doesn’t have the information, because it doesn’t exist.

As a bookend to Hayek’s paper above, you might like to read his Nobel acceptance speech, on the [The Pretense of Knowledge](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1974/hayek/lecture/)

Notice that there isn’t a hint of bigotry in any of these ideas.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176/303 "2019-07-19T01:38:04Z")

</div>

> [@Sam\_Stone](#):
>
> ‘Socialism’ works in small groups because in such groups people know and understand each other, and therefore have trust. Also, small groups can communicate easily within their numbers, making self-organization possible.
> 
> Look up ‘Dunbar’s Number’. Groups at roughly this size and below can function informally and charitably with each other, and share resources with each other, because everyone knows everyone else and people who don’t play the game can be spotted and either criticized or ostracized. Therefore, everyone has an interest in the group doing well, and trust levels are high.
> 
> This model does not scale. The minute you try to apply it to large communities where people don’t know each other, trust starts to break down. And when there is no trust, you can’t self-coordinate, and you need laws, government, and authorities. Socialism just doesn’t work at this level, because the people tasked with making decisions for the collective do not have the information required to make rational choices. This is why we need markets: To coordinate economic activity between people.
> 
> Societies are complex systems. In complex systems, the vast amount of information is created from the bottom up. The people at the top just don’t know what the people at the bottom need or want. And without market forces, no one can assign relative values to goods and services.
> 
> This is a seminal paper by Friedrich Hayek: [The Use of Knowledge in Society](https://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/hykKnw.html). This is the subject for which he won his Nobel prize. It’s short, and it’s worth reading even if you are on the left.
> 
> The first paragraphs:  
> The first paragraph generally describes the assumption of central planners: If we just had really smart people, and maybe lots of computers, we can scientifically plan society and help everyone get what they want and need. This is better than the ‘chaos’ of the market. Unfortunately, it can’t work. You can’t figure out what people need, because absent personal agency and bidding between citizens for goods and services (i.e. a market), the information does not even exist.
> 
> Markets are a process of DISCOVERY. We constantly test new goods and ideas in the marketplace, and by so doing we discover what people want. When we sell goods at a specific price, it establishes that good in the hierarchy of values of the purchaser. We discover, for example, that an iPhone is worth more than a meal, and that a car is worth more than an iPhone. And through failed products we learn what people do not want or need. There is no way for central planners to know this, because the information does not exist without a market.
> 
> The old Soviet Union tried very hard to scientifically manage the economy. GOSPLAN, the state planning bureau, hired thousands of scientists, engineers, economists, accountants, etc. They spent enormous energy determining the exact mix of goods and services the people needed, and they tried to plan out the various industrial supply chains, etc. Despite enormous effort, they failed miserably. And they had lots of help by being able to inspect the markets of other countries and determine relative values that way. In addition, they tolerated extensive black markets to take the pressure off of lousy state planning.
> 
> In very small groups, you can sort out supply and demand by simply talking to each other, trusting in the others to tell you straight and not scam you. But if a regulator for a million people says, “Who needs a free hammer?”, what do you think will happen? Lots of people will say “I DO!”, even if they don’t. Because hey, free hammer. And trying to figure out exactly who does need a hammer is impossible. For example, I may have an old, chipped hammer, so I say I need a new one. But maybe other people don’t have one at all. How am I to know? Or maybe I don’t have a hammer, but neither does the guy in another city who desperately needs one for his activities, and I just need one ‘in case’. How can this be sorted out absent a market that sets prices? How can a central regulator possibly figure out how to deliver a million hammers to the right people? Answer: She can’t. She doesn’t have the information, because it doesn’t exist.
> 
> As a bookend to Hayek’s paper above, you might like to read his Nobel acceptance speech, on the [The Pretense of Knowledge](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1974/hayek/lecture/)
> 
> Notice that there isn’t a hint of bigotry in any of these ideas.

And yet, somehow, the fire department works without bankrupting society. In fact, no one has figured out a better system to fight fires than the fully government funded and entirely “free” (as far as anything funded by government is free) service of fire departments.

And that’s not the only example. Socialized health care works in many societies better than the US’s partially free market system in terms of efficiency and delivering care to all who need it.

There are others. Which is not to say that socialism is always superior – it very clearly is not. But it’s sometimes superior, when well run.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176/304 "2019-07-19T01:43:33Z")

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This is not an argument against any government services. It’s an argument against trying to ‘plan’ an economy.

Did you even read any of the links before responding with the usual ‘But fire departments!’ argument?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176/305 "2019-07-19T01:53:55Z")

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> [@Sam\_Stone](#):
>
> This is not an argument against any government services. It’s an argument against trying to ‘plan’ an economy.
> 
> Did you even read any of the links before responding with the usual ‘But fire departments!’ argument?

No one is arguing in favor of trying to plan an economy. American “socialists” want socialized health care, safety net, etc. They’re not trying to take food trucks away from entrepreneurs.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176/306 "2019-07-19T02:09:57Z")

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Technically, I want socialized insurance, not health care. The govt is good at collecting and distributing money, but I don’t want it to run my doctors practice.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176/307 "2019-07-19T02:23:32Z")

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> [@JohnT](#):
>
> Technically, I want socialized insurance, not health care. The govt is good at collecting and distributing money, but I don’t want it to run my doctors practice.

Not wanting the government to run your doctor’s practice is super racist. Or bigoted. Or both.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176/308 "2019-07-19T02:27:20Z")

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Many classically conservative values don’t appear to be based on bigotry, IMO. Supporting Trump, on the other hand, requires bigotry (and misogyny), tolerance of bigotry (and misogyny), or ignorance of bigotry (and misogyny), IMO.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176/309 "2019-07-19T04:21:24Z")

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> [@Chingon](#):
>
> You make a common mistake. He has no fundamentally different beliefs than 19 years ago. He’s just now feels empowered to embrace it. There are millions of others just like him.

That’s not fair. The dude self-waterboarded to ascertain whether or not Bush’s “it’s not torture, it’s really not that bad !” apologist crew were blowing smoke up America’s collective ass. He didn’t \*use \*to be all mindlessly locksteppy.

[QUOTE=Scylla]  
Go point out how Ilhan Omar’s anti-semitism and the Democrats’ defense of it is reprehensible.  
[/QUOTE]

What defence ? As far as I know she got pounded on, apologized, deleted the tweets and clarified that her comments had been made in ignorance of historical anti-semitic tropes and that she was criticizing Israel’s current policies and AIPAC specifically - not Jews. In fact, if you look even just a little bit beyond Fox News coverage of two tweets you’ll find e.g. [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWEQ9hhXQFM) of her in Congress in Feb. 2017 (so, a good year before the pitchforks ; but still within the context of defending the right of individuals to BDS Israel) :

[QUOTE=Omar]  
I certainly never advocate for any type of discrimination, I never will, but what I do advocate for is for all of us to work towards furthering peace in the world, and I do believe that you never get to having peace without justice. […] We know, and I am certainly saddened by the rise of antisemitism, and I have been part of a community that has been raising funds to support the Jewish community in this time of need, because as my community is struggling with the particular ban the President wants to put on us, the Jewish community has been side-by-side, fighting with us, making sure we have everything we need.  
[/QUOTE]

Jeez, what a fucking antisemite, huh ?  
Meanwhile hundreds of MAGAheads keep writing actually anti-Semitic shit (like House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy [who, in oct. 2018 tweeted](https://twitter.com/JuddLegum/status/1055170806949523458?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) “We cannot allow Soros, Steyer and Bloomberg to buy this election ! Go out and vote Republican on Nov. 6 ! MAGA !”. He wrote this \*after \*Soros was sent a pipebomb in the mail BTW. Can you hear the strong condemnations he keeps being hammered with from his party ? Oh no wait, I’m sorry, that’s just crickets.

[QUOTE=Scylla]  
Go denounce the Antifa attack on a journalist  
[/QUOTE]

What attack ? What journalist ? Are you talking about the Andy Ngo thing ?! Because if so, holy fuck. He’s barely a journalist, he’s a guy who knowingly goes out with Proud Boy gangsters setting out to commit violence (he, in fact, participates in the planning) ; and gleefully filmed a group of them attacking a leftist woman and\* breaking her fucking spine\* with metal batons. He then proceeded to doxx her for her trouble. Fuck that guy, for real.

(but then again, Joe Biden and Andrew Yang both condemned the attack and expressed support towards Ngo. So there you go.)

[QUOTE=Scylla]  
their takeover of Oregon  
[/QUOTE]

What are you talking about ? Like, there are right wing militias (and congresscritters) threatening to shoot government officials for doing their constitutional job, sure… how is that a librul takeover ?

[QUOTE=Scylla]  
their bombing of a detention center filled with immigrants  
[/QUOTE]

Yup, that’s totally a librul thing. Do you want to own up to your gunning down 51 Muslims in New Zealand, or would you rather admit to being beyond silly there ?

[QUOTE=Scylla]  
congratulate the Republicans for kicking King off the commute assignments.  
[/QUOTE]

Fuck that. It’s not like he suddenly came out as a White Power guy. He was, openly so, _proudly so_ when he was elected without any GOP challenger. He’d been for decades. And was he ostracized when he arrived in Washington ? Of course not - they gave him assignments and everything. It’s only when Democrats made noise that Republicans kicked him off. They sure as shit didn’t do it on their own.

> [@](#):
>
> “We’ve gotten to the point with Congressman King that many people almost expect this sort of behavior out of him,” said Nick Ryan, a Republican strategist in Iowa who has been a vocal critic of Mr. King. “So when he does something that’s inappropriate or outlandish, many people in leadership have chosen to turn their heads the other way, because they don’t know how else to deal with him.”

But sure, your guys get the yuuuugest gold star for kicking him out of a few committees. After letting him get elected unchallenged 9 times. Getting party funding all that time. And \*still \*not disavowing him or kicking him out of the party.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176/310 "2019-07-19T12:15:48Z")

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Openly anit-semitic or crypto-anti-semitic? You be the judge.

> [@Is Soros actually actively trying to change U.S. policy? Or what is the basis of the hatred?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-soros-actually-actively-trying-to-change-u-s-policy-or-what-is-the-basis-of-the-hatred/823682/44):
>
> I find this pretty odious:
> 
> [https://www.dailywire.com/news/37703/media-tout-jewish-leaders-pittsburgh-telling-trump-ben-shapiro](https://www.dailywire.com/news/37703/media-tout-jewish-leaders-pittsburgh-telling-trump-ben-shapiro)
> 
> One of Soros’ organizations basically impersonated the Pittsburgh Jewish community to blame Trump for for the shooting, and suggest he wasn’t welcome in Pittsburgh. The narrative got picked up by several news sources.
> 
> But they don’t speak for anybody and in fact the head of the Synagogue that got shot up said he would welcome Trump.
> 
> So, this kind of shit.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176/311 "2019-07-19T12:16:27Z")

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> [@Scylla](#):
>
> Republicans have done all these other things that are racist, aren’t republicans generally racist? How can you support racism? You should vote Democrat.

You may not be racist yourself, but if you voted for him, or people spouting the same hate, or you would be willing to for some other purpose, then you’re okay with it. Is that actually better, though?

> [@](#):
>
> But, the bottom line is that if you wish to be a person you need to call these things out when it happens on your side.

Then kindly do so, instead of doubling down, Trumpishly, when you’re shown to be factually wrong, as in the following:

> [@](#):
>
> I think Ilhan has shown herself to be a radical antisemite, time and time again.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kearsen1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Kearsen1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen1)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176/312 "2019-07-19T12:40:40Z")

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> [@thorny\_locust](#):
>
> You’ve only addressed the first part of my question…
> 
> You said your objection was based on permanent versus temporary assistance. Are you opposed to the permanent assistance suggested in the second half of that question, which I’ve quoted again in this post?

Funding that goes to schools only affects those IN school, temporarily.  
Funding special needs kids/adults for job programs is also fine with me as well since you know, they are actually actively doing something to better themselves.

Governmental assistance is a temporary solution to what should be temporary problems but what we see is that people become reliant on that governmental assistance instead of striving to be off of it and better themselves financially.

The fact that this adversely affects minorities and the fact that (with a broad brush) Democrats favor a very strong and mostly permanent safety net also coincides with minorities greatly leaning Democrat.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176/313 "2019-07-19T13:01:25Z")

</div>

> [@WillFarnaby](#):
>
> A flat tax as in everyone pays an equal percentage or everyone pays an equal amount. Either way it is equal.

That’s too simplistic an not a very useful definition. A tax has to “hurt” equally. Hurt meaning discomfort, not literal dollar values.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176/314 "2019-07-19T13:03:26Z")

</div>

> [@Kobal2](#):
>
> What defence ? As far as I know she got pounded on, apologized, deleted the tweets and clarified that her comments had been made in ignorance of historical anti-semitic tropes and that she was criticizing Israel’s current policies and AIPAC specifically - not Jews. In fact, if you look even just a little bit beyond Fox News coverage of two tweets you’ll find e.g. [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWEQ9hhXQFM) of her in Congress in Feb. 2017 (so, a good year before the pitchforks ; but still within the context of defending the right of individuals to BDS Israel) :
> 
> Jeez, what a fucking antisemite, huh ?

Not an apology. She never walked back her words and has continued saying similar things since. BDS is an openly anti-Semitic group, as Nancy Pelosi herself pointed out two weeks ago.

You make my point for me, defending the indefensible because it is on your side

> [@](#):
>
> What attack ? What journalist ? Are you talking about the Andy Ngo thing ?! Because if so, holy fuck. He’s barely a journalist, he’s a guy who knowingly goes out with Proud Boy gangsters setting out to commit violence (he, in fact, participates in the planning) ; and gleefully filmed a group of them attacking a leftist woman and\* breaking her fucking spine\* with metal batons. He then proceeded to doxx her for her trouble. Fuck that guy, for real.

Jesus fucking Christ, do you read anything but the shit Antifa put out after the incident? It’s not fucking true. He doxxed no one. He was standing there doing nothing but filming and they beat the shut out of him and gave him a brain bleed.

> [@](#):
>
> (but then again, Joe Biden and Andrew Yang both condemned the attack and expressed support towards Ngo. So there you go.)

Yeah. They are the exception.

> [@](#):
>
> What are you talking about ? Like, there are right wing militias (and congresscritters) threatening to shoot government officials for doing their constitutional job, sure… how is that a librul takeover ?

Yeah, my bad. I guess it’s all just fine, then. Congratulations on your moral high ground.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176/315 "2019-07-19T13:09:11Z")

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> [@WillFarnaby](#):
>
> 10% is not equal to 10%?
> 
> $10k is not equal to 10k?
> 
> Look I can see that you do not understand the conservative position. This is the perfect demonstration of Haidt’s claims.

You (or Haidt) are hung up on literal dollar values. That’s not the point. But just keep talking about how your amplifier goes to 11.

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**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176/316 "2019-07-19T13:11:37Z")

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> [@Kearsen1](#):
>
> What is “fair” about taking more of a high income earners money than a low?
> 
> Go on, define your terms

Sounds like you’re not going to answer. Didn’t expect you would, though.

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**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176/317 "2019-07-19T13:27:49Z")

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> [@Kearsen1](#):
>
> Funding special needs kids/adults for job programs is also fine with me as well since you know, they are actually actively doing something to better themselves.

So it’s got nothing to do with whether the funding is permanent or temporary; it’s got to do with whether the people benefitting are, in your opinion, trying to “better themselves”.

That’s an arguable position, and I could say several things about it and might when I have the time; but it’s not the same thing as “What I’m after is governmental assistance that is ‘temporary’ is perfectly acceptable in my eyes. ALL of it. The permanence of it is unacceptable.”; which is what you said in post #256. The distinction you’re making isn’t between “permanent” and “temporary”; it’s between people who you think deserve it and people who you think don’t.

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**Author:** ![Kearsen1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Kearsen1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen1)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176/318 "2019-07-19T13:42:37Z")

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> [@thorny\_locust](#):
>
> So it’s got nothing to do with whether the funding is permanent or temporary; it’s got to do with whether the people benefitting are, in your opinion, trying to “better themselves”.
> 
> That’s an arguable position, and I could say several things about it and might when I have the time; but it’s not the same thing as “What I’m after is governmental assistance that is ‘temporary’ is perfectly acceptable in my eyes. ALL of it. The permanence of it is unacceptable.”; which is what you said in post #256. The distinction you’re making isn’t between “permanent” and “temporary”; it’s between people who you think deserve it and people who you think don’t.

It can be both. Imagine a line.

Those who can help themselves but don’t much care to.

Those that cannot.

I am not mindlessly advocating for a temporary solution to a permanent fix that we don’t have a solution to. (Special needs or those who flat out cannot work) but AM advocating a temporary solution to those who can

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176/319 "2019-07-19T13:44:46Z")

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> [@Scylla](#):
>
> BDS is an openly anti-Semitic group, as Nancy Pelosi herself pointed out two weeks ago.

Nancy Pelosi is wrong. Being anti-Israel (or more properly anti-Israeli-policies) is not anti-Semitic, much like being anti-South Africa wasn’t being anti-Dutch. You may not agree with them, but they absolutely have the right to decide that they don’t want any of their money to fund Bibi. Why do you hate freedom, brah ?

> [@](#):
>
> Jesus fucking Christ, do you read anything but the shit Antifa put out after the incident?

Do you read \*anything \*Antifa actually says ?

> [@](#):
>
> It’s not fucking true. He doxxed no one.

["]Yes. He did.]([http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/It’s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/It%E2%80%99s) not fucking true. He doxxed no one. He was standing there doing nothing but filming and they beat the shut out of him and gave him a brain bleed.  
[/QUOTE)  
He’s also published a list of journalists “tied” to Antifa according to him. The list has been making the rounds at StormFront and Atomwaffen Division. Real stand-up kind of guy.

> [@](#):
>
> He was standing there doing nothing but filming and they beat the shut out of him and gave him a brain bleed.

He’s affiliated with the Proud Boys and follows them around, helping them stir violence. He’s an asshole who enables violence and regularly calls for it. He’s scum, plain and simple. That doesn’t mean he deserved to catch anything more than a milkshake, but I won’t cry bitter tears for him either.

> [@](#):
>
> Yeah, my bad. I guess it’s all just fine, then. Congratulations on your moral high ground.

It’s really not the point. I’m really, REALLY wondering how anyone could spin “a right wing militia is essentially besieging the House” as a liberal take over.  
One also pointedly notes you quietly dropped the other two items on your list.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conservative-values-arent-based-on-bigotry/837176/320 "2019-07-19T13:45:03Z")

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Is the conservative tendency to place people in groups and then place valuations on worthiness of those groups of _humans_, ala Kearsen’s post above… is that “bigoted”, even if the valuations are made on non-racial grounds?

\<Maybe that’s y’all’s problem: You place people in groups and then assign dollar bills as to their worthiness. [Well, stop it. Get some help.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb8z2BMrd60&t=48s)\>

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