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polymathwannabe comments on Open thread, Jan. 18 - Jan. 24, 2016 - Less Wrong Discussion

4 Post author: MrMind 18 January 2016 09:42AM

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Comment author: Clarity 22 January 2016 02:39:27AM 1 point [-]

I silently think I have conservative political values, yet my private lifestyle is anything but. In real life, I generally expouse fairly conservative views too, in contrast to my online posting behaviours. It’s one reason I am hesistant to be completely transparent about my LessWrong/reddit identities and my every day physical world identity.

I reckon it’s okay to have different attitudes to public and private life, since governance is differant than running your own life. However, the hypocrisy kinda unnerves me. My intuition is that conservative aesthetics make me less anxious. People around me will be more predictable and that’s a society I will feel safer in. But, I don’t trust the world to provide for me an acceptable life, so I life a free life of experimentation privately. Should I redefine my values or lifetyle?

Comment author: polymathwannabe 22 January 2016 03:28:22PM 1 point [-]

I have liberal politics and choose to live a very restrained personal life. I don't see any incompatibility. Why do you feel hypocritical?

Comment author: gjm 22 January 2016 11:15:19PM 2 points [-]

Oversimplifying:

  • Liberals say "do what you like". If you are liberal and choose not to do X, Y, and Z then you are not violating any of your espoused principles.
  • Conservatives say "don't do X, Y, or Z". If you are conservative and choose to do X, Y, and Z then you are violating your espoused principles.

(I repeat, the above is an oversimplification, and in fact there are things most liberals say not to do and most conservatives don't object to.)