Dear ttbn,

I appreciate you, also. Lefties and righties are both human. There are some people I would rather not deal with. However, it has nothing to do with whether they are a lefty or a righty. Mussolini started out as a lefty. Then he became a righty.

Lefties and righties may be democratic, honest and truthful. They may be authoritarian, dishonest and liars. Virtue is attached to neither tendency. Unfortunately some lefties think of righties as bad or misguided people and vice versa.

We get into bubbles and reinforce our opinions. We classify people. I hope we can get beyond seeing people mainly as lefties and righties.

Dear David,

I agree with you. However, in order to succeed
in stopping labelling we need to better understand
where people are coming from and why.

Here's a link that provides some answers:

http://oxfordpoliticalreview.com/2019/07/13/how-australia-became-a-conservative-nation/

david f,

I said , "So, it's only selected people that Paul 1405 rubbishes if they live in a retirement village".

I will never understand why people don't read what is written.

Hi, Nah ttbn,

Its only those living in the R.I.P Retirement Village for Old Farts, and by Old Fart I don't mean by age. Those who retired their brain at a very early age, say 21 or younger, or never had a functioning brain to begin with would be classified as an Old Fart, unfortunate but true, people above a certain age are simply the elderly. Those with no progressive thinking are Old Farts, conservatives locked in their '1952 Time Warp' and can't move into the present, qualify as Old Farts in my book. I can't help that.

Hi david f,

In my view there is no Left and Right, (the French have a lot to answer for) only moderate, and then there are varying degrees to the extreme. With the variation from moderate to extreme a factor of the societies prevailing social, political and economic conditions at a given time. I believe in the 'Horseshoe Political Principle';

"In political science and popular discourse, the horseshoe theory asserts that the extreme left and the extreme right, rather than being at opposite and opposing ends of a linear political continuum, closely resemble each other, analogous to the way that the opposite ends of a horseshoe are close together."

I see Hitler and Stalin, not as extreme right and left opposites, but simply similar extremes, to the point where they were within calling distance of each other, and one could be transposed into the others regime with little dislocation. They were not brothers in arms, but brothers in competition who could accommodate each other if required.

The other concept I find misunderstood by many is the term 'radical' you cannot be progressive without be radical, but then radicalism can lead to extremism, and many equate radicalism with extremism, and that is not always the case.

Hi there DAVID F...

As you may know, I've always held your intellect in very high regard, in fact you'd probably be the most intelligent gentleman on this Forum. However, I rarely agree with any of your philosophical beliefs, as articulated on many of your posts herein. Nor your obvious tendency to support the 'Left' in many of the topics raised herein.

Nonetheless, I admire you as an intellect, and as a genuine gentleman, DAVID F. And I'm sure many others would agree, that your presence has greatly enriched the quality of 'The Forum'. Thank you sir for all your learned contributions to this Site.

Hi David,

Yes, I think the privilege here is to be able to share opinions. The one truth that I hope people gain from the experience is that being a good or bad person is not defined by your opinion of a particular matter.