Leo Gura

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  2. Posted · Edited by Leo Gura

    33 minutes ago, Bobby_2021 said:

    Which is why I say that conservatism/liberalism isn't a left or right thing.

    This is just historically wrong.

    Left and right are terms which we got from the French Revolution. In the French Revolution the conservatives who supported the monarchy sat on the right side of the chamber. The liberals who wanted to end the monarchy and establish a democracy sat on the left.

    That's literally what those terms mean.

    In the past, conservatives used to defend monarchy and denounce democracy. And even today, conservatives are not as democratic as liberals. Why? Because the conservative mind favors hierarchy over egalitarianism. Conservatives think that egalitarianism is wrong because people are not equal by nature.

    The simple reason that conservatives lean toward Nazism is because they love hierarchy. They want a strongman to follow. That's why they love Trump! And why they hate weepy gay liberals and feminists. A conservative believes that if you have a soft, gay, feminine leader that your civilization will collapse.

  3. Posted · Edited by Leo Gura

    @OBEler Here you go:

    Question: "There are scientific studies which measure differences between the liberal and conservative mind and/or brain. Can you summarize some of those differences and tell me which type of mind/brain would find Nazism most appealing?"

    Claude 3:

    Quote

    "There have been several studies that have attempted to identify neurological and psychological differences between liberal and conservative individuals. However, it's important to note that these studies often deal with averages and tendencies, and there is significant overlap and variation within each group. With that said, here are some of the key findings:

    • Fear and Threat Response: Several studies have found that conservatives tend to have a heightened sensitivity to potential threats and dangers, which may be linked to increased activity in the amygdala (the brain's fear center). Liberals, on the other hand, tend to be less sensitive to potential threats.
    • Cognitive Style: Conservatives have been found to prefer more structured, persistent, and inflexible cognitive styles, while liberals tend to be more open to new experiences and ambiguity.
    • Moral Foundations: Research suggests that conservatives tend to value moral foundations like loyalty, authority, and purity more strongly, while liberals place greater emphasis on harm prevention and fairness.
    • Personality Traits: Conservatives tend to score higher on traits like orderliness, conscientiousness, and need for closure, while liberals tend to score higher on openness to experience.
    • Brain Structure: Some studies have found differences in brain structure between liberals and conservatives, such as increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex (involved in decision-making) among conservatives.

    Based on these findings, it can be argued that individuals with a more conservative cognitive style, heightened fear response, and stronger emphasis on loyalty, authority, and purity might be more susceptible to the appeal of authoritarian and nationalist ideologies like Nazism.

    Nazism's emphasis on strong leadership, racial purity, and "us vs. them" mentality could resonate more strongly with individuals who have a higher need for order, in-group loyalty, and sensitivity to perceived threats from outsiders.

    However, it's crucial to emphasize that these are tendencies, and many other factors, such as education, personal experiences, and social influences, also play a significant role in shaping one's political and ideological beliefs. Additionally, the vast majority of conservatives would reject the extreme, racist, and totalitarian principles of Nazism.

    Ultimately, while these studies provide insights into potential psychological and neurological differences, they should not be used to stereotype or generalize entire groups of people."

    Looks like Claude 3 is superior to ChatGPT.

  4. Posted · Edited by Leo Gura

    24 minutes ago, Bobby_2021 said:

    You are telling me a that a country like Russia ignored all their communist left wing history to elect a right wing leader.

    I already explained this earlier in this thread.

    Soviet Russia was deeply under-developed and oppressed by the conservative Tsarist regime. Then their heads were filled with liberal, progressive ideas from Western Europe, including Marxism. Some of those early Soviet revolutionaries were truly leftist, liberal, and progressive. However, as the revolution raged on all the bleeding heart liberals were killed or kicked out from power, until Lenin and Stalin, both shameless and immoral egotists, grabbed power for themselves at the cost of everyone else. They created a twisted self-serving ideology which was progressive in its ideals, but actually right-wing authoritarian in its execution. Fidel Castro did the same thing. He spoke highly of democratic populist ideas, but in practice he ruled like a right-wing authoritarian. Fidel Castro personally oversaw drug smuggling operations to fuel his bank account, even though he denied all this publicly. Stalin was a bank-robber.

    Because Communist nations were so under-developed, even if the leaders professed liberal or progressive ideals, in practice they had to resort to criminal domination in order to hold power. This rendered their progressivism moot. Just window-dressing. Stalin, Mao, Lenin, Castro.... these people were incapable of being liberal or progressive regardless of what they said publicly. They said a bunch of liberal things publicly in order to gain and hold power because the mood of the people was to overthrow oppressive capitalist or monarchist regimes.

    Here's another claim for you: Monarchists were conservative. Before Fascism, there were monarchies. And the people who overthrew monarchs were liberals. The terms "left" and "right" come to us from the French Revolution. The right were the conservative monarchists while the left were the democratic liberals who cut off the heads of kings.

  12. Posted · Edited by Leo Gura

    12 minutes ago, OBEler said:

    but not fascism is conservative

    Conservative is a much broader notion than Fascism.

    Brains are wired to be more conservative or more liberal. This wiring then guides one's political inclinations.

    For example, the Taliban, Osama Bin Laden, and Quakers are very conservative, even though they don't fit into your narrow definitions of what a Western conservative is.

    Conservative minds have existed since the dawn of mankind, in every part of the world, in every era. This conservative attitude then manifests itself in a thousand ways depending on the specific circumstance of the era and part of the world.

    Nazis have conservative minds and brains. That's the fundamental insight that is being missed and that I am pointing to.

    You should watch my videos:

    • Understanding The Conservative Mind
    • Understanding The Liberal Mind

    I explained it all there.

  13. Posted · Edited by Leo Gura

    9 minutes ago, Bobby_2021 said:

    You know how leftists won the propaganda war when terms like fascism apply exclusively to the right wing.

    Fascism is fairly specific thing and has a pretty specific academic definition.

    Here's how Wikipedia defines Fascism:

    "Opposed to anarchism, democracy, pluralism, liberalism, socialism, and Marxism, fascism is placed on the far-right wing within the traditional left–right spectrum."

    Really, the two clear examples of Fascism are Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Italy. Beyond those two the notion starts to get stretched.

  15. Posted · Edited by Leo Gura

    15 minutes ago, OBEler said:

    "Nazism represents an extreme, authoritarian form of fascist nationalism that defies placement on the standard left-right political spectrum, where liberalism and conservatism typically reside."

    Fascism and nationalism are right-wing and conservative. So this statement contradicts itself and your own prior admission that Nazism is right-wing.

    Right-wing means conservative. Stop playing games.

    Nazism is also illiberal. Don't overlook that basic point.

  18. Posted · Edited by Leo Gura

    I asked the Claude 3 Sonnet AI about this issue. Here's what it said:

    My Question:

    Quote

    Is Nazism a liberal or conservative ideology?

    Claude 3 Response:

    Quote

    Nazism, also known as National Socialism, was a far-right, ultranationalist, racist, and anti-Semitic ideology that was promoted by the Nazi Party in Germany. It was a totalitarian and authoritarian form of government that strictly controlled nearly all aspects of society.

    Nazism is generally considered to be on the extreme far-right of the political spectrum, opposite of liberal ideologies. Some of the core tenets and practices of Nazism that place it firmly in opposition to liberal values include:

    • Extreme nationalism and militarism
    • Belief in racial hierarchy and racial supremacy (Aryan master race)
    • Extreme antisemitism and persecution of Jewish people
    • Suppression of democracy, civil liberties and political opposition
    • Totalitarian control of society, economy and culture
    • Promotion of traditionalist gender roles and opposition to feminism
    • Hostility towards liberalism, socialism, and communism

    While the Nazis did implement some socialistic economic policies early on, these were outweighed by their staunchly anti-democratic, anti-egalitarian, and racist principles that were in direct conflict with liberal values of individual rights, equality, and democratic pluralism.

    Most mainstream historians, political scientists, and other experts agree that Nazism was an extreme far-right reactionary ideology that arose in opposition to liberal democracy, egalitarianism, and civil rights. It represented a totalitarian form of conservative racial-nationalism focused on purification of the Aryan race.

    So in summary, while the Nazis adopted some superficial socialist-style policies, Nazism as a whole is considered an illiberal, conservative, far-right, and brutally totalitarian ideology that was antithetical to liberal democratic values. It was not a liberal political ideology by any measure.

    But I guess Clause 3 is too woke.

  22. Posted · Edited by Leo Gura

    The issue is that Musk lets his whims dictate the moderation of Twitter when it would be far better to have a consistent set of guidelines which is applied impartially by an independent panel of experts or judges. Musk should take himself out of the loop, but he's too egotistical to do that. He likes being the king of Twitter. But that's not good for the platform.

  24. Posted · Edited by Leo Gura

    51 minutes ago, Merkabah Star said:

    Musk also said to Don “If a post was illegal, “we’re going to take it down”,, adding that if it did not break the law, “we’re putting our thumb on the scale or being censors”. 

    Every community requires rules beyond what is strictly illegal.

    You cannot dine at a restuarant barefoot.

    For example: Kanye West was kicked off Twitter by Musk for posting a swastika. But swastikas are not illegal. Hence Musk is full of shit.

    What Musk should be saying is: "We will do the bare minimum of moderation that we can get away with. That will be Twitter's philosophy."

    That would be an acceptable and reasonable position for him to take. Musk is not framing his position properly, which leads to needless drama and outrage.

  25. Posted · Edited by Leo Gura

    33 minutes ago, Merkabah Star said:

    I wasn’t a huge fan of Elon until he said that comment.. quote of the decade. 

    I don’t think he humiliated himself at all. 

    Except no online platform can exist without moderation, including his own platform, so that is BS logic.

    It's like saying you want to run a government without laws because laws are repression. Okay, but that just means you don't understand what government is and you should not be running it.

    The problem is that Musk does moderation to suit his own agenda.

    YT has moderation and never in 10 years have I felt censored.

    Every community needs rules for people to follow as a precondition for being part of that community. Even criminal gangs have rules.