Eduardo Santiago reviewed Three Languages of Politics by Arnold Kling
Review of 'Three Languages of Politics' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
What if the people we disagree with politically are real human beings? What if they're not just total idiots? Kling describes three axes of political tendencies -- progressive, conservative, libertarian -- and presents the motivations behind each one, getting the reader to empathize instead of dismiss. And from that, perhaps, engage in productive and compassionate discussion.
This is a short but powerful booklet. No matter who you are, where you stand on the spectrum, or how compassionate (or not) you believe yourself to be, please consider reading it. Especially now (by which I mean "now", the moment you're reading this, which may be years after I write these words. I suspect the problems we face will be the same).
It's not perfect. Kling offers no solutions to the problem of tribal allegiances (which lead us to form opinions just to help fit in) and of manipulation by malevolent political/religious/media figures. …
What if the people we disagree with politically are real human beings? What if they're not just total idiots? Kling describes three axes of political tendencies -- progressive, conservative, libertarian -- and presents the motivations behind each one, getting the reader to empathize instead of dismiss. And from that, perhaps, engage in productive and compassionate discussion.
This is a short but powerful booklet. No matter who you are, where you stand on the spectrum, or how compassionate (or not) you believe yourself to be, please consider reading it. Especially now (by which I mean "now", the moment you're reading this, which may be years after I write these words. I suspect the problems we face will be the same).
It's not perfect. Kling offers no solutions to the problem of tribal allegiances (which lead us to form opinions just to help fit in) and of manipulation by malevolent political/religious/media figures. But he does cite excellent references, all of which I've read and can recommend for further study: [b:The Big Sort|2569072|The Big Sort Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart|Bill Bishop|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406084491s/2569072.jpg|2578831], [b:The Myth of the Rational Voter|698866|The Myth of the Rational Voter Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies|Bryan Caplan|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349018677s/698866.jpg|685181], [b:Thinking, Fast and Slow|11468377|Thinking, Fast and Slow|Daniel Kahneman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317793965s/11468377.jpg|16402639], [b:The Righteous Mind|11324722|The Righteous Mind Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion|Jonathan Haidt|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1351393217s/11324722.jpg|16252969], [b:You Are Not So Smart|11709037|You Are Not So Smart Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself|David McRaney|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1391879112s/11709037.jpg|16656588]. (I was surprised he didn't mention [b:Moral Tribes|17707599|Moral Tribes Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them|Joshua Greene|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1368425200s/17707599.jpg|24757128], but then realized it was published later).
