"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."

well everybody already knows how I voted on this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY8UD-eLIfw

there's a slightly amusing joke about this quote in the mediocre movie "next stop wonderland"

the right wing is consistently inconsistent in a consistent manner.

I wonder sometimes if the elevation of consistency as an overarching important virtue is killing our society's ability to compromise.

shh! Compromise is for RINOs and socialists.

Write-in vote for: "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function"- F Scott Fitzgerald, The Crack-Up

I wonder sometimes if the elevation of consistency as an overarching important virtue is killing our society's ability to compromise.

― people are for loving (HI DERE), Friday, August 6, 2010 2:08 PM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark

^^^^^THIS

it's not that consistency isn't to be valued (i refuse to budge on, say, choice and my opposition to the death penalty), it's that the media and public at large has laid down such crude terms for political dialogue that being nuanced actually just means you're "undecided" and uncourageous in your convictions.

yeah that is a better way of stating what pisses me off about discussing politics with ppl

this is why libertarianism seems like the most pernicious of all political ideologies imo---it's probably the simplest to sign up for, intellectually, and it makes virtually every political decision incredibly easy to make, as they are all stripped of any moral or ethical calculus.

like i watched that "yes men" documentary the other night (it's...ok, and v smug), and they had all these dudes at these libertarian think tanks on. they were all well-spoken, and seemed genuinely unlike most rightwing crazies---they had come to their position intellectually, not viscerally. but then they just stopped, because libertarianism/free-market thinking is like truth machine that makes what should be wrenching ethical decisions for you.

gbx, HI DERE otm

also dislike the way that "thought this, thought about it some more, changed mind" is shocking flip-flopping etc and not just, you know, a natural reaction to seeing more real-world evidence

A lot of people don't want reasoned changing of minds, they want conversion. (Because their own faith in a view of things is that shallow, it seems.)

When I was in fourth grade, I read this quote, and I tried so hard to make jokes out of it. "Hemoglobin is the consistency of your mind!" "A foolish hobgoblin has a consistent mind!" And they all, consistently, bombed.

the elevation of consistency as an overarching important virtue is killing our society's ability to compromise.

yesss

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i used this line in an editorial once, criticizing a local school board for egregiously stupid "zero-tolerance" prosecutions of minor student offenses. one of the school board members came up and asked me where the quote was from. when i said emerson, she gave me a blank look.

there's a slightly amusing joke about this quote in the mediocre movie "next stop wonderland"

― congratulations (n/a), Friday, August 6, 2010 3:03 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

that movie is how i know this quotation!

The key ingredient in the quote is "foolish". A foolish consistency is one that ignores changing conditions, overlooks new information, or is blind to results that do not jibe with expectations. This quote seems to me to describe a lot of conservative Republicans, libertarians, and fundamentalists to a tee.

yeah. quote basically describes ideologues. and ideologues = fundamentalists.

he media and public at large has laid down such crude terms for political dialogue that being nuanced actually just means you're "undecided" and uncourageous in your convictions.

...this is why libertarianism seems like the most pernicious of all political ideologies imo---it's probably the simplest to sign up for, intellectually, and it makes virtually every political decision incredibly easy to make, as they are all stripped of any moral or ethical calculus.

― pies. (gbx)

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