Chris Green writes: >currently in Montreal... reading and enjoying _The Spirit Level: >Why Equlaity is Better for Everyone_, in which Oliver James is >occasionally cited, which I am sure will rankle Allen's apparently >reflexive Toryism. :-)
Ignoring the smiley (which just possibly may be a device by which Chris may brush off my reply as taking his comment too seriously), Chris's comment says more about him than about me. Evidently anyone who doesn't endorse a 'progressive' (or whatever word one might use to describe it) agenda on a variety of subjects is "right-wing" or, in the British context, a Tory. Scott Lilienfeld recently dubbed this mind-set "group think". In fact I have voted Conservative in a general election only once in the whole of my fairly lengthy life – and that was in the recent election, and only because my local Tory candidate was a youngish black guy who's been a good local councillor and whose policies on education (especially in relation to under-achieving boys of Afro-Caribbean descent) I was impressed by. Whether in the political field, or any other, my approach is to endeavour to take any case on its merits, regardless of who is the proponent. It is also one of taking contentions (whether in articles or books) with a modicum of caution, always wanting to know the evidence for specific assertions, no matter how categorically they are asserted. (I'm constantly astonished how often reviewers of non-fiction books take supposedly factual assertions at their face value, as if they are true by virtue of their being published in a book.) Maybe this attitude of mind became a basic part of my outlook because I was brought up in a Communist household, and was involved in one or two other left wing groups in my early adulthood. What that background impressed on me was the extent that the thinking of many people (most people?) who have a strong interest in political/social affairs is constrained by whatever is acceptable within the groups (or, more generally, social circles) within which they function. As indicated above, I hope that experience has largely immunised me against such a restriction on one's critical faculties. Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London allenester...@compuserve.com http://www.esterson.org --------------------------------------- From: Christopher D. Green <chri...@yorku.ca> Subject: Re: Are Genes Left-Wing? Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2010 18:08:58 -0400 Free will for me. Determinism (genetic or environmental) for thee. Chris Green currently in Montreal... reading and enjoying _The Spirit Level: Why Equlaity is Better for Everyone_, in which Oliver James is occasionally cited, which I am sure will rankle Allen's apparently reflexive Toryism. :-) --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=5751 or send a blank email to leave-5751-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
