Left as an Exercise

Everyone knows the basic frames behind liberal-conservative stereotyping: the liberal positions are full of wishy-washy flipflopping and the conservative ones are hypocritical. I’d always assumed that this was an exaggeration on a kernel of truth (due, for instance, to message discipline - if a liberal group values freedom of expression then conflicting opinions will appear in the group, while a conservative group values existing authorities leading to an image of infallibility, so admission of a mistake becomes impossible), combined with a healthy dose of political opportunism on both sides (just interpreted in different ways), but now, I’m not so sure.

A few days ago, I saw an interview between Rachel Maddow and J. D. Hayworth, a conservative former Representative currently challenging John McCain from the right. During that interview, something happened that crystallized a thought in my mind, which may actually explain the entirety of the ideological communication gap. Here’s the followup to the video, highlighting the exchange in question at 3:10:

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