Politics ambidextrous
2024-08-28 13:30:00 +07:00 by Mark Smith
I guess this idea makes the most immediate sense in the context of US politics, but maybe also the UK, and other places where there are two main political parties. Does this exist? Is it a thing?
A politics ambidextrous person would be able to see from both vantage points with the fluidity as a bilingual person can interpret 2 languages. In a sense it’s really just the same thing, all be it at a higher level of abstraction. Importantly though, it’s not just about comprehension, that’s part of it, but such a person would also be able to perform and be successful in both environments.
It’s only relatively recently that I have started to move my attention towards politics. One thing that has suprised me is the level of polarisation between say, in the US, Democrats and Republicans, but there’s a similar thing going on between Labour and Conservatives in the UK. The thing that’s somewhat amusing is that even if you take just one political party, the same pattern, or at least similar repeats itself again, except other categorisations are used such as progressives, or libertarians.
There’s always an us and them that develops. Anyway that’s not super important right now just worth noting.
One thing that was quite a suprise to me was how ingrained some of these beliefs are. It makes sense because we are raised from birth to absorb these ideas without really noticing. There are areas of our lives where the programing runs deep. At times it’s easy to spot in others, but difficult to see in yourself. That’s where the ambidextrous idea arose from. I wonder if it’s even possible.
I would imagine that it could be quite a skill to have. Obviously for say an actor, you would immediately double the space of possible work opportunities. But the same should hold for other professions too. You are a lot more likely to fit in if you can see the world through the two major political lenses.
On the other hand, I imagine that such thinking might be considered heracy by those who were staunchly one side or the other, which is probably why nobody ever mentions this idea. I’m obviously quite stupid.
So anyway, if they do exist, the other thing I wonder, is if they could perhaps help us all get along a bit better? #