That’s their core essence – that people don’t have a right to basic human dignity. That’s what I see among conservatives, that the idea is to see how much people can accumulate. And I don’t just mean in wealth – whether it’s titles. I have a friend who’s quite wealthy. He says it’s come to the game “who’s got more?” – not whether you have something to spend it on or not.
The essence of that value is that you and yours is all that matters, and that we’re all alone in this universe to be and do what we can, and what happens to the person you step over who fell down on the curb on skid row because they got dumped there by county hospital – that’s not your problem.
I think it goes beyond indifference. I think it’s actually total lack of awareness. It’s not just that they see something and say “I choose not to do anything about it”. They’re not even aware of anything outside of the bubble of what’s inside themselves.
More about Dogmatism
Dogmatism Definition:- The intolerance and prejudice of a bigot
- The manner or character of a dogmatist; arrogance or positiveness in stating opinion.
http://www.freedictionary.org/?Query=dogmatism
http://www.onelook.com/?w=Dogmatism
Dogmatism
An approach to ideas that emphasizes rigid adherence to doctrine over rational and enlightened inquiry. The opposite approach is probably best characterized as rationalism (in the sense of devotion to clear reasoning and independent thinking) or, perhaps, eclecticism.
http://www.ismbook.com/dogmatism.html
Wikipedia
Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, ideology or any kind of organization, thought to be authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted or diverged from......
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogma
Questions to Ponder:
- Can you pose some questions about conservatives and their value of dogmatism?
- What are the progressive alternative values to dogmatism?
- What are examples of conservative dogmatism?
- What's wrong with dogmatism and why does it fail?
- In what other ways have Conservative Values Failed?
