Partisanship: Why?

I see a lot of people everywhere (and I'm talking all over the internet and in real life) who feel the need to align themselves with a political...alignment unwaveringly. Now, it's all well and good if that's what they truly believe in, good for them then. My issue is when people start attacking other political parties seemingly just for the sake of insulting them. What is it that brings out this "us vs. them" mentality in people regarding politics? Why is it that so many people feel the need to cast the blame on an entire group of people for problems just because they don't completely agree with all their political ideology?

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This thread is about partisanship in general, the whys and the hows. Do not try to turn it into an attack on your favorite target, or a defense of your chosen stance.

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

And therein lies my purpose for creating this thread, the fact that so many people seem to be in love with doing that.

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Because "Us vs Them" is a very natural thing for humans to do, and is a highly effective way to mobilize people towards attaining a specific goal.

Because at a certain point, no matter how much someone may claim that their ideas are based on "what works," it comes down to morality and ideology, and it's effectively impossible, again past a certain point, to compromise with ideals and morals if one hopes to stand as a being independent from a generalized, formless majority value system...

"Shit, our candidate is a psychopath. Better replace him with Newt Gingrich."

What Flyboy said.

A great example of this, and I know it's very controversial, is the Abortion debate. Morality plays a simply massive part of the debate, but both sides have explanations. Often, the matter that decides which side of the issue is when you think life begins. And changing that view is nigh on impossible. So we have the two sides, the Pro-Choice side and the Pro-life side. Both as entrenched in their belief systems as the fungus in california that covers several miles.

Very big Daydream Believer. "That's not knowledge, that's a crapshoot!" -Al Murray "Welcome to QI" -Stephen Fry

I'll go with "What Ace said". There are all sorts of theories about why we do it, but what is absolutely certain is that humans naturally assign classifications of "Us" and "Not-us"; that we have done so for thousands of years, at least; and that those classifications are terrifically important and powerful, once formed.

Political alignment is an easy and relatively clear way to identify one set of classifications.

edited 18th Jan '12 3:50:36 PM by Madrugada

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

I think part of it comes from being too involved in an argument. The longer you engage in a particular debate, the more ideas reinforce what you learn, and you become increasingly entrenched in your viewpoints. Eventually, it becomes hard for you to consider the other side. Issues which you are convinced by begin to mix with views that are less assured, but reinforce your viewpoint because they are tangentally related. Lines begin to blur, people begin to lose the big picture... and when you throw money and alliances into the mix, things get even uglier.

The term "Great Man" is disturbingly interchangeable with "mass murderer" in history books.

I Think another facet to it is simple. H Umans like to see themselves as reasonable, morally upright, and well-intentioned. The problem is, this also makes it very hard fr the baser parts of our logic to understand that someone with diametrically oppposed viewpoints might have just as much evidence and logic backing up their point of view. Which unfortunately leads to assuming that either theyre stubborn and underinformed, or willfully supporting policies you find morally abhorrent.

It shuts down thought because it's a deep seated emotional response. The best counter I've found is to never consider yourself part of an "us".

Fight smart, not fair.

That. Its very hard for humans to not assume that anyone who isnt on their side isnt willfully advocating those positions fully knowing how "evil" they are.

@Deboss: Yeah, but "Me vs the rest of you" isn't any better.

"I don't know how I do it. I'm like the Mr. Bean of sex." -Drunkscriblerian

Well, it's more that there's me and the black boxes piloting the meat puppets around me. It does come with the slight downside of requiring a bit of paranoia as well. However, I have a much easier time dealing with the idea that people value different things than I do, and thus they can draw different conclusions while still being logical. Logic is how you read the map, not the starting point.

edited 18th Jan '12 6:14:09 PM by Deboss

Fight smart, not fair.

But could there not be a difference between "I am against you all" and "I choose not to take a side here"? Still, people often interpret the latter to be the same as the former...

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@Deboss

Wouldn't never assuming that someone's a "them" be much easier?

That involves expanding the monkeysphere. Which, while possible, is pretty hard to do and convince people to value.

Only if I had a Hive Mind going. There's me, and there's (not) me.

Fight smart, not fair.