Hacker News Reader

Comment by Flankk | Hacker News Reader

There's way too much emotion in politics these days. I would like to see a return of rational discourse. I've had my fill of both the screaming liberals and the dusty conservatives. Most of the complex issues deal with morality so it's probably all for naught. The tip of the morality pyramid is God for most people. No point using empirical evidence when you don't believe in it to begin with.

View on HN

> The tip of the morality pyramid is God for most people

I don't believe this is true in western societies anymore. Even in the US, people who describe themselves as "very religious" or belong to a church are the minority.

I looked it up and it's in decline but still three-quarters of America. Half of Americans said their religion is very important in their own life.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/358364/religious-americans.aspx

> people who describe themselves as "very religious" or belong to a church are the minority.

i’m not sure this is at all an accurate depiction of americans and religion. last i looked into it—which admittedly was like two years ago—an absolutely terrifying number of americans believed in angels and god. if i’m remembering correctly, it was a wild shocking number, like more than 70%.

i mean, if we’re limiting it to only self-described “very religious” maybe, but believing in god and angels is suspect enough in a persons rational judgement and that absolutely is not a minority of people.

There is no single depiction of "Americans and religion". The country is too large, physically, for that to be the case. I wouldn't even break it down to state level. I'd personally break it down closer to county level.

> There's way too much emotion in politics these days. I would like to see a return of rational discourse.

Politics affect people's daily lives. Suggesting that people should just ignore the inherent emotional component of these decisions and the impact that they have on our lives is both incredibly unrealistic and quite a privileged position to occupy.

Regardless, the actual policies should not be driven by emotion. The problem is, those in power weaponize the emotions of their constituents, and it makes very bad politics.

The people you speak of cannot learn and grow out of their false paradigms unless they are given the chance to fail.

Silencing them is a recipe for a chain reaction / cascade of failures. It is not a winning strategy.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com