For people with IQ over 80, highlighting that people in different tribes are actually alike doesn't count as social commentary?
For people with IQ over 80, highlighting that people in different tribes are actually alike doesn't count as social commentary?
The only people who think republicans and democrats are exactly the same have an IQ of 80.
The "both sides" meme was funny when jon stewart was doing it in 2008. It has run its course.
I took it as a comment about voters than parties.
It didn't even occur to me that it was saying republicans and democrats are the same. That's just ridiculous ;-)
Edit: To clarify there's good evidence that people overestimate the degree to which people on the other side of the political divide hold extreme views by about a factor of two. We genuinely are less different than we think. It's not necessary for people to be the same for this to be true.
> To clarify there's good evidence that people overestimate the degree to which people on the other side of the political divide hold extreme views by about a factor of two.
Where can I read more about that evidence?
Because ~70 million of my countrymen have voted for a convicted rapist.
https://www.moreincommon.com/media/0fmblxb3/the-perception-g...
> On average, Democrats and Republicans believe that 55 percent of their opponents' views are extreme, but in reality only about 30 percent are.
If accurate, I'd say "only about 30%" of each side having extreme views is quite concerning, regardless of anyone's perceptions.
Real differences in policy still matter:
https://isps.yale.edu/news/2026-09-09-political-polarization...
The range of opinions is probably healthier than homogeneity. I think labelling people extremists and pushing them towards the centre would be pretty dystopian.
What is easier to change than people's opinions, is the two party political system which tends to resolve such questions to one of the two extremes based on one side achieving a tiny majority, rather than to the average which is usually a lot more sensible.
Surely you agree that "both sides" think the other side is full of evil politicians that want to destroy the country AND their voters are complete morons?
And surely you can agree that each side has key issues they feel very strongly about (abortion on the left, guns on the right) and again, think the other side's view on said issues are utterly disgusting, right?
And SURELY you can agree that gerrymandering has occurred at various times in the past, from both sides, can't you? For example, take a look at the map of Illinois congressional districts[0]. Perfectly sensible districts here, yessir!
The low IQ take is pretending there aren't places where both sides do in fact behave the same way.
0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois%27s_congressional_dis...
What you'd expect to see in a healthy democracy is people who want to fix the bug, and for a while maybe those who most benefit from the bug fight to keep it but eventually there's a broad public sentiment in favour of fixing the bug and so it simply becomes uncontroversial to fix it. Say fifty years. Give it an extra generation if e.g. civil war breaks out interrupting such considerations.
But Gerry died in the nineteenth century. This practice is almost as old as the United States of America itself. I would say it's as bad as if the US still had slavery, or still had capital punishment, but oh yeah it still has both of those too. Do better.
We still have slavery?
> Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Inmates are frequently forced to work for pennies.
Yup. Quoting Wikipedia: "The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude except as a punishment for a crime where the individual has been convicted"
Mandatory "Penal labour" isn't chattel slavery but it would still be recognised as slavery in any modern understanding.
That's exactly how you look like to the rest of the world boy