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Home » Civility » Why we can’t resolve to be more civil
Mar17 3

Why we can’t resolve to be more civil

Posted by Jonathan Haidt in Civility, Politics, Videos

Here’s a riotously funny clip from The Daily Show in which a journalist who heads “The Civility Project” is asked about a column she wrote calling the Tea Partiers “economic terrorists.” Isn’t that just a little bit uncivil, asks John Oliver? No, she says, as her inner press secretary (the rider) kicks into action to find justifications for the moral judgment made by her automatic intuitions (the elephant). She doesn’t realize her own flagrant hypocrisy.

The clip illustrates two of the three main principles of The Righteous Mind:

1) “Intuitions come first, strategic reasoning second. Harrop’s reasoning is so clearly devoted to justification, not truth-seeking. She even recommends just telling the Tea Partiers directly that their “name calling is not making them sound intelligent,” but doesn’t grasp the irony when Oliver says that to her directly.  You can’t change people’s minds with reasons if their intuitions point the other way.

2)  “Morality binds and blinds.” Harrop is such a partisan liberal that she can’t think clearly. She can’t see what’s happening, either with the Tea Partiers or during her own interview with Oliver.

This is why we at CivilPolitics.org do not endorse civility pledges. Pledges are made by riders, and they have no effect on behavior. We endorse more indirect methods and institutional changes to change the “path” that the elephant is traveling.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

3 Comments

  1. V Robin Reese | March 19, 2012 at 12:26 am

    I advise caution in taking this video at face value. Do we know for certain that she wasn’t in on the joke? Or that this isn’t a product of very misleading editing? I’ll admit that a cursory internet search turned up no mention of either; but the alternative (that a seemingly intelligent person could be so completely oblivious to the beam in her own eye) is truly astounding, not to mention discouraging.

    Reply
    • Jon Haidt | March 20, 2012 at 1:28 am

      i did check out her side, and found this:
      http://www.fromaharrop.com/?p=1330

      “Some of you may know that I was interviewed for the Daily Show some time ago. It’s a comedy sketch, needless to say, and the joke will be on me.
      The interview will air tonight at 11 p.m,
      I’m braced”

      so i conclude that she really was fooled, was not acting.

      Reply
  2. V Robin Reese | March 20, 2012 at 7:06 pm

    Astounding! Still, it was a comedy sketch, and I suspect it was cleverly and misleadingly edited. The constant camera switches are at least suspicious. You might ask – if it was so misleading, why hasn’t she publicly protested? Probably because she knows she can only lose by drawing further public attention to her complete lack of self-awareness.

    Reply

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