Reply #70: Science and checklist progressivism

[Posteritatis]

On the former, I'm a transhumanist, space advocate, fan of nuclear energy, general neophile, not terribly misanthropic, etc. That's enough to earn me a lot of flak, which I obviously don't care for much; I'm not a fan of fear-driven reactions to anything, when the alternative of examining the issues and thinking reasonably about them always leads to something better.

On the latter, the basic idea that you aren't a "real" progressive/liberal/whatever the word is this weak without believing this, this, this, this, this, this, this and this in their entirety drives me up the wall. Basically it's that silly No True Scotsman fallacy, and it sucks.

I am certain, for instance, that there's people who would believe that I can't possibly be a liberal - or, more to the point, that I absolutely must be a conservative - because of the first paragraph of this post. I'm sure other people run into similar problems for being Christian, or for not being a vegetarian (or for being a vegetarian), for voting for the Republican town councillor they see as distinct from the federal folks a few years back, etc etc etc. As easy and satisfying as it is to boil things down to checklists, it's really not useful.