Why are political extremists, on both ends of the spectrum, so unwilling to entertain even the mere possibility of being wrong, about anything?

[RedFever]

This is not me

I just don't get it. It's simple really. When confronted with an obvious mistake, or outright blunder, just say the following simple words: "I was wrong". There! Easy! :)
You see, this is one of the reasons why I absolutely loathe politics. There are no reasonable people to be found, with the possible (stress - "possible") exception in the centre of the spectrum somewhere.
I just recently had a little disagreement with someone who was clearly wrong about something, because it was so damned obvious to anyone who didn't have an axe to grind (like me), but oh noooo... He couldn't admit to being wrong. That was simply too much to do, too much of a sacrifice! (sigh)

[ChrisMaster69]

@redfever yes fully agree.

you can go in to any of the politics questions and their are extremists on both sides frothing at the mouth.

even when it’s not even a political issue, it’s turned in to one by extremists on both sides.

a simple question on do you put the milk or the tea in a cup first turns in to a ‘you are typical liberal / communist going to easy on the cup, put the Tea in first’

with counter argument of ‘you right wing people do not care about the long term life of this cup and abuse it’

then as someone from the UK, you get told you are which ever the opposite is lol.

it’s the same with any extremism, Sexuality, Gender, Racism, Religion, politics.

likely 90% of people do not really care, but 5% of each are frothing at the mouth blaming each other.

[ChrisMaster69]

@redfever thank you most appreciated

[Jean-Marie_Céline]

Interesting questions, but their definition speaks for itself - extremists; they take things to the extreme. Their worldview is radicalized into a black and white scheme that doesn't allow for compromise. You are either with them, or against them.
In their conception, it's a life or death thing. They believe their opposing side wants to hurt them, their interests and overall their way of life, hence their uncompromising stance.

[Jean-Marie_Céline]

Recent times have been seeing an increasing polarization on all sides on all kinds of subjects and actualities - work, the Covid pandemic, LGBT rights, immigration, global climate crisis. The opposing sides believe the other wants to marginalize them, put them in danger, and destroy what they care about.
You can try to talk and bargain with them, but since you are dealing with someone who feel in actual danger, the results will be limited if not completely null. If anything, you debunking their points or trying to find a compromise will lead them to think they are even more under attack and close up like an hedgehog. At that point, it's best to let it go, since any dialogue becomes unfeasible and like dealing with an actual hedgehog, you risk puncturing yourself or provoking an attack.

[RedFever]

Yes, you're right about the question basically answering itself, and I probably should have worded it differently because of that. Basically what I don't get is why these people are the way they are at all to begin with; that is, how they end up in a position where they're not even willing to go so far as to admit that they don't actually know everything and they're not always right. I just don't understand their mentality, how they can even function on a day-by-day basis being like this.

[Jean-Marie_Céline]

I think you worded it right, but like said they feel threatened by opposing viewpoints.
Sadly in those cases you have to quit on them before they start to attack you verbally, or worse, physically.
I've had some experiences of this since I'm campaigning for the position of mayor in the next elections, and although the voters in my town are a peaceful lot, I've gotten some (luckily rare) attacks from extremists of both sides for trying to be conciliatory on many things. Just the fact that I'm unaffiliated to any political party but head a civil list - a political group made of independent citizens - is enough for members of both mainstream and fringe parties to see me as an ''enemy''. Which is really sad because I'm willing to work with anyone as long as they are respectful and their views don't clash with my program - which is really just about fixing the infrastructures, offer better medical and emergency services to the citizens and put in place some security systems since we live in flood and landslides prone area.

[RedFever]

You already answered my questions. :)
Thanks!

[Jean-Marie_Céline]

You are welcome, I'm glad I could be of help!

[Uannoyme]

Because people. Some people can be just exhausting, unwilling to admit they're wrong about anything.

[ADFSDF1996]

Extremism equals rabies. You can't reason with it.

I've argued with plenty of extremists and it's obvious that they don't give a fudge about facts.

[Kaneki05]

People don't like been made to look dumb, therefore won't admit it even if you pointed out direct facts that cannot be argued with. If someone said, that horror films don't have blood in them then you show/told them a horror film with blood in they would just keep denying that you are correct so that there original statement didn't look dumb.
But in reality it is even more dumb now.

Annoying are people like this, and also people who claim something as a fact but yet cannot back it up with evidence then... even worse when you press them on it they avoid actually telling you how it is fact. Almost like they don't actual have any good reason for why they think the way they do.
Which within it's self is dumb and sad.

[Canceled]

That's people in general. I have the same issues with Christians when I point out bible contradictions. Just for fun, this one gets the jimmies rustling: Article IV Section 4 of the U. S. Constitution:
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a *Republican Form of Government,* and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence. ArtIV. S4.1 Guarantee Clause

[Anonymous]

To understand this, look no further than cancel culture. The mob is taking any admission of a mistake as admission of guilt and demanding punishment. Have a look at what happened to the organizers of the "woke" Olympics. One guy got fired because in 1994 he admitted that AS A KID he was a bully.

So what do you do if THAT'S the standard of consequences? Easy--you respond to an accusation of ANY kind by simply saying "FUCK OFF!" Admit nothing and just attack your accusers like hell. Why? Because giving ANY credence to anything they say will not help.

And that, kids, is why we are where we are today. . .

[RedFever]

I haven't been paying any attention to the Olympics, so I don't know what's going on there.

[Opinion Owner]

Long-story short, a dude got fired in 2021 because in 1994 he said in an interview that when he was a KID he was a bully. That's just one example. The point of cancel culture is that if you acknowledge ANYTHING about what the mob is accusing you of, you're done. No apology is ever good enough. The fact that it was 30+ years ago when you were a kid isn't good enough.

And that's why, people have realized this, and no longer acknowledge ANYTHING. They just respond with a giant "FUCK YOU" to any accusation of wrong doing.

[The_Other]

Because that's how politics works, the moment you begin to concede, that spells doom for you. It's one of the primary reasons why the left never wins, because they're so busy playing nice that they would even fight amongst themselves about the tone in which one is expressing themselves.

[RealMarek]

Because they are afraid that their “side” will be weakened or lose power if they admit to being wrong about anything. Also, As politics and morality are increasingly conflated, they view the other side as not just wrong but evil, and do not want to concede ground to evil. In this, they are following the example of most of our politicians.

[Deathraider]

Well technically there isn’t any wrong position in politics. Solutions that claim to solve a certain problem can be shown to be ineffective, but you can’t convince someone to support such solution if they don’t think there’s a problem in the first place. Normative beliefs are subjective. To convince someone, you need to argue using their normative beliefs or some common set of belief you share with them.

[Handybody129]

It is a sign of the times we are in. Confrontational and unwilling to see other sides of the equation. Completely against the design and build of our country which gives us the freedom of thought and now it is coming back to bite us in the rear. Really sad we are actively wrecking with the power that the freedom gives us.

[fr44c3iqqs]

Because they blindly believe that the media they watch and politicians they support can’t ever be wrong, and to them, anything that calls them out as wrong on anything, is an enemy to the nation and to the people. The people are being played.

[NYCQuestions1976]

Extremists on both sides, although a very small portion of the public, tend to have the loudest voices and the deepest pockets. Which is unfortunate for the rest of us, which is the vast majority of the population.

[NYCQuestions1976]

Then there's this, an example when goingto extremes isn't so bad:
https://youtu.be/3BpSgZC2BkU

[worldscolide]

Probbly because they feel like everyone should believe what they believe.

Here is the rub though. Weather you are left or right leaning. Extremism on both sides is just plain stupid.

[NaultD]

death of letting your guard down and the will to fight to see another day.

[Feelicks]

I'd say in countries where this happens it's probably because it's a show to distract from the fact that their implementation of democracy is a broken sham.

[Robert_]

This sounds as an American problem. A two party system will lead to extremism.

[Anonymous]

If you Google error 155, it takes you to a Mac os error: program not found or inoperable.
It somehow says so much about our little activist in the picture.

[OddBeMe]

That’s the nature of fundamentalism. It’s easier to think of them like Churches.

[ThatNoUVAtYourEyes]

They are probably on a diet/hungry
This makes you extreme

[Rudon00]

Hence the reason we are in this pandemic right now!

[BeMuse]

What do you think they person was wrong about?

[RedFever]

The person doesn't know how to read maps, how to correctly interpret the information that is found on them. Alternatively he may just be colour blind (I suggested that to him, and he didn't take that very well).

[BeMuse]

Maybe they use a different set of maps. There is quite a bit of disputed territory around the world. I say whoever can hold the land militarily either independently or through alliance owns it. The losers tend to disagree often though like in the case of the Chinese, Palestinians, etc. Governments often lay claim to territory they don’t really control… Sometimes those areas are long standing independent nations like Taiwan that China thinks they own. Other times they are lawless areas like parts of Mexico or Columbia.

[RedFever]

No, it wasn't like that. It was two maps of the United States, with all the states clearly marked out. Both were colour-coded. In the first were the states showing support (or the lack of support) for the Republican Party. In the other the percentage of the overall population of each state who have been vaccinated.
He thought there was a clear correlation between the lack of vaccination rates and whether or not a state was "red". There clearly was not, and I pointed that out to him. He couldn't accept that, got angry, and behaved like a bratty child.

[BeMuse]

Maybe it’s an admission by him of states where the vote was rigged. Go rub that salt in his wounds and watch him scream. Hahahaha Then tell him don’t worry, those states will flip soon when the audits are complete and power will be stripped from the Democrats and all his idols will be imprisoned. See how he takes that twist of fate.

[Avicenna]

Probably because they view it as a zero-sum battle