OK, so here is where I think the breakdown is. And again, the same ole disclaimer, that all sides fall victim to this. When you see polling data, too often times, both sides use this data as an argument for why they should radically propose certain policies. Let me give me examples that you will probably agree with. A recent poll showed that 75% of millennial's support socialism. OK, well to someone on the right, this poll might scare the shit out of them. Oh no, our country is going to become socialist. The truth is, that poll, like all polls is deeply flawed due to selection bias. Meaning, that it's almost impossible to control for who decides to respond to the poll. It will almost always be biased to the group who the poll is targeting. I have some experience with this btw in that I have a Masters in Economics and this is actually a very important issue. The fact is, most millennials do NOT support that issue. However after accounting for self selection, yes, there are random samples that will and that makes the headline. But groups on the right will use this data to scare republicans into taking action to making sure we never become a socialist country.
Another example is abortion. You see polls all the time showing how many people support partial birth abortions. This data is often used to scare conservatives because it shows that most Americans are not against it. That is also not true. Again, what happens in these polls is that people quickly identify that they are targeting the left or the right and many feel compelled to support their team no matter what the poll is. Hell in the 1930's there were polls that showed that a majority of Americans did not oppose Hitler in the beginning. The truth is they did, again, self selection bias.
So during the Obama years we saw all sorts of crazy polls that gave a very ugly portrait of America. When in fact those polls were random samples with selection bias. Remember, most polls showed Trump with a 1% to 5% chance of winning. And it turns out, the people who responded to the polls were heavily biased towards Clinton because in this case, Trump supporters did NOT want to be self identified.
The point is, the left and the right use this data to scare people like you into action. And for good reason btw. We are in general a very apathetic country. We have some of the lowest voter participation rates in the world. We generally don't care about others and at the end of the day, you have to really push our emotional buttons to get us moving. This is why in this country there is such a cultural war. Nobody is going to scream at each other over taxes or education. We fight over abortion, immigration and LGBTQ rights. Why? Because that moves us emotionally. So the left will show polls to people like you that Trump wants this or that and the right will show polls saying communism is gaining in popularity, you guys better get up and do something and round and round we go. As someone who analyzes data for a living, I see through this stuff pretty clearly but I can see how others get sucked in.
Don't even get me started on how polls can be biased based on wording, the ordering of questions and even on the subtly of certain words that people misinterpret the meaning of. For example there are many people in this country that think Obama Care and the Affordable Care Act are two completely different policies. So how are you suppose to react to a poll that shows most Americans support the ACA but are against Obama Care. LOL.
Anyway, I get annoyed by all groups who react to their weak emotions. I pride myself of holding libertarian beliefs although I no longer consider myself a libertarian because of the group think that invades all ideologies. In the case of libertarians it was the 9/11 truther movement that signaled it was time to find the door. You have a right to be scared all you want and if you think that adds quality to your life by all means, be scared. Using these examples of "hey, wouldn't you have liked to have a second passport if you were Japanese in the 1940's" is silly. It's the same argument that the NRA makes when they say "hey, just in case man, you never know, the gov't might come after you, you better get your rifle now before Obama takes away your guns". Everyone can use these scare tactics to "prepare" for anything and you know Sig, those people live absolutely completely miserable and unhappy lives. I rather be happy and content for the time I have and be completely unhedged to your scary visions of the future then to live in fear and worry but completely protected on the downside should those events ever happen. And I guess that is the real difference between us.
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