On Conservatism

As a liberal 20-something woman who lives in a patriarchal society that is dominated by conservatives, my personal views on issues such as human rights and gender equality are not represented most of the time. I am convinced that I have the necessary open-mindedness every time I exercise my moral judgment, and this sometimes causes me to undervalue the opinion of someone with an opposing ideology.

If we look at it from a political standpoint, the principles of those on the right political spectrum are often overlooked. The typical argument is that conservative parties manipulate people's voices - to trick people to choose them. I am not saying that manipulations do not happen in gaining votes (these of course happen A LOT), but sometimes there is more to it than just a political agenda. 

A book that I read called "The Righteous Mind" by Jonathan Haidt confronted my limiting beliefs from an unconventional perspective. It begins by presenting conflicting theories of which comes first - intuition vs reasoning. He concludes that intuitions come first, and reasoning second (backed up by some psychological experiments to test them). We are destined to debate one another; intuition urges us to think or act in such a way, and reasoning is used as a support system that follows. No matter how liberal or conservative you are, how open-minded and rational you think you are, intuition plays a bigger role in your decision-making process. 

He then argues that the moral system is based on 6 fundamental aspects: care, fairness, liberty, loyalty, authority and sanctity. Liberals focus only on liberty and fairness while conservatives touch all of the 6 aspects. Conservatives tap more dimensions when it comes to morality. As an example, some people value in-group collectiveness instead of out-group, cooperation instead of individualism. These are threatened by liberal views such as to welcome refugees and/or to support individual rights above all else. 

People choose a leader they can relate to, a leader who can represent their moral values and interests. It's a matter of how one person differs from another in seeing the world and deciding which suits them the most. 

Indeed, the more you know the more you don't know. This reminds me of a quote from GoT: "you know nothing, Jon Snow".