I urge everyone here at dKos to click on the link provided and go to TED.com to watch this lecture by Jonathan Haidt, a psychologist who specializes in moral psychology. It is an extraordinarily fascinating, persuasive, and informative lecture.
http://www.ted.com/...
This is TED.com's description of the lecture:
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt studies the five moral values that form the basis of our political choices, whether we're left, right or center. In this eye-opening talk, he pinpoints the moral values that liberals and conservatives tend to honor most.
Please continue beyond the fold.
Haidt discusses what he calls the five foundations for the moral mind and how differently liberals and conservatives are wired regarding them. They are:
1) Harm care
2) Fairness/reciprocity
3) In group/loyalty
4) Authority/respect
5) Purity/sanctity
In order to make our world a better place Haidt urges us to first understand who we are. He says we are all self righteous, it's a normal human condition. He also says there is a phenomenon called "social entropy" which means that order tends to decay. He argues that we must understand each other, neither group is wholly right or wrong, and that in fact, we actually need each other to make a complete and stable whole. It makes sense to me.
Haidt ends his lecture by saying we need a, "passionate commitment to the truth and use it to make a better world for us all." I think there is much that we liberals can learn from this lecture and it will give many of us serious food for thought, and expand our own understanding of both ourselves and conservatives, and how societies operate.
Seems to me that Barack Obama has an innate understanding of what Dr. Haidt discusses. I think it explains why he is so insistent on a clean campaign and refuses to get pulled into the nastier side of campaigning. This lecture made me have a deeper appreciation for Barack Obama, his wisdom, his judgment, his self-control, and his moral fiber.
Hope you all enjoy the lecture and get as much out of it as I think I have.
By the way, you can check out Dr. Haidts's website at www.civilpolitics.org and take an eye-opening quiz about your own moral values at www.YourMorals.org.
I hope this dairy doesn't scroll off the board before most people get a chance to read it and watch the lecture.