I’m old enough to remember when the political Left had a reputation for being intellectually curious. They even tended to pride themselves on being open to new ideas, grounded in nuance, and even tolerant of debate.
But that version of the left is long gone.
The “Old Left” has disappeared almost entirely—replaced instead by some type of hive-mind that would make The Borg look friendly and fair.
For example, it used to be that a liberal arts education meant you read widely, questioned assumptions, and studied the great thinkers—even (especially!) the ones you disagreed with.
Today’s students go all the way through college without ever hearing a serious conservative or libertarian idea fairly presented. If they are exposed to these ideas, they aren’t encouraged to wrestle with the feelings they have about them and reason out what they believe is right or wrong, or what might be good or bad about them.
The result is all around us. Adults who conflate feeling with thinking and who can only engage with ideas that confirm their own.
Now, science is backing what frustrated internet arguers have been saying for ages: There is a large swath of the population who actually cannot engage with new information and who simply will not question their own beliefs.
You can see this trend in the graphic above. It’s a visual representation of how people on the political Left (blue) and Right (red) relate to a broad set of ideas.
The Left is tightly clustered—everyone thinks the same way about almost everything.
The Right is scattered, showing a pretty healthy diversity of thought amongst people who self-categorize as “right-leaning”.
It is a visual depiction of what happens when people are taught to memorize and moralize—to parrot those they view as powerful and right without question, and to believe that their view is the only “good” view and everyone who doesn’t think like them is morally bad, stupid, or both.
Those who have encountered this type of brainwashing (thanks public and “higher” ed) and resisted or overcome it come out the other side capable of tolerating disagreement, engaging with new ideas, and thinking more broadly about the world around them.
Even responses to this study confirm its premise.
Those on the left view it as a win because they see this uniformity of thought as evidence of the purity of their messaging, while those on the right feel proud to be labeled as more open-minded, and express horror at the idea that anyone would be proud of holding the exact same views as everyone else.
of the principles we teach are not widely accepted by either the left or right, those on the right tend to buy our books more than those on the left.)
Interesting.
I’m more convinced than ever that the work we are doing is life-changing.
Yes, we want to introduce kids to important ideas that historically lead to human prosperity, peace, and flourishing, but we also want to help families practice the lost art of independent thinking.
Kids today don’t just need knowledge; they need discernment. They need to know how to spot a bad idea, how to recognize manipulation, and how to weigh their own beliefs and biases against truth and reason.
This Father’s Day, we’re offering 20% off sitewide to help families do exactly that.
Whether you’re a dad, have a dad, or want to honor a father figure in your life, our books make a great gift: powerful tools to help parents raise the kind of young people who don’t just follow the crowd.
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Because the world doesn’t need more parrots. It needs more independent thinkers.
And it’s entirely up to us to raise them.
Dads, let’s take the lead!
— Connor
