Replacing Auto Struts

Replacing auto suspension is not trivial, but easier than I ever anticipated. Some cars can use what are called "quick struts", a shock absorber that is pre-assembled so that you don't have to use a special compression tool. That's what le_bebna_kamni's car uses. Removal and installation are straightforward. We hit some obstacles on the first one, but it was just a matter of time.

Shared Values In America

Famed atheist Christopher Hitchens confronts and rebukes a Christian radio talk show host in this video. They agreed on the justification for the Iraq war, but disagreed on the biblical genocide of Amalekites by the Israelites, ordered by God to kill every last infant, but take some of the virgins for themselves. The host thought the two conflicts were comparable in moral praiseworthiness, which outraged Hitchens and caused the interview to degenerate.

If I had been in Hitchens' position, I would have tried to explain how the radio show host could be more like Paul on Mars Hill. In this story, Paul looked at the various idols on Mars Hill until he saw one that said "To The Unknown God". They were hedging their bets with that one. Paul said, "I have come to represent this one to you." The story is used to encourage evangelists to get to know how someone thinks when trying to reach them.

That's what this radio host needs. The culture of the modern Enlightenment differs from his. That host sincerely had no idea what angered Hitchens. Like many bible-believers in my experience, he probably chalked it up to character flaws on the part of the secular person, and naively left it at that.

On the contrary, a Mars Hill understanding of the culture of the Enlightenment reveals the source of the anger to be values that are shared by religious and secular people. All of our parents in Westernized nations raise us to hate slavery. They raise us to believe that might doesn't make right. They taught us that an authority figure, such as King George, can be wrong and should be opposed. The American story instills a wide variety of values in us that are passed along by Christians and non-Christians alike, at least in the liberal democracies.

The thing is, secularists eventually grow up to not want to make exceptions to those values. That's what must be understood about the anger of secularists. Hitchens should have said, "by endorsing your own slavery to Christ, and by saying God's might makes him right, you are spitting in the face of the fighting men who gave their lives to secure your liberty from the rule of bullying thugs. Exempting your religion from our shared values is transparent hypocrisy, giving a free pass to your an authority structure which advantages you. That is why I react with anger. I don't reject what you're saying because I'm proud. I reject it because of virtues you support, which I also support."

---

In the American multiple-personality disorder, there are two sets of values. There are values which are shared by everyone (harm avoidance, and fairness/reciprocity). Harm and fairness responses are consistent throughout all world cultures. Then there are values that don't get passed along evenly (authority, ingroup loyalty, and purity). Researcher Jonathan Haidt has found this in a neurological divide between American conservatives and liberals. In tests, when shown violations of authority, loyalty and purity, liberals lack emotional gut responses of disgust. Conservatves are more influenced by their disgust instinct, and will struggle to invent justifications with moral reasoning after the fact.

Jonathan Haidt argues from his research that these values can be expressed in ways which are constructive on the level of group psychology. The basic argument of his upcoming latest book, Righteous Mind, is that liberals should realize the way humans are like a hive and not a collection of individuals. His findings are that humans are happier in strongly-bound groups, such as families, congregations, and nations.

A grim picture indeed. For decades, I have seen authority as victimization of the weak by the strong. I've seen loyalty as favoritism, jingoism, and nepotism. I've seen purity as a sort of obsessive-compulsive handicap. I have not seen positive examples of these traits.

Worse, all three of the conservative moral intuitions are in direct competition with fairness and the avoidance of harm, because they prop up structures of injustice. To support any kind of symbiosis, Dr. Haidt has a very challenging road ahead of him. How do you respect someone else's moral system without sharing it?* Can we be happier participating in churches teaching things we don't believe? Will we be happier glued onto a family, when they are people we don't want to spend time with? If liberals take the advice of Dr. Haidt and attempt to give lip service to empty symbols, will swing voters flock to their leadership, or will they see how artificial it is?

The problem is, it will be artificial. The saluting, the flag-waving, the church attendance; progressives see though it. We see how manipulative it is, and we know how manipulative we would be if we use them. We can't just "unsee" when we find out high-level ivory-tower abstractions about the greater good of society through social engineering.

Besides, on a personal level, so much effort with so little reward makes the whole thing a source of resentment. Believe me, I know from personal experience. I don't feel what others feel. And what should motivate me to want to? I don't want to turn a little bit conservative. I was miserable in those structures and only became a happy person when I left them.

* Respect a moral system without sharing it. What does that even mean? If you think x is immoral, and I think x is moral, you think I'm immoral. Differences in moral systems constitute a lack of respect, by definition. If you think it's wrong to get an abortion, but you respect others getting an abortion, then you do not think it's wrong to get an abortion. No, it may be socially cohesive for you to say that, but you are contradicting yourself. No you don't think it's immoral. No! You don't! You don't. Do you? Then you don't respect them. No you don't. What? How can you say that? I... Well yes, there is that, but... will you let me finish? I'm hanging up now.