The Discernable Interviews

How the Left Wing Thinks: Empathy and Caretaking with Rob McMullan

1hr 53min

1 December 2022

How do left-wing/progressive/woke people think? Is there a way for the right wing to speak to the left? Why do they misunderstand one another?

Rob McMullan joins us to discuss the psychological differences of those loosely defined as politically left and right wing. Ultimately, Rob’s hope is that the moderates on either side will find a way to communicate and cooperate.

Watch the full interview at:

We discussed:

  • What is ‘the collective good’?
  • The left have no interest in cooperation
  • Claims of ‘hate speech’
  • Each side is blind to the other
  • Left Wing Caretaking vs Right Wing Capitalising
  • Case study: what is marriage?
  • Fairy tale thinking on world politics
  • How conservatives should talk to the left wing
  • Interpersonal empathy does not scale
  • A dysfunctional marriage between the left and the right
  • Case study: would Dan Bilzerian care about a speech on moralism?
  • Gina Rinehart calls out Netball Australia
  • Conservatives in power are too comfortable
  • How to speak to the left: emotional validation
  • The lack of social consensus = pain for the left
  • Differentiating the ‘woke left’ from the sensible left wing
  • Freedom from the law of scarcity
  • ‘Boomerservatives’
  • The left has a greater verbal ability than conservatives
  • Wokeism is the evolution of religion
  • The Star Trek reality
  • The life of a Twitter worker: caretaking beyond reason
  • How conservatives should speak to the left
  • Powerful conservatives have checked out
  • The left will double down even when it ‘hits their hip pockets’
  • Empathetic Thinking vs Systematic Thinking
  • Daniel Andrews’ hypocrisy of excluding some Victorians
  • The long arc of social technology created by the empathy brains
  • The empathetic herd
  • How women speak to one another
  • ‘Herds vs packs’ and the differing strategies and moralities
  • ‘Individuals vs the collective’ is incorrect
  • Purity spirals
  • We need a new aristocracy to balance the left
  • The left should pay with ‘gratitude’
  • Solutions for the future of Australia
  • A new strategy: Separate and Co-operate
  • Vaccine mandates driven by social and herd consensus