Quote:
Originally Posted by JudgeHoldem
I really like everything you said here, but couldn't it also apply to the other side in some ways?
Yeah, all these things apply to people in general, but ambiguity intolerance is more the domain of the right. The left is more likely to go the other way, for example, this scene from Life of Brian:
Quote:
Stan: It's my right as a man.
Judith: But why would you want to be Loretta, Stan?
Stan: I want to have babies.
Reg: You wanna have babies?!
Stan: It's every man's right to have babies if he wants them.
Reg: But... you can't have babies!
Stan: Don't you oppress me!
Reg: I'm not oppressing you, Stan, you haven't got a womb! Where's the foetus gotta gestate? You're gonna keep it in a box?!
Judith: Here, I've got an idea. Suppose you agree that he can't actually have babies, not having a womb, which is nobody's fault, not even the Romans', but that he can have the right to have babies.
Francis: Good idea Judith! We shall fight the oppressors for your right to have babies, brother. Sister, sorry.
Reg: What's the point?
Francis: What?
Reg: What's the point of fighting for his right to have babies, when he can't have babies?!
Francis: It's symbolic, of our struggle against oppression!
Reg: Symbolic of his struggle against reality...
The joke here is the maintenance of ambiguity in the face of an unambiguous fact about the world. The audience recognises this as characteristic of the left, that's why it's funny.
There are closely related phenomena as well - like for example many liberals rationalized away Clinton's sexual assault accusers, but that's not really ambiguity intolerance - which is a specific subtype of rationalization. When you know ambiguity intolerance was happening is when you see opinions rapidly shift from one pole to another. The Iraq War is a good example, because the more consequential the issue, the less ambiguity can be tolerated.