Introduction

            Hi. I am Daniel Noe. I interview people to understand how they think politically, who they consider a reliable source of political information, how they came to deem them reliable, what arguments and counterarguments they have been exposed to, and how their political thought relates to how they think in general. I report what I find in my updates. This site is about understanding people. How do liberals think? How do conservatives think? Do some people think at all? Whether you wish to understand others for the sake of getting along or for the sake of better knowing how to defeat them in the next election, this site is for you. Either way, I will do my best to deliver the truth.

                I have wondered for a long time how it is that some people think differently. Frankly, some people say stupid things. Of course, everybody has their opinions of why. There are those who tell me that those who think differently have deliberately rebelled against reason and have been “given over to a depraved mind” – as the bible says. Seeing as most of these people drive vehicles, hold jobs, and tie their own shoelaces, clearly this is not true. Stupidity in politics does not translate into stupidity in life. Considering that most races come very close to 50%-50% (speaking of the United States), meaning very large numbers of people who think differently, we would be in much worse trouble if this were true.

                I have been told that those who are pro-choice do not understand that fetus is more than just a clump of cells with the potential to be a baby (it is indistinguishable from a baby), and that there are even cases of those who have changed their minds after seeing sonogram images of said fetuses. Is this true? Can the debate over abortion really be solved simply with sonograms? Or is there perhaps a deeper argument in play here?

                Gun-rights sympathizers often repeat the maxim: “guns don’t kill people; people kill people,” to simultaneously explain the arguments that even with guns gone, people who wish to kill will still find ways to do so (using baseball bats or sleeping pills in the coffee), negating any arguments by gun-control sympathizers, and that like any other tool, guns are harmless without a harmful human operator, thus shifting the focus to bad people, rather than innocent gun owners. This usage seems to reveal the worldview that if only people heard and understood this, they would forget about gun control and go after bad people. Is this true? Can the firearms issue really be solved by reaching everyone with this saying? Not really. I learned this when I heard once heard Bill Moyers respond to this saying in a monologue advocating for gun control, “It’s true; people do kill people – with guns.” Clearly, there is more to this debate than lack of knowledge.

                Everybody has heard countless reasons of why people think the way they do, but I wonder how many of these explanations are true. Are all who oppose war wussy pacifist bedwetters? Are all who support war redneck thrillseekers? Do those opposing abortion really believe in the authority of men over women and the authority of the church over the state? Are those that support abortion truly unaware that a fetus has a heartbeat, responds to sounds, and is more than a mere clump of cells? Are those opposing homosexual marriage merely sexually insecure? Are those who drive SUVs truly uncaring about the environment? Are those that deny global warming the same people that deny the holocaust, deny the moon landing, and refuse to accept President Obama’s birth certificate? Are those who believe in global warming the same people that believe in alien abductions, believe in government conspiracies, and see Elvis Priestly at the gas station?

                If you really want to understand the other side, keep reading. If you are content with what you have been told, go back to your talk radio, your newspaper editorials, and your television news.