Do Leftists Hold a Monopoly on Science and Truth?

[Glacier]

Many people on the left side of spectrum both here and elsewhere often make claims that only those to their right have a ideology, and only they use science and reason to conduct their thinking. Jonah Goldberg lays out the case why this is not true.

[hobbyguy]

Left-right has absolutely nothing to do with science (a practice of objectivity and logic) and truth (which is perception).

"Left-right" is a relative perception based on ideology. To Benito Mussolini, Ronald Reagan would have been a "lefty". To Karl Marx, Obama would be a die hard "righty". Left-right is a construction of our own perceptions, and is partly reflective of how attached we become to our perceptions. A group of perceptions becomes an ideology.

That messy reality is reflected in our common speech. We most commonly say "I believe". Beliefs are a collection of perceptions with varying degrees of objectivity and logic applied.

Step back and look at the origins of the left-right labels. They come out of the years after the French revolution. The nobility sat on the right side of the hall, and the representatives of the people sat on the left. So in order to be true "righty" you had be anti-democratic and believe (there's that word) that there should be a "ruling class", and happen to be born into that "ruling class".

Put in that context, there is no relationship between "left-right" and science or truth, only a relationship to beliefs and relative perceptions.

[Glacier]

I agree with you. My post is mainly in response to an assertion made several times by Partmanpartfish and others. As the video above says, many political groups willingly admit that they have an ideological bias including Marxists and Socialists, but the progressive left is the one group that thinks they are beyond ideology because they think they are the only ones that use science and reason. Everyone has an ideology (and by extension a bias) whether or not they are willing to admit it. Ironically, science is actually on the side of everyone but the progressive left on this one.

[FreeRights]

Just throwing it out there, I absolutely despise the "left" and "right" tags that really do not exist, due specifically to perception.