LogFAQs > #910030304

ParanoidObsessive posted...

But even in the "modern" political sense it doesn't mean "forward thinking" anymore than conservative means "backward thinking".

While crudely delivered, with a bit of nuance this point is demonstrably accurate in this day and age. Conservatives want to retain the old way of thinking, which is often backward such as the racist and sexist 50s. Liberals are more able to change, and even the word 'liberal' in its use means 'generous'. You need to reject those old values before better ones can be put in their place. Our emotions these days are better tuned than the racists who thought they were right. We know now they were wrong and we are right.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Assuming "progress" is actually a forward step, yes. But not all "progress" is positive change, regardless of the incredibly deceptive mindset the US educational system tends to portray. The sum total of human history is not one destined forward march onwards and upwards to greater and greater perfection.

Or to pull a previously overused phrase out of mothballs - not all "change" is GOOD change.

I agree but general progress across the entire population, surely that is self-correcting. People are smarter than they used to be, and we are subject to biases and emotional whims like we used to be. Now our emotions are used to discern truth, since we have a better foundation for what those truths are.