I have commented in past posts on the tendency of people, online and elsewhere, to treat arguments as declarations of tribal affinity, to assume that people can be classified and their views determined, by tribal membership, hence that someone who disagrees with them on one political issue must hold the same views as everyone else who disagrees on that issue. I noticed the pattern a long time ago in a variety of contexts. If, arguing climate issues on Facebook, I expressed skepticism over the claim that sea level rise would flood multiple cities, I was assumed to also believe that climate change wasn't happening. Arguments about climate change on a part of Facebook dedicated to that issue tended to wander off to issues such as gun control. Earlier still, after I said something positive about Obama,1 then running for president, I found myself described in a variety of places as an Obamacon, a conservative supporter of the candidate. There seem to be quite a lot of people who do not...
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