Is my political opponent irrational? No, they’re not.
To say that someone you disagree with is “ wrong” is one thing, to say that they are being “irrational” is another, and it is unjustified. There is no need for political psychologism. (8 minutes read) We are prone to accuse each other of being irrational, especially in highly polarized contexts. Let’s take, for instance, the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and how various political commentators tried to make sense of people they strongly disagreed with. On the one hand, we had conservative commentators who argued “ that the pandemic is not as severe as generally thought, and that the liberal media are victims of “hysteria” in failing to recognize this.” On the other hand, we had progressive commentators who would throw the accusation of irrationality back at them, by “ citing a psychologist claiming that ‘in a crisis event, one thing people do is engage in sense-making—seeking out facts and coming up with explanations,’ as ‘a way of psychologically coping with ...