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Today's New York Times article, 100 Days of Protest: A Chasm Grows Between Portland and the Rest of Oregon, spells out a division that evoked my memory of extended family in Oregon – a Portland-based cousin and her older brother, who lived in Klamath Falls.

The article reminded me about the researchers who described the similarities between left- and right-wing extremists as well as how they differ from moderates: Psychological Features of Extreme Political Ideologies. Unlike the research authors, I'd say my cousins were 'partisans' rather than 'extremists' — but dictionaries list these two words as synonyms. I was intrigued that the synonyms list also included 'fundamentalists'. Could one be a left-wing 'fundamentalist'? Apparently yes, as one dictionary definition is 'a person who adheres strictly to the basic principles of any subject or discipline.' The example given is “a free-market fundamentalist” – so based on that, when I Googled “political fundamentalism” one of the top hits I got was “identity politics”. Another, on the right-wing, was “constitutional fundamentalism”.

In any case, three of the key traits identified by the researchers are

... relatively simplistic, black-and-white perception of the social world; ...overconfident ... judgments; and less tolerant of different groups and opinions.

To me, this sounds like the mindset of many Portland protesters, as well as the mindset of the rural Oregon anti-protesters. It also sounds like my Portland-based cousin and her deceased older brother who lived in Klamath Falls. The Cook Partisan Voting Index of Portland is D+24, which sounds about right for my cousin. The Cook Partisan Voting Index of Klamath Falls is R+10, which is likely more moderate than her older brother's right-wing index.

The key point, though, is that both of their mindsets were essentially the same as that of their father, despite the differences in the “contents” of their minds (i.e., political ideologies). They were obviously on opposite poles from each other. In their family, they already evidenced the divisiveness that the whole state now experiences – or, in fact, that of our whole nation these days.

#100daystooffload Day 5 (written with StackEdit)