Lamenting people who “vote against their own self-interest”

As hard as I try to evaluate different views equitably, I’ll confess there are a few phrases that make me tune out nearly immediately.

For example, anytime I see someone fretting about people “voting against their own self-interest,” it is invariably a lament against greater self-determination (and therefore liberty). I can’t believe the South opposes Obamacare so consistently. They’re voting against their own self-interest. How could Great Britain’s people think leaving the European Union is a good idea? They’re voting against their own self-interest.

There is an inherent arrogance in the phrase that flirts with outright dismissiveness. Do you see how it leapfrogs any possibility of considered dissent? This is settled. These poor, unfortunate rubes don’t know what they’re doing. I mean, that’s the only explanation for it, isn’t it?

To be fair, most of the time confirmation bias has a lot to do with how these closed-minded views form. So the arrogance and dismissiveness isn’t intentional, but that doesn’t make them any less insidious. People like to nod and clap each other on the back.

We’ll talk about “social justice” sometime soon.

Have a good weekend.

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