George Orwell in 1944:
“To admit that an opponent might be both honest and intelligent is felt to be intolerable. It is more immediately satisfying to shout that he is a fool or a scoundrel, or both, than to find out what he is really like. It is this habit of mind, among other things, that has made political prediction in our time so remarkably unsuccessful..”
A perennial lesson: Useful political discussion requires the ability to pause one’s disgusts and hatreds—and one’s desire for a quick rhetorical kill—and to read, listen, and watch objectively.
Source: George Orwell, “As I Please,” December 8, 1944. Related: Orwell’s classic The Road to Wigan Pier, in the Philosophers, Explained series: