[P]eople who lead the unexamined life…often treat one another disrespectfully. When people think that political debate is something like an athletic contest, where the aim is to score points for their own side, they are likely to see the “other side“ as the enemy and to wish its defeat, or even humiliation. It would not occur to them to seek compromise or to find common ground, any more than in a hockey match the Chicago Blackhawks would seek “common ground“ with their adversaries.
Martha Nussbaum, Not for Profit. (ISBN: 9780691140643) p.51