"LIBERALS CAN be wonderful people, and boon companions, but they often have a hard time dealing with people of opposing views - especially when they cannot dismiss them out of hand as idiots. Too often they have spent their entire adult lives surrounded almost entirely by those who think just like them, and it comes naturally to dismiss those of other views as intellectually or morally challenged."
yeah, that line also caught my eye. there are so many variables to this argument though, bec, shosh and myself being somewhat aberrant deviants: shosh, by just her living in canada and not being a liberal (much like a jew living in the united states, nu york in particular -- generally we have been very liberal), and bec & myself having been raised in extremely liberal (nauseatingly so) households, and then defecting to the other side. i don't think they so much have a hard time dealing with people of opposing viewpoints, as they do present their opposition in a particular way: LOUD, OBNOXIOUS, SCREAMING ... uh, CODE PINKISH. but those are really the very extreme leftists, whereas the average conservative and the average leftist are and can be very likable people. the christian conservative...oy, they're no better. whatever happened to centrism? i think walking a path where you veer not too much towards the right or too much towards the left is a very healthy way to go. that's the party i'd like to be a member of.
i've been thinking about this part all day: " it comes naturally to dismiss those of other views as intellectually or morally challenged." funny thing is that i used to think that maybe it was me. now i see that it really was them all the time. i'm not any more messed up than anyone else!!!! *sweet* but on a serious note, is centrism the answer? not at all. people should be permitted to hold their views, right, left, center, whereever on the spectrum they fall, without having to feel that if their opinions are voiced, that they will be ostracized, attacked, SUED FOR LIBEL AND SLANDER, or harassed. i vaguely recall reading an article in the nytimes magazine probably a year ago (i have long since stopped giving my money to that publication) about the new conservatives on college campuses, and it was pretty cool. these weren't geeky, nerdy types, but rather a nice assortment of kids from all sides of campus life who happened to identify more with the conservatives than the liberals. this is what i find troubling: it seems like the conservatives today have switched places with the liberals of the 1960s. the liberals today are ridiculously opposed to free speech, expression, and thinking outside the herd. as far as conservatives go, i'm pretty moderate, i still am pro-choice and all, but i'm also pro-reason and humanity, which apparently, the liberals are against.
yikes, sorry for that tangential nightmare comment.
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best line of the entire article....
"LIBERALS CAN be wonderful people, and boon companions, but they often have a hard time dealing with people of opposing views - especially when they cannot dismiss them out of hand as idiots. Too often they have spent their entire adult lives surrounded almost entirely by those who think just like them, and it comes naturally to dismiss those of other views as intellectually or morally challenged."
yeah, that line also caught my eye. there are so many variables to this argument though, bec, shosh and myself being somewhat aberrant deviants: shosh, by just her living in canada and not being a liberal (much like a jew living in the united states, nu york in particular -- generally we have been very liberal), and bec & myself having been raised in extremely liberal (nauseatingly so) households, and then defecting to the other side.
i don't think they so much have a hard time dealing with people of opposing viewpoints, as they do present their opposition in a particular way: LOUD, OBNOXIOUS, SCREAMING ... uh, CODE PINKISH. but those are really the very extreme leftists, whereas the average conservative and the average leftist are and can be very likable people. the christian conservative...oy, they're no better. whatever happened to centrism? i think walking a path where you veer not too much towards the right or too much towards the left is a very healthy way to go. that's the party i'd like to be a member of.
i've been thinking about this part all day:
" it comes naturally to dismiss those of other views as intellectually or morally challenged."
funny thing is that i used to think that maybe it was me. now i see that it really was them all the time. i'm not any more messed up than anyone else!!!!
*sweet*
but on a serious note, is centrism the answer? not at all.
people should be permitted to hold their views, right, left, center, whereever on the spectrum they fall, without having to feel that if their opinions are voiced, that they will be ostracized, attacked, SUED FOR LIBEL AND SLANDER, or harassed.
i vaguely recall reading an article in the nytimes magazine probably a year ago (i have long since stopped giving my money to that publication) about the new conservatives on college campuses, and it was pretty cool. these weren't geeky, nerdy types, but rather a nice assortment of kids from all sides of campus life who happened to identify more with the conservatives than the liberals.
this is what i find troubling: it seems like the conservatives today have switched places with the liberals of the 1960s. the liberals today are ridiculously opposed to free speech, expression, and thinking outside the herd.
as far as conservatives go, i'm pretty moderate, i still am pro-choice and all, but i'm also pro-reason and humanity, which apparently, the liberals are against.
yikes, sorry for that tangential nightmare comment.
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