« Pick a side, any side | Main | The Brady Bunch »
September 24, 2004
Learning about Liberals
It's funny. I have recently been frequenting sites of a few very liberal (very wrong), but very decent people. When I have time I have been rebutting posts, especially on matters such as abortion and the war. Well, today I was asked to leave one of the sites, but I thought I would share a few things I've learned in the process.
*Liberals are more interested in free than freedom- I read so much banter about how this group of people doesn't get this and that group of people doesn't get that that it makes me sick. Apparently we don't live in the land of dreams, but instead the land of entitlement. Liberals also believe that though they want the right to kill their own (abortion, cloning, embryo research), they don't want to fight the terrorism that threatens their right to do these things that are legal (though wrong). No one said that if you live here you get something. Go out and earn it like everyone else. If you made a bad decision in life, suck it up and do the best you can with your circumstances. You are only here a short time before an everlasting life.
*Liberals hang close to their own- You don't know how many times I am asked "why are you here?" Liberals don't like their bubble invaded. Perhaps they know they are wrong or are at least very possibly wrong, because as soon as the truth rears its ugly head the only thing left for them is to personally attack you. I don't mean simple little name-calling, either. I'm talking about all out attacks. I've often been referred to on the sites as a "troll," but I'm not out to piss people off. If an opposing view to your own pisses you off, I wouldn't make your personal view so accessible (as to put it on a website for everyone to see). Liberals, you have to know that smarter people than you are going to stumble upon your site (if it's worth anything). The other thing I often heard from liberals were comments about how few comments there are on my site. Sometimes I think of that as a complement, because plenty of the posts begged answers from liberals who obviously didn't have an answer to my question (they are wrong). Second, I've never suggested this site was anything but something for people to happen upon. I have a few close friends who read it, and obviously a few others read it (without me ever knowing who it is without some kind of feedback). I'm not putting this out here hoping I can get a thousand people per day to read the thing. I don't really care. If no one reads it I'm perfectly fine with that. It's not personal attention I'm looking for.
*When all else fails, liberals will correct your grammar, spelling, and punctuation and somehow believe that to be demeaning- Seriously! You don't know how many times I'll post a four-paragraph response to why you can't have it both ways on an issue, and someone will tell me that the correct spelling of gibberish isn't jibberish. I'm so glad you all have ample time to check posts and sites and help all of us become better writers. Thank you! But, in all seriousness, this site will never pretend to be the most polished or stylish form of writing. It's just me typing into a little box and hitting "save" when I'm done. If I wrote this like I was writing an article for a program, a newspaper article, or a promotional piece I would have just enough time to get out about one post per month -- hardly enough to keep people interested very long (if they even would be in the first place).
*Liberals, in many cases, are brainwashed- Folks, if you are listening to the Michael Moore's of the world, there's something wrong. If you saw F911 for entertainment, great. If you actually believe what's in the film, there's a whole list of things on my site, lower right, that shows the film's a crock. Other people like Moore are a crock. In some ways I equate Michael Savage to Michael Moore, only from the right. He's a crock, too, for the most part. All people like that do is try to present something as a problem without ever presenting a good way to fix it. And, many times they are making the problem up, so it's understandable that there is no solution as of yet.
*Liberals best argument is "you don't know what's right"- They answer this way when it comes to the most important issues such as abortion, embryonic stem cell research, cloning, euthanasia, and homosexual marriage. Yet, they seem to have a divine answer from God on the issue of the war in Iraq or the Patriot Act. There is nothing more cut and dry than murder, yet I "don't know what is right." It seems to me that if you don't know it's right then you shouldn't do it. If I see a bare electrical wire in my way and I'm not sure if it's live or not, I think I'm smart enough not to touch it. I don't touch it just because I don't know and it would be convenient for me to move it out of the way. Yet, the belief that Iraq had WMDs was widespread and believed to be fact. The Patriotic was approved almost unanimously (at least by everybody but the most whacko of politicians) and was put in place to protect us. These are two things that were "right" when the decision was made. The only case you can make for abortion, however, is that we don't know what's right. Well, we do know those five things are wrong and even if we didn't it doesn't mean we should do it.
*It will be the end of the world for many liberals if Bush wins in November- If Bush wins liberals will be saying the apocalypse is upon us. For conservatives it will just be four years of John Kerry's face on everything. It will be tough to get much done considering the nation is still pretty conservative in terms of Congress. It may or may not mean any extra chance for an attack on our homeland, but we can be assured that the people of Iraq will suffer due to a lack of support from us. He puts a lot of faith in his magical credibility powers when he says he can gather support from other nations (seemingly at the snap of his fingers). That said, life goes on for conservatives in the case of a Kerry presidency. I'm not sure what happens to liberals in the case of a Bush re-election.
*Liberals aren't bad people- All of this said, it's only fair that I sum up these things by making the point that these aren't bad people. They are only misguided people. I don't consider them hateful for standing for the killing of babies and for their lack of heart for the people of Iraq. I just think they are misguided. They obviously know not what they do or they wouldn't. I sit and eat lunch with liberals every day. I suspect the people whose sites I visit are as nice of people as the ones I eat lunch with.
To those who wish me not to frequent their site anymore, I will respectfully keep my distance. To all of the liberals reading this right now, you are always welcome (as long as commenting doesn't turn nasty, that is)...
Posted by Judd at September 24, 2004 07:59 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.hangingontonothing.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/68
Comments
Hey Judd. I think I'm a liberal (pretty much) and thought you would like to hear my response to your summary.
Free/Freedom - Swearing into Federal service in 1996 was one of the most moving moments of my life. I'm currently a Coast Guard Auxiliast and have a pretty little piece of paper that says I'm a "Founding Member of the Department of Homeland Security". Within one generation I also have connections to the Air Force, Navy, and the Marines. If you go back a generation I can list the Army.
I believe in paying taxes and the importance of understanding how those monies are spent. As I've worked in Federal accounting and budgeting it is an issue near and dear to my heart. I was drawn to Howard Dean because he was the first politician I had ever heard say (over and over) that we need to be aware of our priorities and realize that we need to balance tax collection and Federal spending. I'm actually donating to our local Republican State representative because he does a great job of communicating information - the second most important issue to me after proper fiscal management.
Posted by: CmdrSue at September 24, 2004 09:36 PM
Oh, and you might enjoy checking out The Bill of No Rights which I hung in my office while I worked in DC. I believe in working for a living, earning your way, and building some character. Do I think that everyone is always capable of doing that? No. I'm very sympathetic to those who need help. But if you are capable and lazy you will find my boot connecting to your butt pretty quickly.
Posted by: CmdrSue at September 24, 2004 09:41 PM
Liberals hang close to their own: Most people like hanging out with their friends who reflect positive things back to them. What's so crazy about that? Some sites encourage discussion and some don't. I've seen dissenting comments that range from the intelligent debate to the idiotic name-calling.
The type of comments that irritate me are ones that have no real back-up to support their opposing view. Or, even worse, don't really even state an opposing view. This includes disagreeing on principle or just 'shouting' about how wrong liberals are without ever getting to any point.
Posted by: CmdrSue at September 24, 2004 09:50 PM
When all else fails, liberals will correct your grammar, spelling, and punctuation:
It's not our fault that we're over-educated and even seeing our own typos makes us woozy. Dictionary.com is one of my best friends. I'm not as obnoxious as some because I'm actually pretty soft-hearted when you get down to it. But bad spelling and grammar always get to me. And that includes when *I* mess stuff up, which is pretty often. My grammar is very, very informal because I will always go for pacing and style over rules. I'm sure I make some strict grammarians very miffed.
Posted by: CmdrSue at September 24, 2004 10:04 PM
Liberals, in many cases, are brainwashed:
You cannot make a man by standing a sheep on its hind legs. But by standing a flock of sheep in that position you can make a crowd of men.
Max Beerbohm (1872 - 1956)
I will give your assessment some thought. It seems odd to me that so many people are so far apart on so many things in our country right now that we seem to spend our time amazed that the other can think that way. One of my closest friends at work is a staunch Republican so we spend a lot of time sighing and rolling our eyes at each other. The interesting thing is that we agree on identifying problems but vary widely on the correct solutions.
I'm pretty sure that far Right Republicans are outside of my scope of understanding. But far Left Democrats irritate me, too. I get along best with moderates.
Posted by: CmdrSue at September 24, 2004 10:12 PM
Liberals best argument is "you don't know what's right":
I assume that you don't want me to parse out all of my opinons on the issues you listed. Generally I'm guided by the principle that individual freedoms/ rights are important.
My 'best argument' is that people deserve to have all of the information for an "informed decision" and have their voice (or vote) heard. We are supposed to be a democratic republic. I would love to see that system work.
As for divine answers from God, that's really not my bag. I feel very close to God, but He doesn't seem to like to share his political views with me.
Posted by: CmdrSue at September 24, 2004 10:24 PM
It will be the end of the world for many liberals if Bush wins in November:
I don't like any party/organized group having as much control as the Republicans do right now.
"The more you read and observe about this Politics thing, you got to admit that each party is worse than the other. The one that's out always looks the best."
Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)
Posted by: CmdrSue at September 24, 2004 10:26 PM
Liberals aren't bad people:
True. We're not bad. We're just drawn that way.
Misguided? That smacks of a superior attitude. I'm not sure I appreciate that.
Killing babies? I would *prefer* that we didn't. But how many orphans have you adopted? How are you making sure that the children being born will be cared for? How are you ensuring that unplanned pregnancies don't occur? How are you working towards making the next generation's life at least as good as your own? We can't make decisions without consequences.
Lack of heart for the people of Iraq? Because I wanted there to be international support and a freaking PLAN before we ever ENTERED the country? Because I'm mad that the military didn't listen to it's OWN generals and special advisors who told them that they needed more men? Because I'm mad that the 'story' about our purposes there has changed over time? And what about Afghanistan which has been left to the warlords? We don't have to have heart for those citizens anymore?
I would love to heal the world. I would love to make the world a wonderful, safe place for everyone. I make my contribution by accepting and loving others who are different from me, both valuing and recognizing those differences. I just got back from a party at a Republican's house a couple of hours ago. Realizing that they were in a 'safe' group they started complaining about "the towelheads". Is that having "heart for the Iraqi people"? I don't think so.
Posted by: CmdrSue at September 24, 2004 10:41 PM
See? Now I'm reviewing my comments and I'm seeing typos AND IT'S KILLING ME. Out of respect to the organization I would at least like to point out that "Auxiliast" should be "Auxiliarist".
Posted by: CmdrSue at September 24, 2004 10:43 PM
This is my first and only time coming to your site. If you would choose to "honestly" make and defend your points, then you might get somewhere with us. Here's a link to one of the liberal websites where you lie, I mean "troll". Conservatives, take a look and see for yourself.
http://blondesense.blogspot.com
P.S. Contrary to your lie/claim that we are "brainwashed" - it is well known that we are and independent and diverse group. Unlike conservatives, who tow the company line and have to pay token blacks to attend their conventions.
Posted by: Stevens at September 25, 2004 12:34 AM
Sue,
Thanks for your service to our country. I know we all appreciate it...
Judd
Posted by: judd at September 25, 2004 08:18 AM
Hey Stevens -
Just to prove how non-partisan I *can* be I will point out that you have a typo. Regarding blacks - my staunchly Republican friend at work is bi-racial and her husband (also Republican) is black.
You have a point, though. 'Liberals' are, for the rule, independent-minded. That's why we can't usually focus on one main agenda for the Democratic party. When Bush said he was a uniter, not a divider, I never dreamed that the biggest illustration of that would be uniting everyone that was to the left of him. This includes MANY of my moderate Republican friends. Which was probably his biggest mistake because they are far more active, vocal, and better at working WITHIN the system than I am.
Posted by: CmdrSue at September 25, 2004 09:39 AM