I’ve had an epiphany thanks to you, TVeblen. For years I’ve heard it said that while conservatives think liberals have bad ideas, liberals think conservatives are bad people. And although I’ve heard this and agreed with it I never gave much thought as to why it was so.
Now, thanks to you and your posts of the last few days, I understand.
Liberals are so totally and thoroughly convinced of the rightness of their positions, the nobility of their motives, and their purity of heart, that there is absolutely no reason why any decent person could possibly disagree…therefore, anyone who thinks differently or disagrees with you simply HAS to be an asshole, because no one who isn’t an asshole could possibly disagree with you!
So I thank you for this insight into the liberal intolerance and arrogance that I’ve always noted but never understood.
She has also stated more than once she’s an Independent, and has provided a reasonable enough explanation in her diatribes. She’s angry, but far from incoherent or insensible. Just because she hates the current administration doesn’t mean she’s a liberal.
I was speaking of her political posts the last few days in toto, and as I’m just now headed out for the day I don’t have time to find and link to them all. Just click on her screen name, select “Find all posts by…” and look at just about any of her political diatribes over the last three days or so.
This from a person who seems to believe that the decline of civilization is solely the fault of the left wing media.
[
](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10160355&postcount=109)Not to mention all of the scorn heaped upon the left wing big city east coast Hollywood elitists (liberal for short) at the just closed RNC. I’m not saying that TVeblen doesn’t have a fair share of anger issues. Just that you may want to check the construction materials used in your house before you start chucking any rocks.
Yes, that’s why Clinton got impeached for his sexual affairs and lying about it; the Republicans didn’t like his policies. And Bush? It’s not because of the demonstrably bad direction he’s taken the country that Democrats don’t like him! No, it’s because they hate him as a person. And calling liberals un-American and traitorous? Why, that’s just politics. Nothing personal.
I don’t think liberals are EEEVIL assholes, though, I just think they’re wrongheaded. That’s the difference. Liberals in general seem to believe that no one could possibly be a conservative unless they are just an asshole through and through. That, and its being the genesis for the liberal arrogance, anger and intolerance for any POV but their own, is the point.
Sure doesn’t sound to me like someone who thinks “conservative” equals “bad person.” She’s sure as shit not happy with the current administration or its few remaining supporters, but she’s pretty clearly only condemning a specific subset of conservative voters, not conservatives in general. And it’s not entirely clear that her own politics are necessarily liberal. Certainly, her complaints, while shared by a great many liberals, also speak to a number of core conservative values: not getting involved in foreign conflicts, restricted government powers over its own citizenry, and so forth. Her anger could be equally justified as coming from an old-school, paleoconservative vantage as it would from a modern liberal perspective. Personally, I agree that she’s going way overboard with the vitriol, especially when aimed at Bricker and Scylla, but I’m not convinced that she and I share the same place on the political spectrum, much less that she’s representative of any particular place on it.
No. Some liberals. Either it’s some liberals or all conservatives need to own up to the loonier and angrier side of their own wing.
And I’m not sure what the difference between an evil asshole and a wrongheaded, arrogant, angry, intolerant person is. Seem to be splitting hairs rather finely.
My impression is one of things filling her with incoherent rage is the tendency for political opponents to label her as a liberal for her opposition to the current administration. Especially considering she holds some supposedly conservative values dear and appears to have as many issues with her local Democrats as she does with national Republicans.
You misunderstand the point of the OP. TVeblen, herself, is not under attack here; rather it’s the arrogance, intolerance and anger I’ve seen coming from the left for the last 40 years or so. I’ve always thought it odd that the ideology of tolerance and acceptance should be so rigid and hateful. TVeblen’s posts of the last few days provided the answer, that’s all.
And now I do have to leave for the day. I’ll try to answer what follows, if necessary, when I return.
Which is fantastic, and all, but there’s a large segment of your party that thinks quite differently. Probably, about the same size as the liberals who believe this:
Actually, if I were going off my own experiences, I’d say that faction of your party is considerably larger than the similar faction on the liberal side of the fence, but I’m allowing that, as a liberal myself, there may be some observer bias coming into play. I mean, if someone writes a best-selling book that calls you a traitor because you have a generally leftist political outlook, it tends to stick in the memory. I can’t recall any similar, left-wing polemics leveling a similar charge against conservatives, but I don’t have as much emotional investment in the accusation, so it’s entirely possible that I’ve merely forgotten about such tomes.
See, You’re projecting again. Just because people think YOU are an asshole through and through (and stupid to boot), doesn’t mean that we think ALL conservatives are like that.