As a (fairly) liberal person, there are some movies, books, TV shows, songs, and entertainers, etc., that I know that, in theory, I’m not supposed to enjoy, but that I unapologetically do anyway. Here’s a sampling:
[ul]
[li]“Uneasy Rider '88” - Charlie Daniels Band[/li][li]The Soapbox section of Mr. Daniels’ website[/li][li]The Rambo films[/li][li]The O’Reilly Factor[/li][li]Bill Cunningham[/li][li]Michael Savage[/li][li]“When I Get Where I’m Going” - Brad Paisley (actually, all of Brad Paisley’s output, which is the tits, as is his guitar playing)[/li][li]Southern gospel music[/li][li]The musings of Ted Nugent[/li][li]Dave Canterbury[/li][/ul]
And you guys? What do you other card carrying liberals or dyed-in-the-wool conservatives like that others would normally think you wouldn’t, based on your politics?
I don’t normally let meaningless political labels determine what’s “okay” for me to enjoy. I like what I like, so I listen to both Tavis Smiley and Rush Limbaugh, and read both John Stossel and Eric Schlosser.
I would lose a lot of respect for someone who refused to get information and viewpoints from sources outside their “acceptable” circle.
I’m a Liberal. I like bull fights. Though I must admit my enjoyment decreases in proportion to the number of helpers the matador is allowed. In my ideal world, bull fighting would still be legal, but the matador would only be allowed his (or her) cape and sword.
I’m a right wing trilobite who enjoys Jon Stewart. Most standup, really. Even if the comic is making fun of things I believe strongly in, if he does it in a humorous way, I will put up with it. I also listen to a lot of Soviet composed classical music, although I find it hard to classify that as purely “of the left.”
I love spiritual music, and by “spiritual music” I mean things like old traditional hymns, gospel, often sung in a Southern country style (so not “Christian rock” or “religious pop”), which is odd considering I don’t believe in what they’re singing about.
I like a lot of music that gays aren’t supposed to like, stereotypically: old-school country (dislike modern country aside from the Dixie Chicks), hip-hop, heavy metal, classic rock.
I suppose you could say I shouldn’t listen to artists like Kelis and Beyoncé because they wear fur and I’m anti-fur, but I couldn’t start picking and choosing which music I listen to going on the politics of the artists, I’d miss out on too much good stuff.
I firmly believe it’s sad to spend your life worrying about what entertainment fits into your persona/image or what other people will think is acceptable or cool, rather than just enjoying what you enjoy.
I consider myself a feminist but I was kind of entertained by the first two Twilight films. Might have helped that I got paid to watch them.
multimediac17, gays aren’t supposed to like old-school country? How old-school? Because the massive karaoke book at the queer bar* in Olympia is 15-25% country, most of it at least 20 years old and mostly older than that.
*That’s what they call themselves- a queer bar- sorry if anyone is offended.
I’m a liberal, but even more than that I’m just a political junkie who can’t resist an entertaining ideological debate,especially if it is flashy/extreme/emotional. And so I watch Fox News. Lots of it. Like at least four hours a day.
Oh sure I watch loads of MSNBC too, but I somehow find myself spending a little more time with the network that I’m supposed to decry as evil or whatever. It’s legitimately more entertaining to me.
Small hijack, CNN is boring as hell. What they think is is fair and responsible media is really just the colorless reporting I could just as well get from a newspaper. It’s like they think that the point of cable news is actually for news and not for entertainment, and that’s why they are losing.
As a Tree Hugger, I really shouldn’t enjoy tossing six-pack rings over the necks of passing gulls, or luring kittens to their deaths, or chopping up extra dolphin meat into my tuna casserole.
Conservative Christian who loves
Tori Amos,
Melissa Etheridge
& all sorts of Lilith Faire music,
admits that the best love song writer of our era is Elton John,
enjoys Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
Poe,
Lovecraft & other occultic entertainment,
older David Lynch films (haven’t seen anything after Industrial Symphony- I understand The Straight Story would be perfect ConChristian entertainment).
Dexter. And I just don’t get it. I lean slightly left of Keith Olbermann, total pacifist, don’t even believe in the death penalty, and yet I hug myself with glee every time I watch this show.
I think the perception is that country as a genre that is enjoyed exclusively by straight white people - stereotypically, of course. I know this isn’t true.
Country has some gay icons like Dolly Parton, but she is very much a crossover artist and has done her fair share of “gay friendly” music over the years in addition to the pure country. You don’t hear much about artists like Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, June Carter, Willie Nelson etc. appealing much to the (again, stereotypical) gay audience.
Just for the record it positively hurts me to talk about stereotypes and “gay friendly” music - I think all of that labelling is bullshit! It’s just that when people know that I’m gay and that my all-time favourite artists include Madonna and Kylie Minogue, they’re suprised to find I also like the aforementioned artists, just like they’re surprised that I have a collection of Iron Maiden albums or the entire Jay-Z discography.
Well it’s easier to say the general ways in which I stray from my roots than to specifically tie it to entertainment.
I’m fairly liberalish, mostly in the areas of human rights, though in some other areas as well. But…
I think guns (fictional movie guns and explosions and whatev) are fun. And I even have some sympathy for the NRA. While I don’t think there should be a totally unregulated weaponry free-for-all, neither do I think that guns should be outlawed, both for constitutional and also for principle reasons.
I enjoy homoerotic violence and aggression in certain contexts. Q.V. Fight Club, UFC. Not WWF style wrestling though, they are too flamboyant and contrived.
Although I have been informed that DrudgeReport is a staunchly conservative site, I find it to be mostly just a list of interesting and timely news links with a very minimal conservative bias.
Although it would be expected for me to be politically correct, I have a strong black humor genetic component that makes me find non politically correct things humorous or at least appreciable, as long as they aren’t truly mean-spirited (see Tosh.0?).
I enjoy some Christian pop music even though I’m effectively atheist, because I can appreciate the sentiment, and just the pure music.
O Holy Night is my favorite, especially when a classically trained singer sings it. Oh, that high note towards the end will send shivers down my spine. Most pop singers (rightly) won’t go for that high note, so I don’t listen to those versions.
I also like Ave Maria. I know its not strictly a Christmas song, but since I don’t spend much time in churches that is the only time I can hear it on the radio.
I sang tenor in high school, and I can still sing that part to the Handel’s Hallelujah Choir.
I can also sing the tenor part to the Harry Simone Chorale version of Little Drummer Boy
The right singer can make my eyes water a bit with Silent Night.
I’m strongly opposed to the US using torture and anything like torture in anything except ludicrously contrived hypothetical examples.
Unless, of course, that torture is being administered by Jack Bauer. (Of course, “ludicrously contrived” describes a fair percentage of the things that ever happened in 24. Didn’t stop me from enjoying the heck out of it.)