# Is any American "a waste"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 25, 2018, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-american-a-waste/807450 "2018-01-25T15:10:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 101
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-american-a-waste/807450/101 "2018-01-28T08:06:28Z")
> [@Euphrosyne](#): > > Can people from different positions, backgrounds, parties, perspectives hold productive conversations? > > Is it possible for Americans of different political / cultural persuasions to read others’ comments, paying careful attention to the substance of others’ comments, considering thoughtfully what others are saying? I don’t know. Let’s see if _YOU_ can do it. In another thread I wrote: > [@What is wrong with this statement about the formation of America?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-this-statement-about-the-formation-of-america/807341/8): > > Yes. And which party is it, again, which seeks to > > - deny women the freedom of their own bodies? > - deport law-abiding residents who’ve been in the country for decades? > - disallow transsexuals from using public bathrooms? > - deny government jobs to those who voted for the autocrat’s opponent? > - impede the voting rights of those unlikely to vote for the autocrat’s party? > - impede workers’ ability to form trade unions? > - arrest users of a recreational drug whose use is allowed by the people and state government? > - disallow the use or espousal of science by government scientists? > - impede poor people’s opportunities for healthcare and education? > - use the autocrat’s bully pulpit to inhibit a free press? > - Et cetera. > > Meanwhile, what is it the progressives have done that is so bad? Ask a cake maker to make a cake?? > > OP: Ask the Twitterer if he pulled his definition of “Freedom” from Orwell’s _1984_. If not, suggest that the word “Democrat” be replaced with the name of the American party that actually does favor oppression. In a follow-up I clarified that I am NOT particularly a social progressive, and do NOT think a wedding-cake designer should be coerced. My post above used strong exaggerated language to MAKE A POINT. The point is that many partisan extremists seek to deny freedoms FAR MORE IMPORTANT, in my opinion, than the alleged oppression against cake designers. And how did you respond? Let’s see: > [@What is wrong with this statement about the formation of America?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-this-statement-about-the-formation-of-america/807341/33): > > Thank you, Septimus, for your kind invitation to reply to the additional items in the list you created of our government’s “denial of freedoms.” > > Your characterization of government encroachments on your fellow Americans’ free speech rights as “horrible injustices inflicted on cake-makers,” a droll comment, would appear to indicate a view of those rights of the American people that have been set forth in our Constitution _verbatim et litteratim_, as not preeminent. > > I have no idea how to even begin to reply. > > I wish you a very pleasant day. And God bless us, every one. You thanked me for giving you the opportunity to opine on a list of freedoms, BUT DECLINED THE OPPORTUNITY to do so. We’re left to GUESS how you feel about - disallowing transsexuals from using public bathrooms; - denying government jobs to those who voted for the autocrat’s opponent; - impeding the voting rights of those unlikely to vote for the autocrat’s party; - impeding workers’ ability to form trade unions; etc. You did grasp that my assessment of the oppression against cake-makers was somewhat tongue-in-cheek; ignored that I SUPPORT the cake-makers’ rights, just regard them as of lesser importance to the other freedoms I listed; and then DISMISSED MY QUESTION WITH CONDESCENSION. I’ve frequently said that my quarrel is not with “conservatives”; it’s with the “willfully ignorant.” If you have an informed opinion about why labor unions should be suppressed, fine. But if you COMPLETELY IGNORE the problems I list just to make condescending remarks about cake-maker oppression, what should I conclude? Well, go ahead and ignore this too, I guess. I wish you a very pleasant day. And God bless us, every one. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-american-a-waste/807450)._