Ah, the old False Equivalence Fallacy.
Let’s see, the GOP has made climate change denial official with a gag rule that prevents Congress from even discussing it. So, big corporations make bigger profits, but later everyone else suffers, worldwide. Great.
The GOP started the war in Iraq apparently because it would enrich their campaign contributors and business buddies. 100,000 civilians died, tens of 1000’s of Americans were maimed or killed, and it cost ~$3 trillion. The GOP wants to pay for it by eliminating Social Security and Medicare.
The GOP often seems unable to distinguish between Leviticus and the Constitution, like they’re willfully stupid or something. The plan seems to be for working people to spend their retirement years subsisting on cat food without Social Security or Medicare, if people even live that long without health insurance. Because working people are lazy!
Meanwhile the Dems push for equal rights for minorities, health care for all, aid to the poor.
Of course the above is overly simplistic, but OP, when is the last time you read a newspaper? Do you mind sharing a few of your thoughts on the definitions of “good” and “evil” so we can have some idea of where you are coming from?
Any disagreement, like deliberately stonewalling anything liberals try to do? Oh, no, that’s a holy crusade. The sarcasm pours in a torrent.
Where’d you get that, from the Republican hymnal?
It’s only a fallacy when it’s false. You’re too close to the problem to see it. For some perspective, look at the UK’s Labour & Conservatives.
Ask the good people of Flint, MI what they think of their overwhelmingly Republican overlords in Lansing?
The Republicans.
Regards,
Shodan
Except that it is true.
For example, Fox ‘News’ interviews two scientists. One says climate change is a myth, and the other says climate change is happening. Fox ‘News’ reports that whether climate change is happening is not yet settled. But the second scientist has the backing of 99.9% of all of the other scientists studying the issue, and the first scientist has the backing of vested interests. When Fox ‘News’ gives equal weight to both scientists, that’s false equivalence.
Republicans trout out this false equivalence on climate change. They point out that there are some emails (that they take out of context) saying that the data has been fudged. They’re like, ‘Well, maybe we don’t have science behind us, but neither do the Democrats. If we’re guilty, then they are equally guilty!’
Or take Ted Cruz’s petulant (and expensive) shutting down of the government over Obamacare. The Republican side’s position was ‘Repeal this or we’re shutting down the government and default on U.S. debt!’ The Democrats made no threats. The White House bent over backwards to appease the Republicans. And yet the situation was presented as both sides being culpable.
Which they weren’t.
There are no “Hillary worshippers.” Nor are there people who think Obama is a deity.
Wrong. The wacky right-wingers think he is a deity. They’re the ones calling him ‘messiah’.
One reason is that Republicans often stick stubbornly to a particular principle or ideal even when it’s become obvious that it’s bad PR.
The example that comes to mind is how some Republicans spoke against the pork-barrel spending that there was contained within the hurricane disaster relief funding after Sandy in 2012. The principle was logical: Taking advantage of a disaster to hurriedly wedge in some pork-barrel spending is pretty despicable. BUT - by opposing it at such a sensitive time, it gave some the opportunity to tar and feather those Republicans as opposing the hurricane disaster relief itself.
Let’s keep Straw Men out of the discussion, OK?
Wow, if this thread isn’t an example of the SDMB liberal echo chamber, I don’t know what is!
I think another reason is also that Republicans are more likely to focus on the potential negative ramifications of something, while Democrats are more likely to focus on the potential positives.
Democrats are more likely to read a story about Westerners buying the freedom of slaves from slave traders in modern-day Africa and emancipating them (something which, as I recall, some Western activists have actually done in real life,) and thinking, “What a heartwarming story - people willing to do something in order to transform the world for good.”
Republicans are more likely to read the same story and criticize, “But you (the Western buyers) didn’t do anything to stop the slave traders themselves. You simply bought the freedom of the slaves and released them, but allowed the slave traders to continue their business unhampered - no arrests, no crackdown, nothing. This was extremely naive, and was not well thought out. This is, in fact, going to give slave traders and human traffickers MORE incentive to enslave people for sale in the future.”
But the result of this is that the Republicans come across as negative Nellies, focusing on what could go wrong rather than what could go right, and thus giving off a negative vibe or tone.
There are a lot of axes that can be used to measure political positions which very all the time. Take, for example the interventionism/isolationism axis. The GOP was very isolationist just before WWII but very interventionist (“Who lost China?”) by the late 40s. The party overall has changed its position many, many times since. The changes sometimes come so fast that large groups within the party are at odds over it at times. Does being an isolationist make you a bad guy? In retrospect, being one in 1941 does. But that’s hindsight.
(Also, fun fact: More Republicans than Democrats voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.)
One major axis in politics is the “I want mine.”/“Let’s help other people.” one. The GOP has been oriented towards the former for a long time. This looks bad to people aligned to the latter. Which is … “Well, duh!”. But not to themselves. (Again: "Well, duh!).
A couple of points though:
The self-interest view is not well received among most people in other Western nations. Hence, overseas views on the GOP are frequently negative.
Being selfish and not caring about others (the idea distilled down in a certain, but not only, way) contradicts some GOP posturing related to Christianity and such. This stance is the opposite of what Jesus preached. The contradiction is quite apparent.
When your statements contradict your actions, then this doesn’t look good.
Note that Democrats also contradict themselves. Most importantly lately regarding controlling Wall Street and such. This contradiction is also having an effect on how people view that party.
According to whom? The bad guys? The opposition? The Democrat collective? The liberal media? Hillary worshippers?
Peoples opinions vary. Some people have decided that Team A are the bad guys and Team P are the good guys. Each side is entitled to their own opinions but they are after all, only opinions based on each sides view of reality.
Your second paragraph is true. (Your first one is nonsensical). But what’s the point? The OP wanted to know why Republicans are seen as the “bad guys.” We’ve been explaining that. They are seen as the bad guys because on most issues they are. Why they hate America, I’ll leave that to you to figure out.
Let’s see… The presumptive Republican nominee is a man who claims he will built a giant wall across the southern border, ban Muslims from entering the US, deport 11 million Mexicans, expresses admiration for Putin, wants to kill journalists, routinely incites mob violence at his rallies, flagrantly mocks the handicapped, makes sexist remarks about women, and promulgates materials that originated on KKK websites. And they want this man to be PRESIDENT.
The Republican party as a whole consistently appeals to sexism, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and anti-intellectualism. They are the party that denies climate change is even a real thing, attempts to impose theocracy on Americans by making Christianity the only acceptable religion, denying women the right to abortion, denying gays the right to marry, and denying black people the right to do… well… anything. This is the party that clings to a pseudo-religious faith in the benevolence of American military power and the party that claims to represent the rural poor while simultaneously doing everything they can to empower the rich. This is the party that claims to represent small government while simultaneously trying to force their religious principles on the nation as a whole. This is the party that actually entered the phrase “legitimate rape” into our vocabulary. This is the party that claims, with no evidence whatsoever, that the President of the United States is illegitimate. This is the party that has spent years trying to prove some kind of wrongdoing on the administration’s part over the Benghazi killings, despite half a dozen previous investigations that have already returned no result and Congressional testimony that devolved into pathetic, inept farce. The entire Republican platform is built on exploiting people’s fears and pandering the lowest common denominator with the least amount of critical thought.
But that’s not even the worst part. The worst part is that the Republicans made a conscious decision as a matter of policy to not cooperate with a democratic president. This has resulted in a government that consistently fails to accomplish anything whatsoever. The Republicans* routinely and consistently* refuse to offer any solution to America’s problems and refuse to participate in any attempt to do so, not because they have an actual disagreement but because they (again as a matter of policy) refuse to cooperate with the President on any matter whatsoever. This is the party that thinks it is better to have no government at all than accept a government run by the opposition. This is where we get the buffoonish circus of props and theatrics over equating the ACA with socialism and tyranny, despite any evidence or rational relationship to the actual law, and despite the fact that GOP front-runners proposed virtually identical bills for their own states. They have no argument that holds any merit, just a vague unhappiness with the fact that the President is a black democrat, and have therefore spent the last eight years trying to prevent *anything *from being accomplished. It is childish, it is disgusting, and we all deserve better.
So as to the question of why the Republicans are “bad guys,” I fail to comprehend how anyone can look at their long record of stupidity, racism, sexism, and religious intolerance and arrive at any other conclusion.
And years before that, in the days of the Cold War, they didn’t even fuss all that much about teh gheys, as long as we had teh evil Communists to hate. When the Cold War fizzled out, suddenly there was a shortage of out-groups to hate, and the right-wing people who just gotta hate (which isn’t exactly synonymous with “conservatives” or “Republicans”, at least not so much in those days) – they quickly lit upon homophobia as their next Holy Culture to glom upon.
What nonsense. More like:
Clean air and water=Governmental interference goes overboard.
Healthcare for everyone=Government can’t do anything right or well. Witness long lines and long waits at airports due to NSA.
Equality for everyone=Noting wrong with equality. Biggest objection is implementation and SJWs seeing racism where it isn’t.
Decent wages even for the least skilled=Should be paid according to value of their skills to the marketplace. The business of business is business, not social engineering.
Social safety nets=Create dependence, abuse and waste.
Safe workplace conditions=Governmental interference goes overboard.
Unadulterated foods and drugs=Governmental interference goes overboard.
Women=Nothing wrong with equality. Biggest objection is implementation and SJWs seeing sexism where it isn’t. Many women are conservatives themselves.
Exactly. And you can add refusing to hold hearing and a vote on a Supreme Court nomination (and dragging feet on many, many qualified nominations over the last 8 years).