<p>geeps - not that it will make you feel any better but at least validate your sense of how seriously awry political discussion has veered, you might enjoy the book “Liberal Fascism” by Jonah Goldberg.</p>
<p>well, yes, that is my opinion, just as it is your opinion that i am loony. i suppose it is misleading to call myself ‘tolerant’ bc i am a liberal bc i am not tolerant of intolerance, but i would never express that violently, threateningly, angrily, etc. i would certainly never send hate mail like that girl received at geogria tech.</p>
<p>as for offending people…i guess it is part of life…socially conservative people offend me often with their statements/ideas…god bless sarah palin…</p>
<p>so mazatl…you think being socially conservative equates to being a racist, sexist, and a homophobe? Isn’t that exactly what you have posted on 2 occasions?</p>
<p>That’s probably the most offensive statement that’s been posted on this thread…you should be proud</p>
<p>I don’t know that you get a free pass on this, geeps. I’m happy to agree that being socially conservative does not equate to being a racist, sexist, and a homophobe, and that many social conservatives are none of the above. (May, in fact, be gay women of color. The most socially conservative person I see on a regular basis happens to be a woman of Afro-Cuban descent. She’s not gay, but I don’t think her views would be different if she were.) </p>
<p>On the other hand, racists, sexists, and homophobes are not equally distributed between social conservatives and their opposite. Someone who is racist, sexist, and homophobic is overwhelming likely to define him- or herself as a social conservative, and to defend racist, sexist, and homophobic positions using, in part, the rhetoric of social conservatism. Moreover, on any particular current issue, the racist/sexist/homophobic position is often identical to the non-any-of-those social conservative position. From over here, it’s often hard to tell the difference between “good” social conservatives and racist/sexist/homophobic social conservatives, and the two subsets are often happy to stand shoulder-to-shoulder when it comes to fighting particular battles.</p>
<p>On particular battles, each person has to choose sides. Sometimes we have the luxury of three or four “sides”, rarely more, but most often it boils down to two sides. And when you choose to side with the racist/sexist/homophobes, others may lose track of your non-racist/sexist/homophobic reasons for that. States’ rights, the desire for literate voters with civic education – there are perfectly respectable historical traditions behind those concepts. But if you stand on the bridge with Bull Connor, you can’t whine too much about being called a racist.</p>
<p>(I’m glad xenophobia dropped out of this conversation, since that’s the rare bad quality that seems to be equally divided between liberals and conservatives these days. But I don’t make common cause with liberal xenophobes, and I think less of people who do.)</p>
<p>i think that one must appeal to sexist, racist, homophobic, or xenophobic arguments in many instances to support socially conservative positions.</p>
<p>JHS a free pass? The guy equates being conservative to being a racists, sexists, homophobe… and you once again try to defend…</p>
<p>"From over here, it’s often hard to tell the difference between “good” social conservatives and racist/sexist/homophobic social conservatives "</p>
<p>from “over here”…I assume you mean loony land…because that’s exactly how you sound.</p>
<p>“i think that one must appeal to sexist, racist, homophobic, or xenophobic arguments in many instances to support socially conservative positions.”</p>
<p>…loony leftist at it’s best…wow…you are out there</p>
<p>geeps…leftist brains are just wired differently.</p>
<p>i’d give it a rest and let them wallow in their self-aggrandizement.</p>
<p>JHS – Thanks you for having the stomach to remain in the fray here, although I’m not sure it’s worthwhile. </p>
<p>Geeps – You make no effort whatsoever to argue the issues or to back your own positions with facts. Instead, you simply respond to JHS (and anyone else who you view as liberal) with smears and name calling (“loony land,” “loony leftists”). It is impossible to understand your sincerely held beliefs – if indeed you have any – when you refuse to articulate them in an intelligible way.</p>
<p>“geeps…leftist brains are just wired differently.”</p>
<p>I think you are right…it’s like bizarro world here.</p>
<p>i’m now thinking of a little experiment in which i take a transcript of this thread and give it to both liberal and conservative professor friends and ask for their feedback (might need a few glasses of beer or a good dinner to entice them). i’m wondering how they might read and interpret the various responses, on both sides, and how they judge the participants ability to add to this discussion and characterize the other sides arguments… . .perhaps treat this thread as an academic experiment. . . .i’m wondering who they may characterize as loony or sound in their argument. . .who is offering thoughtful dialogue and who is reacting in irrational ways. . .or however they choose to respond is fine with me, i just want to know their take on this rather interesting exchange of CC members. . . .some teach in the hard sciences, some in business/economics, some in the humanities, but they’re all smart, witty, insightful folks who populate our colleges and universities and teach our children. if this happens i’ll get back to you all. . .i suspect this thread will still be alive in a week;-)</p>
<p>Wjb…I don’t think equating conservatives to sexists, racists, homophobes needs to be argued…it’s just garbage…and those that can’t see that are truly leftist loons</p>
<p>JHS’s statements are compelling to this confused guy.</p>
<p>geeps, you seem to think nothing needs to be argued, just labeled. Typical social conservative know-nothing tactics.</p>
<p>JHS…sorry…anyone who tries to equate conservatism to racism, sexism, ect…doesn’t deserve any more of a response than what I’ve given.</p>
<p>Well…it took 700+ posts, but it’s now obviously clear how the far left truly think. Conservative = racist, sexist, homophobe…posted twice without a challenge…then rationalized and defended. </p>
<p>I think my original question is more relevant now than ever…My son would want no part of any school where this kind of crazy thinking was expressed by the professors.</p>
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<p>Go back and read JHS’s post, which states:</p>
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<p>What do you not get here?</p>
<p>Re post 755: I note that this thread has more than 21,000 views. Even if JHS doesn’t “deserve” a response, perhaps something besides smug invective would bring a few lurkers around to your point of view – whatever it may be.</p>
<p>“From over here, it’s often hard to tell the difference between “good” social conservatives and racist/sexist/homophobic social conservatives, and the two subsets are often happy to stand shoulder-to-shoulder when it comes to fighting particular battles.”</p>
<p>It’s definitely clear that many liberals believe in liberties and freedoms as long as they AGREE with them. They tell those who don’t like Obama; “He was elected by the majority; live with it”. But when Bush is elected, or the people of California vote for Proposition 8; then they don’t like it and they take it to court and protest. These are just examples of the hypocrisy. But of course, they’ll just tell you that the conservative is closed minded, ignorant, and uneducated. And that their votes and opinions shouldn’t count because we don’t know what we’re talking about.</p>