Why are liberals so rude to the right?
“Why are liberals so rude to the right?”
This column was published not by the right but by the very leftwing Guardian. It has been years since I’ve seen a leftwing publication willing to let these kinds of questions be asked. Could we finally be seeing a crack in the wall of silence that the left has erected since the 1990s to protect itself?
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
“Why are liberals so rude to the right?”
This column was published not by the right but by the very leftwing Guardian. It has been years since I’ve seen a leftwing publication willing to let these kinds of questions be asked. Could we finally be seeing a crack in the wall of silence that the left has erected since the 1990s to protect itself?
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
“Why are liberals so rude to the right?”
Because they are immature.
I find it hard to believe that the author would put up with the described behavior in his own house. Those types of actions should get you quickly (and graciously) shown the door.
To answer the implied question with another question: what point is there to having sides if you have to keep treating people as individuals?
“Left” and “right” are just synonyms for “them” and “us”, not necessarily respectively or respectably.
“I find it hard to believe that the author would put up with the described behavior in his own house.”
Though I agree with you, I wonder if you have ever lived in a blue state, as I have. In those communities, it is very difficult to escape the smug, righteousness of the left. When I lived in New York, I would try to debate them politely, and found that it simply wouldn’t work. How can you have a rational conversation with someone who not only believes you are wrong, but also believes that you are either stupid or evil for disagreeing with them? However, living in New York it was practically impossible to have any social contact of any kind if you didn’t “put up” with this behavior.
I have experienced it myself.
But I did at least give back as good or better than they could and we have come to the mutual agreement that they will keep it polite and so will I.
We tend to keep away from politics and religion but if anyone wants to talk about it nicely I am more than willing to join in. As long as they listen to me also.
Its taken a while but I have even turned a few. A few to full on republicans and a few to libertarians. Most just learn to listen though.
I live in Oregon.
What I have observed over the years about my liberal friends is the certainty with which they make statements that contain little or no truth, and then they become indignant when you point out their errors. I remember one such time when a friend was villifying the Bush administration over the Valerie Plame affair, particularly the involvement of the White House in “outing” her covert status. When I told my friend that the extensive and hugely expensive investigation by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald resulted in one indictment, of Louis “Scooter” Libby, that the indictment was based not on anything he did in the White House but on the “process” crime of perjury during his testimony, that his conviction was based on a “he said/he said” disagreement with the late Tim Russert, and that the source of the leak came not from the White House but from Richard Armitage at the State Department, my friend curtly replied, “well, you have your own set of facts and I have mine.”
Over time, I have realized that it is nearly impossible to have a civil discussion with liberals, not even because they are rude and dismissive — which so many of them are — but because they are shockingly misinformed. I used to remain mostly silent, just to keep peace, but now I refuse to do so in the face of silly or false comments, because the fate of the country is now at stake, and liberal ignorance is enabling this situation.
The difference is a simple one, the liberal thinks in subjective / emotional terms and the conservative thinks in the more practical / objective.
The liberal thinks the Constitution is an old and pass’e document that needs to be changed according to modern sentiment. The conservative knows that the Constitution is as relevant today as it was 235 years ago, because the nature of man and the nature of abuse of power is exactly the same today as 235 years ago.
That is the basic difference.
I’m sorry but I must disagree. I’ve known plenty of conservatives in my time who are as emotional and subjective and as irrational as any liberal you can name. No one, and I mean no one, has a lock on rationality and objectivity.
The most dangerous thing anyone can do is assume they are right. As Cromwell said, “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.” See this post: Knowledge or Certainty.
While conservatives may be as emotional as liberals (they too are human) to some degree on varying issues the liberal is more prone to think that his or her feelings or emotional reaction on a political issue is what should determine the actions to be taken. There is a disconnect between the foundation (in this case the Constitution) and the application (policy or law). This is to be human, but to be human also means that humans are able, if properly informed and educated, to understand something intellectually. And yes they may intellectually understand something but their emotion may still rule them for a variety of reasons both understood and not.
If we are specifically talking about understanding the meaning and intent of the Constitution the intellectual exercise is to “see” it first in objective terms, (what were those guys trying to accomplish and why?) you can immerse yourself in emotions afterwards but to properly understand it (IMO) the foundation must be first intellectually and objectively understood. After that is accomplished things can get crazy and the conversation can become immersed in the minutia, but when the dust clears you are still able to go back to your foundation. The person that believes that they are liberal is in general unaware of the existence of a solid foundation because they believe that emotion should rule. This can be demonstrated as being false because when they are challenged to rectify how they operate in their own lives it is not connected to what they say they believe politically.
I can appreciate Mr. Cromwells quote and agree with him and you, but to be objective, which is something that you have to train yourself to do, to the degree that you are able, is too constantly be able to test what it is that you think you know over time and be able to recognize objectively when your conclusions fail and adjustments or reformulation is needed.
I give you the E-Cat, we think we understand how the physics SHOULD work but evidence may be telling us that we MAY have to adjust or reformulate at some point. To refuse to consider the possibility of a reformulation because we “know” everything about how the physical world operates is to be emotional about the subject. The person who THINKS they are foundationally liberal when properly confronted with the contradiction between what they say they know and how they themselves operates must at the least pause to question themselves, even if they just keep going on with how they were thinking.
I do this every day with friends and even customers and it is painful for some people who under go it and it takes a lot of time but eventually many of them are able to see that something is wrong with how they are thinking and at that point they are driven to know more. People want and need to have these things properly explained to them, they hunger for it in the confusing world that we live in. And when they see it it has the ability over time to change them.
And yes, not every human being is rational and objective but someone in America has to be.
To your point:
‘Tea Party Deserves It!’: People Actually Sign Card Thanking IRS for Targeting Conservative Groups
Ignorance sometimes can not be helped, some things are bigger than the side you are on.
The one thing I know for sure is that anyone, of either stripe, who spends an inordinate amount of their time focusing on the political environment, is either noticeably unhappy or suffering from some stress-centered ailment related to that pursuit.