joku:vaan writes:
So how you define liberal or conservative? From the perspective of your typical Leftist liberal, guys like Robert Lindsay are pretty conservative and racist.
It depends on who you ask. I have some friends who are typical Democratic Party liberal stalwart types, and they think I am a leftwing nutcase. They call me a “Shining Path leftwing crazy” and “Maoist.”
It’s true most Leftists say that I am conservative or worse, but they call 90% of the population “reactionaries.” Some liberals also say I am a conservative or a Republican, or “You are not a liberal, Robert!” but those are more the Cultural Left liberals, and many liberals, especially Democratic Party liberals, are not with the Cultural Left.
In fact, a surprising number of Democratic Party liberals are race/gender/sexual orientation realists, and a fair number of them are even sexist or even pretty racist. You would be surprised what those people are like. They usually try to hide their thought crimes, but when no one else is around, and they suspect you are a receptive audience, you should hear the way they talk!
As far as being racist, quite a few liberals and Leftists call me a racist, and honestly that is why a lot of the liberal/Left regular commenters have left the board in disgust.
But I know some Democratic Party liberals who would say that I am not a racist. After all, I voted for Obama twice and even worked on his first campaign. How many racists voted for Obama, much less worked for him? I had tears in my eyes when he won the first election, and they were all marching to the main park in Chicago to celebrate.I was so happy that we had our first Black President that I was moved to tears. How many racists felt that way?
I am a strong supporter of the old Civil Rights Movement, and I support most of the major civil rights laws. I just think the civil rights crowd has lost the plot. They have turned into something called “modern antiracists,” and they’ve simply gone way too far for my tastes. More properly, I am like a 1970’s civil rights type or a 1970’s/1980’s Cultural Left type. Every year the antiracists and Cultural Left types move their loony Overton Window further and further to the Left, and at this point, they have gone so far Left that I cannot even support them anymore. They strike me as insane people.
Think of civil rights and even the Cultural Left as a train.
I’ve been riding that train quite happily most of my life, but instead of stopping and parking the train somewhere, they kept racing the train further towards the left end of the tracks. That’s if there even is a left end – maybe the tracks go on forever!
At some point two or three decades ago, I thought, “You know what? I did not sign up for this. In the 1960’s and 70’s, I signed up for Liberation, not insanity.”
I said, “This is simply not the same train that I bought a ticket for back then. It’s turned into some weirdo freakshow train. You need to let me off right now. I do not want to go all the way towards your crazy destination, whatever or wherever that is.” So I got off the train when it was halfway to where it is now.
I suppose Left and Right mostly breaks on economics. Also I am not a social conservative in the US sense. Everyone who knows me laughs when I ask them if I am a social conservative.
Sure I hate the Cultural Left, but then I go to the social conservative websites, and I am simply appalled. That’s not me at all.
It’s the same thing on race. Most liberals and Leftists are completely nuts on race, even offensively so. But then I go to more or less racist sites, and I am utterly appalled. Mainly because they are all conservatives, but also because they take the racism thing vastly further than I ever would.
As far as racism goes, I am going to say that I am not one, but that’s not really for me to decide. The Cultural Left has widened the daffynition of racism so much now that I figure the majority of White people are racists according to them. Non-Whites are even worse – even more racist than Whites – but the Cultural Left says non-Whites can’t be racist.
I also feel that Left and Right are becoming obsolete terms. Everyone is forced into this insane Left or Right, conservative or liberal, either/or Manichean idiocy. If you decide liberal, they give you a checklist of 1,000 issues with the liberal position on each one. If you fail to check even one of them, they scream and yell that you are not a liberal and that you need to leave the party and head over to that conservative party they are throwing down the street.
Same thing with conservatism. If you say you are a conservative, they hand you a checklist with 1,000 issues on it and the conservative position on each one. If you fail to check even one, they throw you out of the party onto the street and tell you to go to that wild and crazy kegger party with the live band that the liberals are throwing down the street.
People like me keep getting thrown out of both parties.
My basic position is that people should be free to be Left on some things, Right on others and maybe Center on other things. That’s not allowed in our society in which ideological conformity and purity is insisted upon.
I actually suspect that most folks are some mixture of Left and Right, but that’s not allowed in the US, so they cop out and become an ideologue of one side or the other because that’s the only thing you are allowed to be.