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The smug style in American liberalism
- The smug style in American liberalism
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The smug style in American liberalism
The Rogue Tomato > 05-12-2016, 06:57 PM
Excellent piece, worth reading the whole thing.
"There is a smug style in American liberalism. It has been growing these past decades. It is a way of conducting politics, predicated on the belief that American life is not divided by moral difference or policy divergence — not really — but by the failure of half the country to know what's good for them."
http://www.vox.com/2016/4/21/11451378/sm...liberalism -
RE: The smug style in American liberalism
aleshanee > 05-12-2016, 09:46 PM
(05-12-2016, 06:57 PM)The Rogue Tomato Wrote: Excellent piece, worth reading the whole thing.
"There is a smug style in American liberalism. It has been growing these past decades. It is a way of conducting politics, predicated on the belief that American life is not divided by moral difference or policy divergence — not really — but by the failure of half the country to know what's good for them."
http://www.vox.com/2016/4/21/11451378/sm...liberalism
this is true..... when it comes to the extreme end of american liberalism.......
... ...and yet... to be honest about it... one would have to say it is also true of the extreme end of american conservativism as well ....... .... in fact.... that statement could be said of both extreme ends of the political spectrum concerning those who let politics drive them........ both sides are smug to the max and both sides think the other side is nothing but idiots..... ....
but neither side stops there...... both sides also eat their own...... and with alarming enthusiasm......
... both extreme sides have adopted the practice of broad brushing anyone who doesn;t tow their party line in it;s entirety .... completely into the opposite camp........ ... you might agree with 90% of either sides platform.... but disagree with just one point that a hyper conservative holds dear and he will paint you as a baby killing abortionist who wants to rip the signs off bathroom doors and put a transgendered teacher into every classroom........ ... ... and if you don;t agree with that hyper liberal ... when they insist transgenders are the new normal..... then he paints you as a racial bigot who wants to return to the days of jim crow with segregated water fountains.... and who has a closet full of assault rifles stockpiled under a white robe with a pointy hood......
in previous discussions... at other places... i was frequently broad broad brushed into both those extreme camps by members of the opposite camps any time i disagreed with any point or principle they were trying to establish........ and ironically whenever it is pointed out to one side or the other that they have done that they frequently justify it by saying the other side does it too..... ... but the biggest irony is that neither side sees themselves as extreme and both sides blame the other side for having starting it first...... .......... maybe it;s just a natural characteristic that goes along with being extreme.....
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RE: The smug style in American liberalism
The Rogue Tomato > 05-12-2016, 11:30 PM
I think one of the main points he was making, though, is that liberals used to be the ones who fought for the little guy, the middle-class worker. They still claim that title and claim Republicans don't care about the working class.
But liberal politicians seem to be unaware that they're treating these people -- the people they want to vote for them -- with contempt. As a result, the working class is beginning to abandon liberal politicians. And, by the way, I consider George W. Bush to be an elite liberal, so he fits right into this scenario, which illustrates what I'm talking about:
Quote:"You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania," Obama said, "and, like, a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate, and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter. They cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
It's the latter part that we remember eight years later — the clinging to guns and religion and hate — but it is the first part that was important: the part about lost jobs and neglect by two presidential administrations.
So here Obama is talking out of one side of his mouth, that jobs have suffered, and then turns around and calls these out-of-work people bitter clingers to guns and religion. He's mocking the very people he wants to vote for him in order to restore their jobs (which he never did).
No, Bush didn't do much to help solve the problem, but he didn't publicly insult those people. That's the difference and I think the point of the piece.
Both sides are hypocritical, and both sides make fun of the hypocrisy of the other side. And you're right that both sides eat their own in their quest for their own personal power. But that's not what the piece was addressing.
One thing I'll say -- liberal politicians may be worse than conservative politicians in this respect, but neither care about working for the people anymore. They're both the ruling class now, and are obsessed with keeping the gravy train going.
Here's a quote from the article that really drives that point home:
Quote:If the smug style can be reduced to a single sentence, it's, Why are they voting against their own self-interest? But no party these past decades has effectively represented the interests of these dispossessed. Only one has made a point of openly disdaining them too.
Abandoned and without any party willing to champion their interests, people cling to candidates who, at the very least, are willing to represent their moral convictions. The smug style resents them for it, and they resent the smug in turn.
That's why, in the end, you get conservatives voting for people who are anti-abortion, and liberals voting for people who are pro-abortion. People know neither party is going to address their real life issues, so they just vote for whoever seems to be more in line with their moral convictions. (And I have news for everyone -- 99% of politicians don't have moral convictions - grin.) -
RE: The smug style in American liberalism
aleshanee > 05-14-2016, 03:36 PM
conservatives.... liberals.... neither is a friend to the dispossessed..... ....... ....... one just happens to be a little more honest than the other about their disdain for them........ ...... and neither side wants children who are... or who would have been... the subject of abortions to exist...... ..... one side wants to prevent their coming into being in the first place..... the other wants to kill them before they are born....... and they both pander to the votes of people whose sensibilities lean one way or the other......... but truth be known both sides would starve such children to death or strangle them in their sleep if they could get away with it........ .... and every child who has been born into such a life knows this........ ...... which is why i have never trusted either side... conservatives or liberals...... if either one had their way where my birth was concerned i wouldn;t be here..... -
RE: The smug style in American liberalism
benutils > 05-18-2016, 11:42 PM
I try to be for what's right, no matter the source of information.
Conservatives lie. Liberals lie. Moderates lie. The ungodly lie. The righteous, sometimes lie. I've lied. I just get tired of hearing endless lies from just about everyone.
I'm a HUGE skeptic of just about everything I hear. I just assume its a lie and then try my best to determine if it might be true. -
RE: The smug style in American liberalism
aleshanee > 05-20-2016, 05:45 PM
(05-18-2016, 11:42 PM)benutils Wrote: I try to be for what's right, no matter the source of information.
Conservatives lie. Liberals lie. Moderates lie. The ungodly lie. The righteous, sometimes lie. I've lied. I just get tired of hearing endless lies from just about everyone.
I'm a HUGE skeptic of just about everything I hear. I just assume its a lie and then try my best to determine if it might be true.
in a way i;m just the opposite...... i tend to believe everything i hear from people..... .... the first time they tell me.......and continue to believe them until something proves them false.... .. ... it;s just part of my nature.... which really makes no sense all things considered.... i should be just the opposite..... so i guess it must be a defective part of my nature...... ...... i really want to believe people.... and even though i know it;s often counter to my safety and wellbeing i want to trust them..... .... it usually takes me a long time to realize that someone has been deceitful or dishonest with me...... ... often long after it has become obvious to everybody else....... ..... i doubt i will ever learn in that regard.... but i have learned not to make the same mistake with the same person twice....... -
RE: The smug style in American liberalism
The Rogue Tomato > 05-20-2016, 07:30 PM
(05-20-2016, 05:45 PM)aleshanee Wrote:
(05-18-2016, 11:42 PM)benutils Wrote: I try to be for what's right, no matter the source of information.
Conservatives lie. Liberals lie. Moderates lie. The ungodly lie. The righteous, sometimes lie. I've lied. I just get tired of hearing endless lies from just about everyone.
I'm a HUGE skeptic of just about everything I hear. I just assume its a lie and then try my best to determine if it might be true.
in a way i;m just the opposite...... i tend to believe everything i hear from people..... .... the first time they tell me.......and continue to believe them until something proves them false.... .. ... it;s just part of my nature.... which really makes no sense all things considered.... i should be just the opposite..... so i guess it must be a defective part of my nature...... ...... i really want to believe people.... and even though i know it;s often counter to my safety and wellbeing i want to trust them..... .... it usually takes me a long time to realize that someone has been deceitful or dishonest with me...... ... often long after it has become obvious to everybody else....... ..... i doubt i will ever learn in that regard.... but i have learned not to make the same mistake with the same person twice.......
I'm pretty much a human lie detector. I almost always know immediately when someone is lying. My problem is that I deliberately choose to try to believe it, mostly out of my own insecurity. I want to believe what they say, but deep inside, I know it's a lie. I ignore it because acknowledging that it's a lie would throw a monkey wrench into the relationship. That's how I ended up married to my ex. I knew she was telling me a pack of lies, but if I admitted it to myself, the only reasonable action would have been to break off the relationship before it really got started, and I was too insecure to do that.
So when I say I'm too trusting, what I really mean is that I deliberately block the lie out of my mind and trust when I shouldn't. In retrospect, I can almost always admit I knew all along I should never have trusted that person.
Fortunately, I finally learned my lesson after that. When I was looking for a girlfriend after my divorce, one lie, and that was it. Dropped them like a hot potato.
It's a lot easier when I have no personal stake. I knew Obama was a pathological liar the first time I saw him speak, and I had no idea who he was up until that time. And he was saying things that I agreed with -- and would have made me vote for him if I had believed him. But I knew he was lying. -
RE: The smug style in American liberalism
aleshanee > 11-13-2020, 09:23 PM
just a reply to let you know.... you were right about everything you said in this thread.... ....i haven;t read the entire latest book from obama ... but i have read a few sections of it.... .... and he is worse now in his rhetoric than he ever was before... ....it;s like reading something hitler would have written..... ..it took me a while to see it completely... my gullible side still tries to push me into wanting to believe people even when i know i shouldn;t.....
i have a very elderly friend who comes by the archery range occasionally who grew up in germany during world war 2.... .he was 12 when the war ended.... he told us a long time ago during the first obama admin that barak obama was the u.s. politician who reminded him the most of adolf hitler..... he said everything from his manner of speaking to his shifty way of lying and redirecting the truth was a carbon copy of how hitler did things in the germany prior to world war 2....
a few weeks ago people thought joe biden was a trojan horse for kamala harris... ... but it seems pretty obvious now... . at least to me.... that the joe biden presidency... ..(if he does officially win the election) .. will be little more than a 3rd term for barak obama... .. as he will be the one behind the scenes calling the shots.... ... and then if rhetoric has any effect of action michelle obama will be in charge of identifying then persecuting and punishing anyone who supported donald trump....
so far obscure forums like this one are about the only places on the internet liberals can;t censor.... . ..but that could change if their gain enough power in the congress and presidency to fully get their way.... ..and they do watch this place then print and record everything they see... ...