I consider myself a liberal. Conservatives throw a lot of criticism at liberals. Some of that criticism does reasonably apply to some things liberals do. It probably works the same turned around the other way.
It seems to me that most of the criticism applies accurately not to the philosophy, but rather to the individual excesses of the group. To pick on liberals, we might consider “political correctness”. The liberal philosophy says that we should respect people. That’s hard to argue against. But human beings aren’t perfect — they can take the principle of respect and turn it into an extreme form, assuming that everyone is “thin skinned”, denying a sense of humor to other people, and suggesting that laughing at ones self is a bad thing. When political correctness gets out of hand, it turns in to censorship and an attack on free speech — a very NON LIBERAL thing to happen.
All that to say that sometimes liberals are silly. And just as liberals are sometimes silly, conservatives can get mean–while neither silliness nor meanness has anything to do with conservatism or liberalism.
And the conclusion is that we should all listen to each other, keeping in mind that we’re not all wise, smart, or on our best behavior.
Well get dressed and go to Church!
I really came online today not to make posts, which I gave in and replied to a few, but to say “Have a Great Sunday”. A day off of politics….starting now. 10:24. 🙂
Thanks for your comment.
I agree that political correctness sometimes works the way you describe. But I think your comment is a good example of what I’m writing about, attributing the same motives to an entire class, rather than looking at individuals.
I don’t believe that the Lutheran Church, for example, was trying to gain power when they changed the words of the Christmas carol “Good Christian Men Rejoice” to “Good Christian Friends Rejoice” in the Lutheran Book of Worship. And I’m certainly not trying to gain power when I use certain terms to describe groups. It actually giving up power when names a group the way that group wants to be named, rather than what one is used to.
And so I say “conservatives” instead of “right wingers”.
Now I’m the first to admit to having double standards — but having them bothers me, and I work on getting rid of them when I realize they are there. That attitude certainly makes me no less liberal.
Political correctness is not a philosophy of respect, but a form of speech control used to gain power. If it was simply about respect, it would advocate respect in a principled and consistent manner. It does not, as can been seen by its endless double standards. For example stating that there are too many white men in politics in front of liberals is perfectly acceptable, but stating that there are too many blacks on welfare is heresy. You are basically free to generalize, degrade and attack groups on the non-favored list, while you must be careful of what you say regarding the favored groups, regardless of facts.