BS: What are liberals made of?

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: Sam L
Date: 02 Aug 03 - 02:04 PM

It was bugging me for a while--deliberately poor communication skills? I'd have said liberals tend to be good at talking, to a fault. But then I think I got it--I think it's just a mannerism.

I think many people would give the U.S. points for originality, audacity, as an early draft. But then there are many respectable reasons to favor some other working models.

Well, I suppose he was some pig, but still it was a funny exchange.

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: John Hardly
Date: 02 Aug 03 - 11:52 AM

Jeez LH,
Does this mean you're not a loser?
Man, now I gotta go edit my list and put you on t'other side! *BG*

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Aug 03 - 11:38 AM

I don't pretend to know which country is the "best" in the world, but I do know that this is the best world we've got.

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 02 Aug 03 - 10:40 AM

I'm not lonely, John. I thoroughly enjoy my solitude when I can arrange it, which is frequently. I do enjoy being "right", of course, because I have an ego. I bet you're just like that too... virtually everyone is. When I want fellowship I go to musical clubs and local cafes and get together with friends...and sometimes I chat on Mudcat too. It's fun. Nothing more vital than that.

America is NOT the best country in the World. There is no such thing as "the best country in the World" and people would be better off giving up such self-aggrandizing notions and ways of looking down on other people. But that also arises out of ego, so there you go. The Lakota Sioux thought they were the "best" people in the World. I'm sure Custer thought the 7th cavalry was the "best" military unit in the World. Egotism is endemic. Being the "best" did not save Custer when he miscalculated, did it? It did not save the Lakota in the years following, when they were overwhelmed by the US Army. And being "the best" did not get America a military victory in Vietnam when the USA miscalculated either. I repeat, there is no such thing as the best country in the World and there never will be.

Now lookie here, Wilco, I already told you what Liberals are made of. They are made of blue denim and guacamole. And if that don't do it for ya, take an anger management course...

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: Bert
Date: 02 Aug 03 - 10:30 AM

According to the next thread at this very moment it's "Haemorrhoid cream"

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Aug 03 - 09:51 AM

Rapaire's comment earlier in this thread:

Why don't we all stop bickering and fighting amongst ourselves and get on with solving the country's problems???

says it all...

There's a big world outside of the USA. I know that most of your population are too dim to realise that, but it happens to be true.

It also happens to be true that most of the world doesn't want the 'American way' Please stop bullying the rest of the world into Jesus (who died ages ago), non stop television and burger induced obesity

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: GUEST,John Hardly
Date: 02 Aug 03 - 09:25 AM

I don't think that what wilco48 has described is a liberal/conservative problem. I think it's a mudcat/forum problem. Internet forums have devolved into this sort of everyone-is-an-expert-with-their-set-of-internet-sources-that-prove-them-right.

Nobody is listening.

It's a crowded house and everyone is shouting.

Forums are rapidly becoming the last refuge for the lonely to find fellowship. Sadly, they were lonely in the 3D world for a reason.....and the reason follows them into the internet.

The mudcat's favorite red herring in this continual, on-going debate is to talk about the dictionary definition of "liberal" and "conservative" and then formulate their arguments and definitions from that. But I doubt that anyone here doesn't know that language evolves and that, though it may be helpful in understanding a word's root meaning that brought about a moniker, its dictionary definition most often holds no close correlation to current useage.

Wall.

Head.

BANG!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: Frankham
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 08:06 PM

Mr. Gibson says,

"America IS the best and most country in the world, whether we have God on our side or not."

I submit that one of the things that makes this country great is that
it's not necessary to boast or brag about it. It is a great country but it's obviously not perfect. As an American, I still have the right to change what I consider to be wrong as long as I responsibly accept the consequences. I think that chest pounding and making other countries feel inferior is by no means expressing the true ideals of this country. It must never be forgotten that the only orignal settlers here were Native Americans.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: Kim C
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 07:53 PM

Well, he was Some Pig. He could talk, after all. ;-)

I don't know that America is the greatest country on earth. It's the only one I've lived in, although not the only one I've ever visited. I liked England a lot but I didn't have the experience of working there, paying bills there, seeing a doctor there... so I don't know how that compares with America.

I do wish we had more vacation, like the Europeans do. I get a fair amount of vacation, but it still gets used up quickly. It would be swell if employers understood that happy, well-rested employees will work a lot harder.

But I think every country has its pros and cons.

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: Sam L
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 07:37 PM

Can't you do better than that? The fun of caricature is in the key features, and I don't think it's very well done. It's too crude, mere graffiti, lacks the cool of real observation.

    Happened to think of my favorite part of Charlotte's Web, when they find the writing "SOME PIG": I thought it was sensibly Liberal of the mother to say "Seems to me, we have an unusual SPIDER". The Conservative father replies "No. It's just an ordinary brown spider, right over there. But that's SOME PIG"!

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: mack/misophist
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 06:58 PM

It's all right for poly sci professors to define liberal and conservative, everybody knows their opinions are subject to change without notice. But I don't think I want anybody trying to define what makes me a liberal or puts some of my friends to the right of Ghengiz Khan. There's probably a textbook example of each, somewhere; everyone else, though will vary in some significant way.

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: Amos
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 06:39 PM

The blind leading the blind I have seen often. But the anonymous rebutting the anonymous is even odder.

A

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: GUEST,Martin Gibson
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 05:38 PM

America IS the best and most country in the world, whether we have God on our side or not.

If you hate us, too effin' bad. Most of us wouldn't trade it for any where else. Deal with it, please. You're not going to change anything, and quite frankly, no one here will let you.

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 05:22 PM

I think it'd be a big step forward if the USA stopped thinking that it was the best/most important country in the world.

Sadly, too many Americans seem to think that they have 'God on their side'

And they still wonder why some people hate America and what it stands for.

Please!

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 05:14 PM

Hope.

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: Kim C
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 03:37 PM

But I like to think. Ain't that why God gimme a brain?

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: GUEST,Martin Gibson
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 03:28 PM

Frank Hamilton said:

"The threads "What are liberals/Conservatives made of?" has a pejorative and ad hominem premise and serves very little purpose except to rile folks up to no advantage"

Congratulations! Inflation has made your once .50 words now worth $1.00!

Best regards

Martin Gibson
Famous "moderate" guitar & banjo picker and alive and well in the 21st century.

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: Don Firth
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 03:06 PM

True, indeed, Kim. But the problem with that is that it may demand that we think. The way it is, if someone says something we don't like, we don't have to attempt to formulate a rational argument of refutation (which may not be possible should the statement made have the unfair property of being true), all we need to do is snort contemptuously and slap a label on whoever made the statement. Saves a lot of wrinkling of brows.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: Kim C
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 02:35 PM

I think the biggest problem, and this is a People Problem, is that groups of people always seem to have preconceived notions about other groups of people. Wasn't it Alexander Pope who said "a little learning is a dangerous thing"?

For instance, if all someone knew about me was that I have three tattoos, they might automatically assume I own a motorcycle, or that I have a pierced nose. I have neither one. If all they knew about me was that I'm a musician, they might automatically assume that I vote Democrat. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. And if all they knew about me was that I usually vote Libertarian, they might assume that I'm all for drug legalization. Nope.

Perhaps we might try to see people are individuals, rather than members of a group.

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: Amos
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 02:34 PM

Wilco:

I would like to suggest that you try and boil those broad traits down to particular instances you have encountered.

Maybe it is "just" semantics, but I do not think your post really says anything useful, or accurate, as written.

A

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: Frankham
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 02:27 PM

Studs Terkel pointed out that "liberal" in the dictionary is synonymous with "generous". I think that trait would be acceptable to most reasonable people.

Liberals as far as I can tell are not of a whole cloth. They are made of the same differences found in any group of political groups.

The threads "What are liberals/Conservatives made of?" has a pejorative and ad hominem premise and serves very little purpose except to rile folks up to no advantage.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 02:19 PM

Gee, wilco, I thought liberals were made of "sugar and spice and everything nice."
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: Rapparee
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 02:07 PM

Why don't we all stop bickering and fighting amongst ourselves and get on with solving the country's problems??? Leave the labels at home, solutions nearly always lie between two extremes.

Stop trolling on both sides.

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: Janie
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 01:54 PM

The Right Stuff:=)

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: artbrooks
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 01:43 PM

Liberal is a perfectly fine word, with an official (dictionary) definition that has nothing to do with any of these characteristics. The word's hijacking by people with a particular agenda is similar to the misuse and redefinition of other perfectly fine words, like "gay", "queer" and, yes, "conservative."

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: Don Firth
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 01:43 PM

Let liberals speak for themselves:—

What they stand for HERE
What they are not HERE, and
FAQs HERE.

Respectfully submitted,
Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: DMcG
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 01:42 PM

Personally, I wouldn't have classified many religious leaders as liberals.

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: Ebbie
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 01:40 PM

As a liberal, I'd be happy to change my view of conservatives, if they're willing - and able. :)

Subject: RE: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: Wesley S
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 01:28 PM

Those are people problems - not liberal problems. I dare say you can find the same behavior coming from some - not all - conservatives. Some conservatives even try to bait the liberals here. Imagine that !

Subject: BS: What are liberals made of?
From: wilco
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 01:04 PM

On the Mudcat BS threads: pre-conceived notions, self-righteousness, self-aggrandizing world views, bigotry based on a bogus intellectual elitism, deliberatly poor communicative skills, bogus and pretentious "holier-than-thou" attitudes. An unfortunate tendency to think they "speak for the poor and downtrodden." And, I predict, a propensity for personal attacks and a failure to reason.