Disagreeing with liberals?

Question

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that, if you don't happen to agree with a liberal, it's pretty much a given that you're stupid, evil, or both? How does this fit with the ideas of "tolerance" and "open-mindedness"?

Oh, I've noticed some conservatives doing this as well - it just sometimes seems that it's the "go-to" response for liberals. Note, for instance, the answers I've gotten. Maybe I'll start keeping a log - hard data would be useful.

Kate F - I really wish you had an email. I like your answer. I wish more people looked at it that way.

Believe it or not, I wasn't trying to start an argument. I've been quite impressed with a few of the answers from liberals here. At least, I feel a bit more hopeful now. Thank you all.

Answer 1

If you can give me a valid reason for disagreeing with me (I'm a liberal), then I won't call you stupid, or think it. But many of the conservatives that I know use very faulty reasoning that just doesn't stand up to the test of logic.

For example, if you think abortion is wrong because killing is wrong, I don't have a problem with that. That doesn't make you stupid; that's good reasoning. (I'm using the logic that killing someone hurts them, and therefore it is wrong!) I don't agree with it, but I can respect it.

But if you think George W. is a good president because he focuses on family values, that's not a sound argument. (If you can name specific things that he has actually done, I would reconsider.)

I'll be honest. I'm not tolerant of stupid people. That's because, unlike other things, stupidity is something that you can change. You can learn more about the world and become more intelligent. And being openminded doesn't mean accepting everything. If that was true, I should accept people who believe that they can steal from others because they want to be rich. But I can't. It means being open to different possibilities, such as the possibility that a woman who steals food for her children might be doing the right thing. But a woman who steals diamonds because she likes them is not doing the right thing!

Answer 2

Sorry I don't like Kate F.'s logic. Stealing is illegal, if her kids need food she should go to see human services at her county or state social services office, visit a private agency like the Salvation Army, or a church (oops, I forgot liberals don't believe in God). I'm not surprised a liberal would advocate stealing, though, moral relativism and "feel good me-ism" is a strong liberal trait that few conservatives share.

I go with the original premise of the question, there is too much stupidity being thrown around at others by libs. Kate F. may be right that there are some clear thinking liberals somewhere, but there are certainly none in (liberal) Washington or in the (liberal) press corps, because all you hear from them is BS about how stupid George Bush is. And he certainly is not that.

Answer 3

I believe it's because the people are not really getting either party's true agendas. The news media is feeding us the FAR right and the FAR left agendas - it makes for much more exciting news.
Hopefully, we will get a much better perspective during the actual campaigning for our next president.

In my opinion, the Demcratic agenda was clearly stated when Joe Lieberman lost the primaries. It is an agenda which does not include a war on terror.

You can hate Bush or love Bush - but he leaves no doubt about where he stands on the fight against Islamic radicals.

I personally believe Islamic terrorists are the biggest threat to our way of life since WWII.
And the candadate, in my opinion, who stands strongest in support of trying to rid the world of these murdering dirt bags is going to get my vote.

And, no, I am not a war monger. The terrorists have demonstrated time and time again that when we try diplomacy, negotiation or just plain do nothing - they strike again. This is obviously unacceptable.

Answer 4

Birds of a feather flock together, yes they do, oh yaaaa! I can agree, mostly disagree, with any and every political party or group. There is always an insidious element somewhere because of the following equation; Money + Power = Control.

Tolerance and open mindedness is a figment of the imagination!

Answer 5

It's hard to be tolerant of the right wing nowadays. When being a republican meant being fiscally conservative, that was something we could disagree about. Now, being a republican seems to mean that you are cavalier about the lives and beliefs of anyone who isn't a fanatical christian. It means spending vast amounts of money in the frankly stupid belief that killing people will convince the world not to hate us (and want to destroy us). It means running up huge deficits that essentially is spending our children and our childrens children's money in order to "reduce taxes" on ourselves. That is as immoral as can be. I think to be a Republican in this day and age means exactly that. You are either stupid, evil or both.

Tolerance does not mean condoning evil. Open-mindedness does not mean accepting selfish and destructive behaviors that are destroying this earth.

Do you consider yourself tolerant? If so, does that mean you condone murder? Does tolerance mean that I should quietly accept a govenment lead by a stupid, smug rich smerking jerk like bush? I don't think so.

Answer 6

Where are the anti-conservative posts every day? I can see good things from both sides and choose to concentrate on those. So much anti-liberalism only separates the people of this country. Instead of picking the best of both and finding a way to combine them the Conservatives (at least here) choose to disembody the whole and place blame. I think a lesson in history is in order to the point that as far as liberals go, this country wouldn't be the success it is today without them. I believe I can say the same about Conservatives but were talking about Liberals now..
Since something needs to be said about liberalism. I need to remind you that America was a liberal idea. Washington and Jefferson were the liberals; King George was the conservative.
Abolitionists were liberals; slave owners were the conservatives.
And America was built by liberals -- by dissenters, by those persecuted for their religion or their race.
Bottom line the U.S. needs Liberals as well as Conservatives to maintain a balance. What it means to be Liberal in the world is the recognition that we are interdependent with the world, which means that we can not secure our safety or our prosperity alone, either through isolation or through empire, as I think conservatives have tended to try to do. But in fact America has to lead other countries in common efforts to solve problems that are too big for any one country to solve alone, like jihadism, or global warming or the threat of disease, for instance.
Liberal at home means in domestic policy the recognition that capitalism requires democracy to survive and to flourish. Capitalism is a great producer of wealth. But capitalism if not harnessed by the democratic system, without sufficient democratic oversight, tends to destroy itself. It tends to produce such savage inequality and instability and cultural contradiction that in fact people turn against capitalism itself. The great role of liberals is to save capitalism from capitalists, to reform capitalism, to make it more humane, to make it work for more people, people need to believe in a capitalism system to survive.
Sorry, just had to express my point, I know we need Conservatives also in this balance.

Answer 7

Actually, I have noticed it, but I have also noticed the same thing for conservatives. It seems fewer people come onto Answers to share opinions and learn others than do to bash the other side.

Answer 8

It must be a matter of perception. Many neo con ideas seem to me to be poorly thought-out, or outright spin. When I hear conservatives, such as Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly (or George Bush and company), I hear from them that liberals (pronounced as if it were a dirty word) are fascists, communists, lovers and supporters of terrorists, etc.

Answer 9

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Answer 10

I disagree with stupid evil people regardless of their political affiliation. Why? Because it's the stupid evil people that want us to think in terms of liberal vs. conservative on every issue and vote like zombies without even fully understanding what we're really voting for. They don't think, they just do what they're told to do by their party leader. It's pathetic. People don't have the guts to educate themselves on the issues and think openly anyway so they pick a prepackaged set of political ideologies and follow it like some sort of cult. That's just my opinion of it though. Now let's see how many thumbs down icons I get for bashing libs and cons equally. ;)