Don't people understand that (as individuals) are all different and one cannot possibly understand someone by their political party?
If you do generalize, why do you?
I'm being serious. I'm not trying to start an argument. Please answer seriously.
2006-10-11 16:58:34 · 19 answers · asked by .vato. 6 in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
Their political viewpoints are polar opposites. I do not agree with either party's platform entirely. But the extreme right and the extreme left are pretty far out there. I think most of the public is moderate and we just have to choose the lesser of two evils.
2006-10-11 17:02:47 · answer #1 · answered by babalu2 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm a moderate (centrist) so I try not to generalize. The problem is that most of the things you see, read, or hear are done by the party stalwarts who believe that they and only they have the right answers and any dissention is the product of idiots.
I look to John McCain (who is only a party stalwart at election times) and Colin Powell (who openly criticizes the GOP now) as an example of conservatives that you can reason with. I think John Edwards is a Democrat who has enough sense to see a good idea no matter where it comes from, and John Murtha is an interesting mix. Clinton himself was so centrist that many Democrats called him the most powerful Republican in Washington. (Republicans seem to have forgotten that Clinton sided with them on many of their Contract With America items. See the thanks he got.)
But today, people are more interesting in casting blame, pointing fingers, and trying to sway you with shouting, insults, and lies. I would like to think that we could do better trying to sway each other with reason, logic, compassion, and facts.
2006-10-12 00:09:35 · answer #2 · answered by Chredon 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just like any issue. Some people are so far to one side that it makes the rest of us look just as closed minded.
I'm one who will vote for the candidate, not the party (though i'm mostly Dem.) and I have trouble understaning anyone who is stricly one sided. I also can't understand those who judge me as a 'bleeding-heart liberal'. Just because I agree with much of what they stand for it doesn't mean I think it is all good.
2006-10-12 08:16:44 · answer #3 · answered by AlongthePemi 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Good question. People get a kind of high in arrogant, unquestioning certitude, and they are able to avail emotional venting by generalizing the political opposition. Online there is no penalty, no social cost, for being crass, vulgar, vituperative or bigoted. We're all anonymous here. But they still feel the rush of being able to vent with impunity.
2006-10-12 00:07:34 · answer #4 · answered by voltaire 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's completely baffling because the Republicans can usually be defined by the actions of their leaders, but no one here ever defines what a "liberal" is, other than some name-callings and slurs. They define Democrats in ways that are even worse. Republicans sometimes reflect a terriblly unflattering superiority complex against anyone else.
2006-10-12 00:04:50 · answer #5 · answered by Reba K 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Unfortunately,both major parties are full of people who think
that thier group has a monopoly on morals or common sense
and sad to say they usually gravitate to the top. The third party
is not capable of attracting enough of us who are fed up with
the status quo, to be anything but a tie-breaker. I think it is
still better to hold your nose and vote the least repugnant.
If your choice happens to be Indie, great.
2006-10-12 00:14:44 · answer #6 · answered by Farnham the Freeholder 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have a point, and I'm guilty. I will say i use it as a response to an accusation about liberals. I like to use examples of indiscretion about the right to prove a point: that they muck around too.
As for an of-the-cuff insult, it's usually ineffective, because people on the other side always have something to come back with.
2006-10-12 00:08:05 · answer #7 · answered by tiko 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've wondered this myself for a long time now. It's as if every single person one know agrees Totally with your political views 100% or you want them dead. I don't get it. Not all people believe all the same things. Everything is not as black and white as they'd have you believe. There are a million shades of gray.
2006-10-12 00:49:45 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It has always been like that sadly. It is impossible to judge someone by their political party. For instance, i am strictly liberal...but i believe in God very much so...and i think that He should play an important part in government.
2006-10-12 00:04:27 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Stereotypes exist because there is SOME truth to them.
We just generalize and stereotype because we feel that MOST of the party we are talking about feels that way or acts that way.
2006-10-12 00:09:05 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋