Your thoughts about Republicans and Conservatives on Yahoo! Answers...?

Question

There seems to be a lot more hatred, attacks, and childishness on this site coming from the Rep/Con side than Dem/Lib. This makes me wonder if there is something to worry about because it would make me assume that this is due to a lot more young(the next generation) people taking that side. Or, could this just be that Dem/Libs are more mature and less obnoxious? I enjoy a little mudslinging every now and then myself but that is not my only way of debating a topic.

I respect your Y!A dominance here Brian but I am coming in to this with an absolutely open mind.

Robert M... I think my question and your response go hand in hand. Cause and effect perhaps. And did you call me a moon bat or are you signing off? I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be insulted or not so just let me know when you get a chance.

Ronin... I didn't punch up an Excel spreadsheet or anything like that but I did fire up the "politics" page a couple times to read through the questions. Without even opening up each question you can tell which ones are all about the hate (ex. "Why do Libs hate America" or "Why are Cons stupid") and the trend does tend to support my views.

Marty... it is very amazing. And I do apologize for making this sound like a blanket statement. I am only trying to identify a trend here, not say that all are the same way. People like Brian are usually respectful and people like GOD BLESS AMERICA/ANTI LIB are either A)Mr Savage in person or B)get all of their ideas from him.

Answer 1

While both sides are very good at this, the conservatives are really hateful. I have seen them want liberals killed, deported, called cowards, you name it. I had never listened to or read anything Rush Limbaugh has said until this morning. I see now who their model is. I cannot believe a radio host can promote so much hate and intolerance. And I don't mean the phony soldiers thing. Just all of his ignorance. Calling all Democrats stupid and cowards is beyond anything I can imagine any decent American saying about his fellow Americans. He seems though, to reflect the opinions of the conservatives on here. Or, more likely they are just quoting him.

Answer 2

My thought is that you are not really paying attention, or if you are you do so with blinders on. Yes I do see some on the right who unnecessary attack and demean, but I see just as much of the same type of behavior from the left. Every time this question is asked by either side, it just leaves me completely amused at the utter hypocrisy exhibited by people who only want to see the faults of the opposition while largely ignoring their chosen side's shortcomings.

Edit:
Your statement: "Without even opening up each question you can tell which ones are all about the hate (ex. "Why do Libs hate America" or "Why are Cons stupid") and the trend does tend to support my views."

Again I think you are missing the fact that there are roughly an equal amount of these types of questions floating around. Liberal or Conservative flavor tends to change based on what time of day it is. However, you leave me wondering if you are taking into account how many of these questions are being asked by the same people. The bashers tend to open anywhere from 3-10 questions of this type in short order. If you just look at the topics without looking at the poster it would give the impression that the phonemenon is actually larger than what it is. I generally do not even bother with those types of questions as I know what they are all about from the start. My statements relate to the average questions which open themselves for chances at good debate, but get ruined in the rush to hysterical bashing. Again, if you read with a critical eye, you will find that this behavior is pretty evenly spread. This whole topic is just like a never ending mantra of both sides accusing the other of bad behavior while absolving their own.

Answer 3

This is an extraordinary question; interesting, provocative, and enlightening. I say this because you are seeking insight and understanding to an issue that would seem irreconcilable. To begin with, just look at how your straight forward question turned on the high beam Red and Blue lights of the respondents. The inability of all people to both listen AND hear what is being said is an amazing dysfunction of our country given our position on free speech. It is counter productive to separate thoughts-feelings-actions when discussing political policies. Without ALL 3 of those principles in alignment, you can only deliver modest successes or grand failures. It leads some government leaders to actually think that you can do the wrong thing the right way. To your question then: It is not really a question of do LibDems or ConReps have equal ability to feel guilt. They certainly do. The barbed, razor edged question is what ACTION do they each prescribe in removing their guilt. Their actions are driven by what they think (a combination of experience and expertise). YES, they both feel guilt to the same depth and degree. But guilt is a huge emotion. EMOTION clouds the judgment. If you cry over even justifiable things, it leads to gross mistakes in rational thinking, fear, and loss of courage in the face of adversity. Guilt is a good thing, though, because it keeps thought is some form of check and balance. PLEASE, someone, anyone point out where a Guilt Driven Foreign policy in defending freedom and democracy has ever produced anything but failure and greater threat to our nation and way of life? Thank goodness Lincoln did not let the fact, the guiltful fact, that EVERY enemy soldier killed in the Civil War was an American citizen. Look at that President, read his papers, public and private, and you will see the alignment of emotion-thought-action that was required 146 years ago. (For you thin skinned ConReps, visit the Lincoln Library in Springfield IL if you want to see what Presidential criticism and hostility is really about. GW is getting off easy with this modern press!) And, NO, GW is no Lincoln, unfortunately for us all. PS - It is time to turn off the red and blue lights and turn on the brilliant white light of America and become a nation united.

Answer 4

I think you have hit it on the nose when you talk about the childishness, hatred and attacks coming from the YOUNGER generation. It is not necessarily a Republican, Conservative, Democrat, or Liberal basis for this but instead they seem to be products of a pro-active political atmosphere that has permiatted most lines of communication - T.V., Radio, Newspapers, etc. In general, the souce of information that they are listening to has a tendency to slant things to a particular point of view and our young people are influenced heavily by the message that they receive from their source. Young people are also influenced by the environment that they grow up in and this also plays into their reasoning. Not to use bad examples but lets say that a middle class male/female may not see the same way as a lower class male/female or a poor male/female. They do not attend the same schools or have the same opportunities and they are going to grow up with vastly different veiw points on what is wrong and what is right in the world. This has been around since the beginning of time, there is no way to change this.

Answer 5

I think that it is coming from both sides.

I asked a similar question trying to find the open minded conservatives so I could actually debate instead of ridicule the name-callers...
It was deleted before any of them answered it.

Expect the same. If someone doesn't like your question it can (and probably will) be deleted, no matter how unoffensive it is.

EDIT: Even though your question generalized a little, isn't it just amazing how they attack you the exact way you are criticizing them for?

Answer 6

The far right conservative movement is waning. Minorities tend to be militant and defensive about the way they look at the world... right now, American society is becoming more progressive and the political landscape reflects this.

I don't think that they are more immature but more upset by the current changes in American soceity. Upset makes people emotional and go on tirades.

BTW, I have seen a lot of liberals spout hatred themselves. It does seem that more hate speech comes from conservatives though. Personally, I think all of you (libs and cons) are completely ignorant of what is happening in the world and a LOT of you are crazy paranoid of each other... let's give the world back to the moderates.

Answer 7

For the record, I’m a progressive independent voter and I see the world differently than both parties. In a word, I’m a man without a country.

That said, I totally disagree. Both sides are equally guilty. Both sides are misguided. Both sides fight for ideals that are decided by huge corporations with huge amounts of money to spend to secure even larger amounts of money.

As long as it’s “us-vs-them” amongst our own countrymen, we’re ALL guilty of bringing the quality of this country down.

Answer 8

It's amazing how people can only see one side or develop tunnel vision. Take a hard look sometime and REALLY see. It's a two-way street here.

I see hatred being flung from both sides and the same with the trolling questions. Again, both sides.

Answer 9

if you don't make an actual count of questions so that you can prove your point then you can expect to be attacked or ignored.
Interesting point, I doubt it's 50/50. One side probably ask more loaded questions than the other.

Answer 10

I agree with you. It's too hard to pinpoint age on a forum such as this, but I would say that it has more to do with the partisan warfare that has come increasingly from the right in recent years. Listening to various Conservative news forum it would be really easy to note that it seems like name calling has taken the place of real debate.