Reply #83: Woah, watch out with that. [View All]

[Cats Against Frist]

I agree with you that religion trashing gets us nowhere -- though it is fun as all get out, and a great way to blow off steam -- at least, practically, but I do support people's right to think and speak what they will about gays, religion, minorities, whatever they want. It's a free fucking country.

That said, there's something else going on here. I'm pretty sure that conservatives have a tendency to be less flexible, and are more likely to be ruled by the "totalitarian brain," which is the black and white thing.

We don't like the Republicans, because of their policies. Many of the rank-and-file don't like "liberals," NOT because of their economic policies, welfare policies or whatnot, but because of fear. They have NO IDEA what we are. There is no practical reason to believe that the Democrats are any worse at resolving international conflict and keeping America safe, than the Republicans -- it's all conjecture. To say, "Well if Reagan wasn't there, the cold war would never have ended," is pure speculation -- but it is provided as incontrovertible fact. There is no reason to suggest that if liberal policies were to be given breadth that they would not provide a wonderful society (see Sweden). There is no reason to suggest that rank-and-file Democrats, by and large, are communists, socialists, traitors, or anything of the like. I mean -- there has to be some serious cognitave dissonance to say that "AMERICA HAS REJECTED THE LIBERAL PROGRAM," when 55 million people, some 3 percent less than the amount who voted for chimpster, voted for the Democratic candidate.

And they say, "the left went all out -- this is evidence that they don't have the numbers," conveniently leaving out that the GOP was going "all out" for twenty five fucking years, scaring the fundies, solidifying the base, dividing America, trumpeting jingo, not to mention the ELABORATE network of right-wing intellectual think tanks, pundits (some paid), and the masquerade of one of the major news channels as "objective."

There's no REASON for any of this, and that's the point. What we're left at, in the end, is clamoring biology, and it is in our genes to be suspicious of those who think that they've attained some "resource" that's greater than our own -- in the case of liberal v. conservative, particularly the stereotype of the urban liberal, who is so "out of touch" with the heartland, those things are "enlightenment," "knowledge" and "sophistication." Not that I am claiming all of these things for the left, only that, no matter how you want to spin it, for a country song to take pride in "my checked curtains and double-wide trailer," which is intended to soothe the ego of the "bumpkin," the fact remains that it is the equivalent of "maybe someone will ask you to the prom next, year, cripple girl."

Sophistication, intellectualism, culture, egalitarian behavior and enlightenment, at one time or another, have all been associated with exclusivity, (ironically enough, in the case of egalitarianism) which, like the Pebble Beach golf club, makes it desirable for some people. I didn't just get my education to get knowledge. I got it partially, because I knew it would get me the fuck out of Greenville, IL, where I could meet people who didn't only talk about the "glory of Swiffer," or episeotomy (remember, I was 18, and thought having children, at that age, was for the "trailer trash," at that time), that it would allow me to travel, and go to the city and live near artists -- or be an artist.

However, what I find the most IRONIC, is that the "elite" of the liberal, urban intellectuals live like near paupers, while the "common folk" in Exurbia are sporting 35,000 SUVs. Even the college professors who make a bunch of money generally live fairly modestly -- for one, they travel around, and for another, they have more important things, or just DIFFERENT things, to think about than how many appliances they can buy at the Slyman Brothers' anniversary sale, or whether or not to take that vacation to the furniture store that bills itself as some kind of "getaway." Or if they do collect or acquire material goods, it's usually for a different reason than to "keep up with the Joneses'," THOUGH I will admit that amongst some of the less-intellectual, more party-time urban elite, that materialism is practiced, and with as much gusto as any "Floyd & Donna."

Good god, my point is that it is less the fact that we look down on them, than that they LET IT GET TO THEM so badly. Think about it -- they're WAY more worried about what we think of them, than we are about what they think of us -- it totally plays out in their obvious rhetoric. And no matter how they rationalize it, liberals still possess qualities, knowledge, privileges and positions that some of them will never attain, no matter how many giant cars they buy. That's why they have to try so hard and scream so loud to look down on us, or marginalize us -- they can't just call us "smart," they have to call us "traitors."

We should be allowed to speak our opinions, and they should be able to take the heat. A large part of the anti-liberal program has nothing to do with domestic or foreign policy -- it's a big 'ol defense, to soothe the ego.

We all do things like that -- they're part of the human psyche -- and sometimes, the psyche develops into a political movement: Movement conservatism.