On a lot of things, there is a more liberal and a more conservative viewpoint.
On most of these things, I tend to the more conservative side.
Here is what I have learned:
- If a person on the more liberal side criticizes a person or group on the more conservative side...good! We need to be aware of the faults of the "other" side.
- If a person on the more liberal side criticizes a person or group on the liberal side...well, by and large it just doesn't happen. "We need to stick together against the conservatives or we will lose the ground that we have gained"
- If a person on the more conservative side criticizes a person or group on the more conservative side, that's just the way that it should be. "After all, you should know the faults of your own side and now, you're "getting it."
The fourth leaning?
If a conservative criticizes a person or group on the more liberal side - even if it is just recognizing extremes...
OH MY FREAKING GOODNESS!!! It is as if the world is beginning to implode!
The message?
Criticize conservatives. Conservatives, look to your own faults.
Leave the liberals alone, or there will be consequences.
You will be accused of hatred, you will be accused of divisiveness, you will be called ignorant, you will be told to "get a life". You will be called a dinosaur, a bigot or worse.
The moral...liberals are sensitive beings who do not wish to be examined and who do not wish to examine themselves.
liberals are also in the business of examining conservatives and insist that conservatives examine themselves.
Careful...your double standard is showing.
Moonshadow
You might look at it another way: someone takes you seriously enough to engage you.
A friend of mine @ Facebook posted, presumably for the Chinese New Year yesterday, a photo with a quotation from Mao's little red book and, I'm trusting the translation as I reproduce the quote:
"Liberalism within a collective revolutionary organization is harmful. It is a corrosive agent that fosters disunity, weakens relationships, makes work negative, and causes differences in opinions. It causes the revolutionary ranks to lose their tightly knit organization and discipline, and policies cannot be fully implemented. It separates the party organization from the masses that the party leads. This is a seriously adverse tendency."
Haunting, isn't it? To both liberals and conservatives. What conservative would dare quote Mao ... or what liberal would adopt Mao's view? He's damaged goods all 'round.
Yet, words like these frighten me, and I'm not used to being afraid of words. I'm a conservative in the sense of preserving the past, enjoying access to everything that's ever been written through the centuries ... even by tyrants and heretics. I believe this sort of conservatism is inherent in the Christian religion, an aspect of Christianity that can't be tossed.
So, for me, the double standard develops when words join up with power: a bum in the street can say what he likes, he harms no one; but the President or the Pope ... or even God ... affects a larger audience. With power comes responsibility - and I'll be happy to be the bum spouting nonsense - and criticism comes when power doesn't act or speak responsibly.
MzEllen
Post authorYou might look at it another way: someone takes you seriously enough to engage you.
Not necessarily...I was sitting eating lunch on coronation day. A couple of staff were talking and one of them made the comment that one of the students needed to be scolded about the language that he was using describing President Bush. After talking to the mom and discovering that the family was Republican, the teacher said, "turns out the retard is the smart one in the family."
With power comes responsibility - and I’ll be happy to be the bum spouting nonsense - and criticism comes when power doesn’t act or speak responsibly.
Teachers have the power to teach...and they are teaching. The vitriol toward conservatives is disturbing.