Those mean spirited liberals.
Nov. 23rd, 2004 06:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumI keep seeing the meme that if the Dems had only been less about hating Bush, and more about the things they believe in (because bashing Bush is what they are against, and that's not enough get a vote) they'd have done better.
It confounds me, because I saw a lot of that; speaking to what we believe in.
So here are some of the people I read, commend and think of when I say the word liberal.
Fred Clark One of the best things going. Newspaper staffer in Philly.
Better Angels of our Nature A vet of the present unpleasantness in Iraq. Not posting much lately, but trenchant when he does.
Orcinus Reared in the heartland of Idaho, presentely in Puget Sound. Likes Killer Whales and focuses on far-right hate groups, and the political structure of the present "conservative" movement. Gets lots of hate mail. Interesting, even when I disagree. Disturbing and inspiring. His reportage is the stuff which leads to near despair. Not for the faint of heart.
The Nielsen Haydens Patrick and Teresa. Source of great debates, which manage to avoid being a sounding chamber of the like minded. Serious discussions, and wandering from medieval tapestry, to aracna of canon; and talmudic law. All things lead to cats or chocolate. In many ways it is as rassff was (yes, that's an in-group reference, but don't worry, they won't bite. Strong language is used, civility required). This is the place I cut my chops in the blogosphere.
Digby I know another man named Digby, this ain't him. Careful, reasoned and penetrating. I ought to have been reading him regularly long before I started.
Is That Legal Eric Muller. Professor of Law in N. Carolina. Social commentary on legal issues; esp. on the treatment of aliens and the questions of internment.
Democratic Veteran Bitter, with all the angry invective only a guy who spent a fair chunk of time where run of the mill foul language becomes a tool to be shaded with nuance. Yeah, he really doesn't like the present administration. But then again, it's a free country.
Real Live Preacher A preacher, in Texas. His take on the Gospels is probably that the central messages are, love god,, love each other, and help the poor. His theology is deep, and complex, and just that simple.
I read a lot of other places, personal blogs, conservative blogs, mixed blogs, but this is my liberal reading list.
For those readers on my list who want to know what real liberals think, take a look, heck. all of you oght to take a look those Those are all interesting people, and some of them are better than an praise of mine could tell.
It confounds me, because I saw a lot of that; speaking to what we believe in.
So here are some of the people I read, commend and think of when I say the word liberal.
Fred Clark One of the best things going. Newspaper staffer in Philly.
Better Angels of our Nature A vet of the present unpleasantness in Iraq. Not posting much lately, but trenchant when he does.
Orcinus Reared in the heartland of Idaho, presentely in Puget Sound. Likes Killer Whales and focuses on far-right hate groups, and the political structure of the present "conservative" movement. Gets lots of hate mail. Interesting, even when I disagree. Disturbing and inspiring. His reportage is the stuff which leads to near despair. Not for the faint of heart.
The Nielsen Haydens Patrick and Teresa. Source of great debates, which manage to avoid being a sounding chamber of the like minded. Serious discussions, and wandering from medieval tapestry, to aracna of canon; and talmudic law. All things lead to cats or chocolate. In many ways it is as rassff was (yes, that's an in-group reference, but don't worry, they won't bite. Strong language is used, civility required). This is the place I cut my chops in the blogosphere.
Digby I know another man named Digby, this ain't him. Careful, reasoned and penetrating. I ought to have been reading him regularly long before I started.
Is That Legal Eric Muller. Professor of Law in N. Carolina. Social commentary on legal issues; esp. on the treatment of aliens and the questions of internment.
Democratic Veteran Bitter, with all the angry invective only a guy who spent a fair chunk of time where run of the mill foul language becomes a tool to be shaded with nuance. Yeah, he really doesn't like the present administration. But then again, it's a free country.
Real Live Preacher A preacher, in Texas. His take on the Gospels is probably that the central messages are, love god,, love each other, and help the poor. His theology is deep, and complex, and just that simple.
I read a lot of other places, personal blogs, conservative blogs, mixed blogs, but this is my liberal reading list.
For those readers on my list who want to know what real liberals think, take a look, heck. all of you oght to take a look those Those are all interesting people, and some of them are better than an praise of mine could tell.
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no subject
Date: 2004-11-24 06:39 am (UTC)There is more to it, the misuse of the truly liberal values to make it seem as if passion were hypocrisy, understanding is weakness and nuance lack of morals.
But more it fails because the kernal of liberal value is justice, and the people in charge of the arguments of "conservatism" are looking for power.
TK
no subject
Date: 2004-11-24 06:56 am (UTC)-- James Garner in "Support Your Local Sheriff"
no subject
Date: 2004-11-24 06:22 pm (UTC)I think it was not just that the Media failed the public. I think a great many liberals didn't realize the rules have changed. I know it took me a while to get it. The message did go out in many ways and in many forums. But liberals for the most part were civilized, fair and polite. They framed the debate around issues, ways to move the country forward and their deep passion for justice for all the people in this country.
The almost universal conservative response that I saw was to mock liberals, engage in character assassination and whip up hate and fear. While liberals were operating under the assumption this was a sparring match with rules, conservatives were engaged in a bar brawl where winning any way you could was the goal.
I learned this the hard way during this election. I have a conservative friend, a fellow writer, who writes a conservative blog. Since I really felt the only way to heal the divisions in this country is to try and understand each other, to find a common middle ground, I read his blog, followed links he posted and tried to understand.
The majority of the time, I was horrified by what I read. The twisting of facts, the hate, the utter refusal to ever question anything the administration did, the willingness to throw away their rights in the name of security-- it was a world I never knew existed.
Then I made the foolish mistake of commenting, respectfully and unemotionally, in my friend's blog on some of his posts. He'd always treated me with respect even when we disagreed on the issues. The other conservatives reading his posts had no qualms at all about utterly trashing me. The kinder posts called me stupid, duped, brainwashed, a mindless follower and a moron still living in the 60's. The less restrained called me a traitor, threw in some choice four letter words I won't pollute your comments with and compared me to Charles Manson and Hitler.
The best part was the attack troll who followed me to my blog and spent his time posting unsigned hate comments and personal attacks. That was special.
I really believe the liberal message was lost in the hate, the climate of fear and intimidation fostered by the conservatives and all the screaming. The trick is going to be for liberals to learn how to counter these tactics without losing who we are.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-24 09:07 pm (UTC)Well, that is part of the problem. The meme that the "Left" is absent from real debate becuase they are full of hate, while the hateful aspects of the "Right" are just oddballs outside the real core of the movement.
Where the media has, and continues, to fail the public is the granting of equivalence to hate-filled invective, when compared to actual content.
The example I use most is the MoveOn ad, vs the Swift Boat Boys. The Bush campaign whined about the ads. Kerry told them to stop. The ads were mean. They were fundamentally true. The Bush campaign then implied they were pulled for being false.
Along come the SBB, and they are telling actual falsehoods (so much so that at least one of them is facing sanction from his State Bar for falsely swearing an affadavit). Bush says, "Well they have an opinion, and they feel it needs to be heard. I can't stop them, because they aren't part of my campaign.".
The press, rather than just say they were lying, says the claims need to be looked at, which gave them the cachet of truth, or at least of smoldering fire... and everyone looked at the smoke and started to assume the lies had a kernal of truth.
But when people said they were telling lies, the discussion wasn't about the lies, it was about how the nasty Dems were trying to discredit these noble vets who were standing up for what they felt was right.
The most effective tool in that arsenal is to beat us up with our own values. Tolerance, we are told, means we have to tolerate abuse... turn the other cheek until the bones are broken. When we don't we are called hypocrites, when we do, we get raped. Either way we are losing, and the trick is going to be shining the light into the dark corners. We have to start now, or we will be too far behind come 2006.
TK