Originally Posted by
Totoro Man
given that I openly opposed Gulf War II, am pro-choice, pro death penalty, and don't consider LGBT people to be a big problem... I'm not sure I could be called "conservative".
I'm definitely parodying -some- liberals, though. the truth is, I hate both mainstream parties.
I had some total stranger, a white lady, threaten to kill me because I was wearing a black leather jacket, a black t-shirt and red jeans... they just assumed that because I had shaved my head recently that I MUST be a skinhead racist. "I'll blow your brains out you racist motherf***er! you won't even see it coming!"
I was standing in an elevator when another person looked at me and shook his head and pouted with his face in a corner like a four-year old child. his partner chuckled and said, "what are you doing, honey?" he said, "I'm making a political statement".
I found myself thinking, "you don't know a damned thing about me. I shave my head because it's a cheap, and I don't make a lot of money. I'm already balding, so it makes sense. I'm not wearing red pants because I'm a Republican.... I just happen to like wearing them. my Dad used to wear red jeans back in the 70s... so, it's partly my way of honoring his memory."
for all of the talk about conservatives being shallow and judgmental... I've found plenty of those on the Left as well.
I get frustrated when the idea is put forth conservatives have no empathy or reason, and we should just be our snarky rational selves to drive them away in sheer terror. that's not a real solution to dealing with those sorts of people. it's like saying, "yes, by all means be flippant and condescending to people you've known your entire life... because they're Trump supporters... and they deserve it."
and it honestly bothers me that people can seriously believe that, because they're Democrats or "Liberal" that they're essentially immune to being awful people.
one of my co-workers likes to ACT like he's a good educated liberal... but then he'll admit that he's kicked his wife's friends out of the house because they voted for Trump. or the fact that he fired a co-worker (woman of color) because he couldn't figure out how to his control his fiery subordinate. the firing is made even more appalling when his four predecessors found ways to deal with her. (granted, his predecessors actually liked her ideas, didn't feel the least bit threatened by her, and gave her promotions and pay raises for her internal critiques)
it's like this guy was afraid to confront her and so just decided to fire one of the most conscientious and hardest working members of the company. I even asked my boss, "why did she get fired? she's one of our best people. sure, she's a handful... but that's because she knows what she's doing and cares about the quality of work." I got told "she did something that was grounds for immediate termination."
I was so bothered by this I talked to one of the salty old veterans, a vice president, of the company and asked him, "why DID they fire her? she's one of our best people; easily worth two or three of the other people we've hired in the last five years." he said, "they haven't told me why they fired her. I think there was probably a personality conflict... but, I agree, she was a real go-getter and I would have liked to have kept her around. I've already told them that. some people just don't know how to deal with strong-willed people like her, though."
so, if self-professed liberals do something stupid or unethical, it bugs me.
like when Lorena Gonzalez voted to slash the Seattle Police budget an obscene amount "because of George Floyd". damnit! we shouldn't make serious long-range policy decisions like that based on an emotional response to a single event. that's a terrible way to make decisions. besides, Seattle had just spent millions of dollars and several years trying to rebuild the police department to have more asian, blacks, and latin police officers. and now, because of how the seniority system works, those will be the first people kicked out. I was pretty pleased when Harrell defeated Gonzalez for the mayoral election. I almost registered to vote because I found her so frustrating. (I haven't voted in over 20 years!)
the general trend on this thread has been that only conservatives are capable of being evil. and I wish that were true. but being a creep, or a fool, is something that transcends political lines.
the only reason I'm still awake is because my allergies are so bad that I can't sleep.