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This blog used to be about politics. Not so much anymore as I have worked through my fascination with that subject. It now seems appropriate that with a new president and the end of the Bush nightmare that I move on to new subjects that are more in line with my current interests. I may still occasionally express an opinion about political matters but for the most part I will be commenting on music, photography and personal observations. Thank you for reading.


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11.27.2003
 
Painting the Picture

Orcinus:
"This is why all the talk about liberal incivility is such a joke. For the past decade liberals have been increasingly subjected to a brand of conservative ridicule that has explicitly blamed them for every one of society's ills, and it has come relentlessly and from every quarter of the increasingly politically dominant conservative sphere. Now that rhetoric is reaching a violent pitch -- and if Oklahoma City should have taught us anything, it was the consequences of spreading this kind of hate. Much as conservatives like to argue that liberals are guilty of the same thing, there really is no parallel to this on the left, at least not since the early 1970s. "


Wow.. this is part of a greater post that just floored me in its honesty and integrity, traits I admire in Mr. Neiwert.

He's right, there is a movement afoot that lives and breathes anti-liberalism. But the joke is that there is no liberal hegemony. They look upon benign culture and see fire breathing liberals; in the media, in the colleges, in the government, in the schools. They fail to recognize that what they see as liberalism is nothing more than modern society. A blossom of equality, freedom of speech and a dimunition of religious dogma. That the conservative movement consist of white middle aged men fails to suprise me. They are the one's losing their exulted position as society becomes more pluralistic. No priviledged minority likes to see their position undermined, so they fight to bring back the glory days. But we have rejected that age and time. They will lose as long as progress marches on. So they seek to stifle progress. Winning means cowing their opposition and fudging the rules of game. Crying foul at the slightest touch.

For the time being I have forsaken my self imposed moratorium on the use of the terms liberal and conservative. Mainly because I now have a definition of conservative that I can live with. Though I still believe that both terms have become poison.

Conservatism is anti-liberal. Liberalism is ill defined. It is a nebulous force that I recognize as free inquiry and honest debate. Conservatism, in this perverted form, exists as an opposition movement in response to a imaginary foe. It appeals to groups who are losing their positions of priviledge in society in favor of a more representative world. Liberalism erodes the status quo and seeks to remold the world in a form that favors a multitude of voices over a world that favors the shouting of a few well connected individuals.

To the conservative, liberalism represents all that is "wrong" with the world, namely, their lose of potency. So they have cast themselves in a drama depicting the revolt of "right, moral men" against the forces of evil.

While I was still studying (and I still do!) the dynamics of this movement I constantly wondered, "who are they talking about"? I might be a liberal, but I hardly felt that the picture of liberalism they painted was representative of my views. It wasn't, of course. It was a fantasyland. So I took the position that "there were no liberals". At least how they were depicted by this movement. I still believe this. The "enemy", as depicted, is indeed a monstrosity, but it doesn't actually have corporal form. Its a figment, created for the purpose of ridicule. The "liberal" is a crudley fashioned boogeyman crafted from out of context quotes and the stupidity of random individuals. Its nothing more than a carefully designed punching bag, in a fight you are guaranteed to win.

What individual, facing his lose of relevance wouldn't grasp at the chance to regain some status?


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bruce
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