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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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7.25.2005
The Mythical Liberal
 
Pandagon: Bloggers Would Shoot Six Times:
"The problem most of us on the left have with this isn't the fact that we get blamed for everything - that, we're used to. It's the fact that there seems to a single straight path from discovery of the event to judgment and execution at the hands of the brave conservative mob without any effort at discovery whatsoever. Well, I do take that back - often, there's a massive marshalling of evidence through interlinking that a lot of people think the same things they do, but shared opinion does not constitute the creation of fact."


That same critical thinking (malfunctioning) part of my brain that leads me to try to understand why people would want to kill innocent people also takes some time to ponder the nature of the wingnut.

The other day in a discussion about Bush as the God President I started thinking about religion as a component of the right wing identity. I'll paste what I wrote there:

Personally I don't think that Bush himself has to make all that much effort to appear religious. Its the word from the pulpit, that Bush is a man of God, that is driving evangelicals to put their faith in Him (I mean Bush, not God). The ownership language is particularly interesting. Religious people in this country refer to Bush as "our president", meaning they feel that Bush is enacting their agenda and working for them. Bush himself only has to pepper his speeches with vague allusions to reinforce this perception.

Whether Bush himself is following the teachings of Jesus is as irrelavent, as is asking whether the churches that call themselves Christian are doing so either. Right wing Christianity is a identity movement. Bush is practing crass identity politics. He is a annointed head of the Republican party, and thus, by default, a man of god.


That Bush is a man of god is an article of faith among the right, just as it is a known fact that liberals are causing the decline of America.

Evidence to the contrary is neither regarded as credible or even considered. I can have a conversation with someone that's a certifiable wingnut and have them agree with most everything I say as long as I never let on that I'm a liberal or that I can't stand George W. Bush.

How?

Well, because on matters of basic core principles most people seem to be in agreement. Only in the fevered imaginations of the right (and left) do people of such warped character actually exist. But that doesn't keep people from forming an entire idealogy based on such false assumptions. In fact, its fairly predominant, if online samples are to be believed (and I doubt they should).

For the most part I never assume that right wingers are bad people. Even Jim over at Unix, Music and Politics, who I consider to be my political polar opposite seems like a nice enough fellow. And nothing amuses me more than having someone explain to me how liberals and democrats are what's wrong with society without ever assuming that I might be one of "them".

It happens around here.

People just assume you're a Bush-lovin', KFAQ listenin', church going person just like them.

Oddly enough, its that dern tolerance thing I have that leads me to be so darn understanding of the wingnut mindset. You see, I never set out to be a "leftist" but I keep getting labeled as such whenever I try to look at things from different perspectives. That's what's wrong with me I suppose?

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About Me

bruce
35 yr old
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Highlands Ranch
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Voted for Kerry
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Dissolve into Evergreens