Posted on 02/24/2005 7:42:59 AM PST by SmithL
As one of a handful of Bay Area conservative columnists, I'm no stranger to pushing buttons. Indeed, I welcome feedback from readers, whether positive or negative. I find the interplay stimulating, but I am often bemused by the stereotypical assumptions made by my critics on the left. It's not enough to simply disagree with my views; I have to be twisted into a conservative caricature that apparently makes opponents feel superior. They seem not to have considered that it's possible to put forward different approaches to various societal problems and not be the devil incarnate.
But in some ways I understand where this perspective comes from, because I once shared it. I was raised in liberal Marin County, and my first name (which garners more comments than anything else) is a direct product of the hippie generation. Growing up, I bought into the prevailing liberal wisdom of my surroundings because I didn't know anything else. I wrote off all Republicans as ignorant, intolerant yahoos. It didn't matter that I knew none personally; it was simply de rigueur to look down on such people. The fact that I was being a bigot never occurred to me, because I was certain that I inhabited the moral high ground.
Having been indoctrinated in the postcolonialist, self-loathing school of multiculturalism, I thought America was the root of all evil in the world. Its democratic form of government and capitalist economic system was nothing more than a machine in which citizens were forced to be cogs. I put aside the nagging question of why so many people all over the world risk their lives to come to the United States. Freedom...and democracy itself were all taken for granted in my narrow, insulated world view.
So, what happened to change all that? In a nutshell, 9/11.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
All I can say is, "WOW"! This girl has the talent to make a big difference. I hope she has a great career.
The first word in the original title is a capital "OPINION:", the only article at www.sfgate.com with that disclaimer in the title.
FYI
Cinnamon is an active FReeper and was a leader as the SF Chapter (all 20 of us LOL) would counter FReep the unwashed scum. Kudos to her for a great article.
Give them credit. They didn't post "DUMBASS OPINION FROM RIGHTWING BIGOTED BOOB:"
And I love the name Cinnamon.
Required reading........
Though I part with her in being raised conservative, similar experiences with the Left really opened my eyes about the stakes involved in this culture war. In my first semester in college in fall 1998, I went to a conservative conference at Columbia University, an environment just as left-wing as the Bay Area. As I walked in to the Faculty House with some other conservative college students, about 100 left-wing protesters in a seeting mass shouted us down. The administration at Columbia caved to this group, and on the second day of the conference, we heard our speakers across the street in Morningside Park, again being shouted down and the situation requiring the NYPD to intervene and separate us. Between their mass display of hate, and the condescending treatment I got from one of them personally when I tried to talk to them and get a copy of what they were passing out, I realized I was looking at my enemy. As much as they need to be defeated, they also need to be pitied, since like this writer of this opinion piece, many/most don't know any better.
Great read...
This is a beautifully written piece.
She is me. That is, her transformation mirrors mine almost exactly.
I work at a college and have made my views, my transformation, no secret and have been made a social outcast there because of it.
I don't care.
Interestingly, it was this site that completed and cemented my transformation so cudos to you FReepers. :)
I don't have my SF Chapter list anymore....Would you please ping whoever you have.
Wow--the passion of this convert yields inspiration. Thanks for the post.
Indeed, I think this domestic cultural war is actually a greater danger than the external enemy. It takes nothing more than the weather to kill you, if you are tied down to the ground.
Perhaps we should write the SF Chron and suggest they add her as a regular columnists.
Great article and I'm sure Ariamne can relate to parts of it... especially the sympathies the left now appears to have for vile terrorist groups around the world.
Psssst... Btw, I love reformed liberals, but I couldn't eat a whole one. I prefer real liberals... they taste just like chicken. ;oP
*** All I can say is, "WOW"! ***
"WOW!" My sentiments precisely; you beat me to it.
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