Card Carry,
I feel that I should say before I add this link that I am in complete solidarity with the goals of Mothering Magazine and the family life they promote. I live this lifestyle and we have raised our five kids largely with the parenting methods that they encourage and support. Homebirth, nutrition, attachment parenting, etc..
That being said, for some reason, a large percentage of the families who get into this lifestyle are democrats, and have made a home for themselves on that board. Some were highly offended that I made the claim to be living this lifestyle while holding fast to my conservative beliefs and neo-con worldview. Many of the liberal parents I met were tolerant of other views, but some, were so wobbly in their political beliefs that they just could not TOLERATE any posts that might threaten those ideologies.
Here is the link if you want to go take a look.
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/forumdisplay.php?f=302
I'm still sad that I was banned, I have really missed the daily sparring with certain friends - you just can't have a good political debate with people who share your views. At least I find that talking politics with my husband, my family, friends at church, etc is just not as fun as jawing with Liberals. I learned alot about the Liberal worldview, and really, in many instances, once I was able to understand the way they think, It made it much easier to sympathize with certain die hard beliefs and ideologies.
I love current events, I love politics, I love debate, and I thrill with the opportunities that have been afforded to me as a stay at home mom, to chat with a variety of people in a variety of forums as if I was at a University simply because the internet has given me a forum to engage in.
I learned alot from that experience, and one of the things I have determined is that never again will I participate in a forum where I have to self censor to that degree. I love having a web site, because I can write whatever I want and no one can edit "me" out of my own writings to fit someone else's agenda.
Let Freedom Ring!
(and thanks for taking the time to read that monstrosity and respond - it came straight from my heart after months of frustration that I could not say similar things without fear of being punished.) I came to the point where I just didn't care anymore wether I was a part of it or not because I HAD to speak. I wrote it on the friday before the Iraq election.) I can assure you, I was sobbing as I watched Fox news and CNN on the sunday morning of the election and the people of Iraq validated every single position I had defended on that board. And it wasn't a gloating type feeling that washed over me either, it was this feeling of the absolute triumph of the human spirits desire to be free combined with Sadness that some had been murdered while voting (talk about voter intimidation and disinfranchisement!) and also absolute delight that these courageous people were going to set the standard for the middle east. Now we are two month out from that election day, and would anyone ever believe the domino effect that we have all watched and marveled over???
It is just a good time to be alive, that is what I think.
Jenny
Obviously this means there is something cruel and perverse within me. Debating politics with a Leftist is like playing chess with a 4-year old; it's like challenging a quadriplegic to a duel; it's like using dynamite to catch fish in a tiny pond; it's like matching wits with a drunk having a .020 Blood Alcohol Level. In other words, it is just a very unsporting, totally unfair thing to do.
Which is one reason I love it so much! We know so much about them, having repeatedly heard all their arguments and talking points in the MSM. But they are totally ignorant about us. They've heard none of the debunkings (of their precious points) that we've seen on FR or talk radio. They are totally blindsided by us every time a debate manages to pass the initial insult-screaming stage and settles into facts.
They think their facts are Argument Stoppers. They think we'll just freeze like the proverbial Deer In The Headlights whey they lob one of their killer questions at us. Heh heh! Bring em on!
Like for instance, "Where are the WMD's?" They really think that is going to leave us speechless? Ho ho ho! I start off my answer by recounting the illegal SCUDs narrowly missing hotels in Kuwait City at the war's start. Then it's on to the Iraqi base overrun in the first week that had empty specialized artillery shells only usable for chemical weapons, with the 2 precursors for a chem weapon sitting nearby (but not mixed or loaded into the shells, giving the MSM the excuse they needed to ignore it). Then on to the nerve gas bomb exploding next to a passing patrol that didn't detonate properly, injuring a few of our soldiers with chemical skin burns rather than the large number of deaths it was supposed to produce.
I never get so far as to tell them about the Iraqi biologist with the bio-warfare materials in his fridge, nor the mysterious convoys of tractor-trailers entering Syria just before the start of hostilities, nor the large quantities of WMD's - apparently smuggled in from Syria - that the Jordanian police confiscated when thwarting an attack on Amman. (Gee! I wonder how those stocks of WMD's came to be in Syria?) Because by this point, when they see their Killer Question going down if flames, they change the subject to some other favorite killer question.
Like for instance, "OK, then! Just WHY does the rest of the world hate us so much?" (We're supposed to be shocked into shameful silence by this one? Yeah, right) My overall answer is, "Because THEIR media feeds them even more slanderous lies about Bush and the American government than the lies OUR media feed us about Bush and the govt!" And then I have a long, long list of examples (going back decades) of slanderous anti-American lies told by the Arab media and the European media (soon to be consolidated into the Eurabian media). Once again, I never get even halfway through this list, due to their desperation to change the subject to some other talking point that they think they can win on.
On the rare occasions when there are a whole bunch of them involved in this, it's fun to watch as more and more of them drop out of the verbal engagement altogether, standing there silent, leaving all the debating to one or two who haven't given up yet. When they turn to leave and mutter, "There's two sides to every story!" I consider that as progress, since they started out certain that there was only one side to the story - THEIR side.
Yes, I love to debate these people! And I absolutely could not do it without FR - the place that gives me more Leftist-Smiting ammo than I could ever possibly need.