Personal Reflections of a Conservative Who Wants To Be Liked

American Thinker ^ | June 23, 2009 | Harold Witkov

[neverdem]

My wife and I were having volume problems with our laptop so we brought our computer into an electronics store to let the technicians have a look at it.  The way the computer people work at this establishment is they place your computer on a counter and work upon it right in front of you. I had already gone to the DVD section of the store, grabbed a few new DVDs for purchase, and joined my wife, as she was just stepping up for service, laptop in hand.

As the technician (an African American) was getting the computer ready for analysis, he noticed the DVDs I was holding, and we struck up an amicable conversation about our personal movie collections. Turning his attention to the computer, he plugged in the right plugs, opened the lid, pushed the power button on, and up pooped an array of desktop icons, one of which included the photo and name of Rush Limbaugh (I am a Rush 24/7 member).

The technician worked diligently on the computer problem for what seemed a lifetime while my wife and I stood just on the other side of the counter watching.  Because it was a volume problem he went into "iTunes" to test a couple of times, where, because I had previously downloaded one of Rush's radio shows, a picture of Mr. Limbaugh popped up each time. Still struggling with how to fix the computer, he called over a fellow technician, (name tag Mahmoud), and Mahmoud then proceeded to repeat every step, with another round of displayed Rush icons.

Politically speaking, I am a conservative whereas my wife is often on a different page.  When we got into the car, she more or less let me have it.  She told me how embarrassed she was that Rush Limbaugh's picture and name kept popping up on the screen and that our technicians probably thought we were some kind of racists.

Of course I was quick to dispel her fears with, "They probably didn't even notice," and, "Why would you think that?"  The problem was, although I did not fess up to it, I had shared some of the same uneasy feelings that she did.

This caused me to do much reflection and I believe I now understand my uneasiness and perhaps the root problem of the entire conservative movement: America's preoccupation with television and the human desire to be liked.

Let me explain. Conservatism is in trouble, not because liberalism is better for the nation, but because conservatism does not play well on the much watched television news, which is short on substance yet high on passive thinking imagery. Just as one picture is worth ten thousand words, a carefully narrated television image can be worth a million votes.

Just to give the mainstream media a pass for the moment, which is difficult to do, the news, understandably, has always been about life's victims. Who wants to read, or hear, or see about people who have nothing of interest happening to them?  Victim stories in America, as the conservative understands, are only about a fraction of society, yet a modern-day television image and liberal narration can move television viewers in the same way Bambi's mother's murder moved theatre audiences to tears over fifty years ago.

Liberalism works well with stories about people who fall through the cracks, making them appear larger than life.  The Democrats, and "moderate" Republicans, exploit the various victims of the news and are forever declaring emergency rescue plans.  This makes them appear compassionate. Conservatism, on the other hand, works well in the world of concepts and ideas.  The talking point merits of capitalism, laissez-faire, the constitution, and individual liberty, although far better for our nation as a whole than liberal socialism, appear as void of compassion arguments in the face of TV victim imagery.

The Democratic Party, with the aid of their bedfellows in media land, has unfairly convinced much of America into believing conservatives do not want safety nets for those who fall through the cracks.  This is not true.  The difference between liberals and conservatives is that conservatives understand safety nets should not be massive entitlement programs capable of bringing down the nation. 

Now back to my discomfort at the store.  Liberal television news has a propensity for displaying woeful news images, implying a dire need for immediate government rescue (i.e. the Democratic Party), and then contrasting these images with out of context conservative sound bites from the likes of Rush Limbaugh (and others).  This makes conservatism and their spokespeople appear to be uncaring, lacking compassion, and villain like.   In a world in which perception is so encompassing, is it any wonder I felt discomfort thinking about what the computer technicians might be thinking about me?  It is human nature to want to be liked and I did not want these two gentlemen to think, on any given day, I was capable of murdering Bambi's mother.

It would appear the combination of television imaging and liberal spin is almost too much to overcome for a national populace that is becoming more and more entrenched in what television does best: instill uncritical passive thinking. Obviously, an infinite amount of work needs to be done on behalf of the conservative movement if we are going to return to power one day soon.  If we are to succeed, we must become thicker skinned and take the battle away from the world of television images and liberal narration, into the world where we are strongest, what Rush would call, the Reagan world of conservative ideas. This is no small undertaking.

As for myself, I have decided to start my battle at the home front.  My wife deleted the Rush icon from the desktop the moment we returned from the electronics store, and I am going to put him back up.

[poobear]

My computer repair folks have Christian music playing 24/7 and sell conservative books in their lobby. I could have Rush Limbaugh playing wide open on an Ipod and they wouldn’t flinch.

It is not impossible to find someone besides Mammoud to work on you electronics. ;D! Good luck.

[MaggieCarta]

I don’t see why I should alter my correct positions in order to make morons feel better.

That bears repeating!

[LibLieSlayer]

This guys problem is not being liked... but that he married a liberal in the first place! I'd have made her get out of the car and walk home if she bashed Rush... and me for liking him! I'd slide down a 50 foot razor blade and slip into a cool pool of alcohol before I would marry a liberal.

LLS

[LibLieSlayer]

:-)!!!

LLS

[rlmorel]

I fight this battle every day up here in the People's Republic of Massachusetts.

Here are two views of my car that I drove for a year and a half encompassing the 2004 election:

I also have a bumpersticker in reserve that has a big arrow and says "This car was vandalized by a liberal!" but I haven't had to use it. Perhaps that is due to the NRA stickers on both side windows and the bumper.

I know guys at work, when they introduce me to people, they will sometimes say "He's one of us..."

In the weeks leading up to the election, a woman at work was looking a the fake name of one of our test studies in our system named "Sarah Alaska", and began to rail to the small group of IT personnel working an issue about how happy she would be when the election was over and we wouldn't have to hear about her anymore.

I never engage in political discussion at work unless I am specifically asked, but in this case, I looked at her and said "Personally, I would love it if we had to hear her name every single day."

She looked at me, truly aghast, her mouth agape, which opened and closed a few times like a fish out of water, then she she stuttered "You...you...You're one...one of THEM!"

I said with all the confrontational mustard I could apply, "Yep. I sure am. You got a problem with that?"

It was funny. She had no idea I was a conservative, and acted like she had never seen one "in the wild" before!

[rlmorel]

My wife, whom I love dearly, is a big devotee of Oprah Winfrey. I don’t watch television, and cannot stand her in particular. She also is big into the “Today Show”.

One morning, after the thrid day in a row that they had on as guest the author of the book about Reagan that called him an “amiable dunce”, I couldn’t stand it anymore as I walked by the television and snapped off some comment.

My wife read me the riot act. She said “I don’t comment on what you watch or listen to, so don’t comment on my choices.”

I couldn’t argue with that. I bite my tongue nearly every day.

[rlmorel]

I made this quick and dirty one myself in Adobe Illustrator...:)

[Ben Chad]

It’s same story at my house. I refuse to stay in the same room.

[sausageseller]

This guys problem is not being liked... but that he married a liberal in the first place! I'd have made her get out of the car and walk home if she bashed Rush... and me for liking him! I'd slide down a 50 foot razor blade and slip into a cool pool of alcohol before I would marry a liberal.

I married a semi lib, she is anything but now.I guess demanding she buy a gun after 6 months of marriage helped push her along.

Women think they can change a man. Maybe this guy in the article but not me!

[rockinqsranch]

“I’m still convinced that about 1/4 of Obama’s vote came from guilty whites (of all political persuasions) who didn’t want to be thought of as racist.”

Precisely. I’ve posted that concept numerous times.

[Rebelbase]

Been there, done that and it’s taken 14 years to scrape the dung off my feet.

[wafflehouse]

thats not a bad idea!

[Beagle8U]

I don't care that I'm not politically correct, I'm quite satisfied to be correct politically.

[ReleaseTheHounds]

Ahhhhh.... I think this guy needs a new life-mate.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

That’s what they call “thought control.”

You feel guilty about your beliefs and what you think.

Their strategy is working.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

1/4!!???

Dude, I'm thinking the percentage was a lot higher than that.

The “whites” I talked to about it couldn't give one concrete reason for voting for the senator with the least amount of experience at the national level, no political legislation as a senator to point to, no experience in the private sector, no papers or essays he wrote as a student or while editor of the Harvard Press, and no definitive plan for his term in office.

Of the whites that voted for him, I guarantee 1/2 to 2/3 of them did so for the “white guilt” reasons you cited (and that Shelby Steele nailed perfectly in his book “White Guilt”). Most of the rest were communionists who wanted payola from Obammie the Commie.

As a white male conservative who truly follows MLK’s instructions to view not the color of the skin but the content of their character, I was on the one hand really pissed off at what is nothing more than racism on the part of whites who voted for Obama because he is black and on the other hand I felt damn good that they were proving that they are the real racists and that their accusations against we conservatives who voted on principle are completely baseless.

And you're right. A lot of whites are damn pathetic, and it sickens me.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

I disagree.

After Obama’s attack on Rush, his listenership spiked tremendously.

Once people actually listen to him, they are disarmed of the accusations that are leveled against him.

I'll agree he's not helping the GOP much, but that is the fault of the GOP for being such spineless weasels that they try to be democrats.

But I think he is very productive in reinforcing the conservative base of the GOP and of disarming those who have a shield-up reaction to him.

[sergeantdave]

The “obuma” booth at the local fleamarket is mostly vacant and all the obuma icons are gathering dust. Meanwhile, the farmer’s booth across the way is doing brisk business. So it seems that cabbage heads are selling better than obuma heads these days. Oh, well...

[Stentor]

They can’t handle blunt, clear-eyed observations and plainly stated facts.

Welcome to Free Republic. My favorites are the folks who wouldn't fight back if they had a knife in their kidney because "we don't want to be like them".One of the most important things to decide during what may be coming is who you don't want to have on your six.