Posted on 03/03/2012 5:59:02 AM PST by Kaslin
“We are not the same. I equate Republicans’ political views with thoughtlessness, intolerance and narcissism. They’re neither kind nor empathetic.” The preceding words are a direct quote, written by Diana Wagman, a novelist, in an Op-Ed piece she penned for the Los Angeles Times, on February 21, 2012. Ms. Wagman, who describes herself and her husband as, “…both bleeding heart liberals”, related her tale of an inadvertent discovery of the political views of the couple who own a vacation cabin across the street from the Wagman’s own spread, in the Sierra Nevada, just outside of Fresno, California. Ms. Wagman described her shock when, after an evening spent playing poker and sipping scotch, she found, to her horror, that the aforementioned couple across the street were conservative-Tea Partying Republicans. Your humble Townhall correspondent assumed that the rest of this piece would become a rather commonplace “can’t judge a book by its cover”, missive, but at that point it spun off in exactly the opposite direction.
Ms. Wagman informed her readers that her across-the-street acquaintances were the perfect neighbors. They were pleasant, helpful, and friendly. As Ms. Wagman put it, “They are a lovely family: husband, wife, and four smart, funny, polite children. I was sure they were Democrats.” They were also an interracial family, with an African-American mother and a White father.
The trouble began when the Wagmans invited their new friends in for a final drink after the annual Camp Sierra Association poker game. The friends announced that they were members of the Tea Party, and for good measure, they added that the Tea Party was not racist because, they, an interracial couple, had been eagerly welcomed and accepted by their Tea Party compatriots. In Wagman’s own words, “…I was shouting, his wife was trying to calm him down, my husband was trying to calm me down, and our other friends-all Democrats- were trying to keep everybody from breaking the furniture.”
Ms. Wagman goes on to describe the downward spiral of the evening. She states that they argued about healthcare, welfare, Obama’s religion and citizenship, and the war on terror. Things soon descended to name-calling; “He called me a spoiled idiot and worse. I called him selfish, shortsighted and worse. It was awful, and it went on until after 3 AM.”
It is sad when friends sometimes fall out over politics, but it does happen. Thomas Sowell may have been correct in the late 1980s when he argued that political bickering masked deep divisions of a cultural and sociological nature, and that these divisions could never really be bridged. Be that as it may, in this particular case apologies were proffered, but not really accepted. “The next morning, they knocked on our door and we apologized to each other and laughed sheepishly…But my feelings about them are changed. I cannot respect them as I did before…I don’t want to be friends with someone who is a member of the Tea Party, or is a Newt Gingrich Republican. We are not the same. I equate their political views with thoughtlessness, intolerance and narcissism. I think they are neither kind nor empathetic.”
Ms. Wagman goes on to express her wish for conservatives: “If only they would all go live in Gingrich’s moon colony.” She then rattles off a listing of her certified liberal views and argues that they “…seem so logical to me…these are no-brainers to me, and it kills me that my neighbor disagrees.” She idly wonders if any number of bitter misfortunes, such as having a son killed in Afghanistan, a daughter turning up pregnant, or a sister announcing that she was a lesbian would change her neighbor’s opinions. She finishes her article by stating, “Next time I drive to our cabin, I’m going to make sure I take everything I could possibly need. I don’t want to ask my neighbors for help. I hope it’s their weekend to stay home.”
Let us hope that Ms. Wagman is speaking for herself, and does not represent the views and attitudes of the modern American liberal. It seems quite bigoted, small-minded and petulant to argue that simply discovering that the neighbors are anti-Obama Tea Partiers precludes the possibility of friendship, or even cordiality between their respective families. This is pretty incendiary stuff. Whatever became of the Hubert Humphrey School of “Happy Warrior” type liberalism?
The material point in this column is quite simple. Diana Wagman is likely the type of liberal who bemoans the polarized nature of our politics, the divisive state of our culture, and the vanishing of civility from our public discourse. Yet, in her Op-Ed piece she freely admits that she is a liberal and that she essentially hates Republicans because they are conservatives. Certainly Ms. Wagman would argue that Rush Limbaugh should be censored, that Ann Coulter is a national disgrace, and that George W. Bush was the worst President in American history. She does not consider these views over the top. On the contrary “they seem so logical” to her. (Perhaps these attitudes represent the worldview of regular readers of the Los Angeles Times.) It goes without saying that she considers hating conservatives to be quite logical, too. If Ms. Wagman really wants to pin the “polarizing” and “divisive” tails on the political donkey she can start with herself.
Very good point. You combine that with the history of the 20th Century, and you have a compelling reason why Conservatives tend to own sport utility rifles and ammunition. Personally, I won’t be getting on the boxcar to the nice re-education camp.
Thanks for the reminder that the first Sunday of the month is clean you guns day...
I won’t be getting on the boxcar to the nice re-education camp.
Yea, every time I hear a liberal tell me we need high speed rail...
“My beliefs are more important than the truth!” It’s all about believing themselves to be superior.
That statement also reveals the truth of the human condition. We all want to be God and modify reality to what we wish it to be! True conservatives recognize that impulse in themselves and work against it often thru adherence to a faith and deeper walk with the True God. Most liberals simply give in to that impulse!
Si vis pacem, para bellum.
To a liberal, it's not a lie if you convince yourself you believed it at the time you said it.
“I’ve been told many times that I am “too smart to be a conservative.” “
I’ve heard that a time or two as well.
My answer is “Fredo Corleone was ‘smart’ too. Look where that got him.”
"Look mommy, I can use my cannoli for a flashlight!"
“This is the only way that I can understand and accept the fact that so many liberals walk among us, and are so content in their irrational views of reality.”
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Ayn Rand explained it very well decades ago and she made a very good case that leftism is indeed a form of religion based purely on faith in “received wisdom” and not concerned with logic or reason in any way. Anyone who seems to support the leftist line but is open to reasonable argument against it is like a “Christian” who gives lip service to the religion but does not really practice it. They never were really convinced in the first place. Some will go along with the left to get along just as some will go to church to make business contacts while ignoring the actual teachings of the church. Those who are “true believers” in leftism are far less open to other viewpoints than most true believers in Christianity. You won’t find many in the Christian church who would call for the slaughter of those who don’t believe but you will find leftists who call for the death of conservatives. I think this is because somewhere deep inside they know they are talking insanity and if they ever admit it to themselves they fall apart. But Rand explains it far better than I am able to. The shortest explanation is that yes, liberalism really IS a mental disorder.
Dana Wagman is a typical left wing idiot: total bigot and a facist to boot.
We lived in Ventura County and near Ojai (Meiners Oaks) in the 1960’s. We got out in 1971.
Liberals are morons. Just tell them you too are liberal and start discussing some conservative policy idea. They will agree with you at every turn.
Then say, “Oops, that was a conservative idea” and they’ll poo poo it.
Same works if you tell them you are conservative and argue “for” some stupid Obama policy. Believe it or not they’ll attack it.
For example, before all this “contraception” crap came around, if, as a conservative, you proposed HHS under a Republican president mandate contraception coverage the liberal would argue against it with venom. I’ve baited liberals like this for decades.
They have no clue what the hell they are talking about and are too stupid to learn.
I think mystery religion is probably a proper term, actually it may be an insult to mystery religion. A lot of what is taught by most religions involve things that can hardly be proven true or false, liberalism depends on belief in things that are demonstrably false. Anyone who really wants to know the truth can find out for free that collectivist schemes have never worked out as advertised and rather than delivering paradise produce a form of hell on Earth. It is one thing to believe in a heaven or hell after death, no one can prove it true or false but believing in the promises of the left is like believing that water is not wet and fire does not burn. If one really believes that Obamacare is about providing universal affordable health care to all Americans he is simply WILLFULLY IGNORANT and insists on believing a lie that is easy to disprove. It is amazing that leftists don’t step out into traffic and insist that they cannot be run over or invite people to shoot them so they can prove that they are bullet proof, it would be no more absurd than a lot of what they do claim to believe.
I think it is at root an attempt to take the path of least resistance and like most such attempts it is self defeating. My father with his eighth grade education used to tell me that the hardest work I would ever do would be in trying to avoid work. I finally realized that he had learned a hell of a lot in eight years.
“I fear the USA is at a tipping point, to tumble off into the abyss.”
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
You have that fear only because it is true. I had a conversation with someone I don’t even know at the gym today and he said that he doesn’t want to be around liberals anymore and tries to avoid anything to do with them. I am the same way, I would rather spend an hour watching pigs in a smelly sty than to spend it with liberal idiots. The pigs are a lot smarter.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.