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.
“I equate Republicans’ political views with thoughtlessness, intolerance and narcissism.”
Has she noticed the narcissistic psychopath inhabiting the White House?
And who's fault is that? Couldn't walk away from the free booze? She was at their cabin.
When her neighbors, an inter-racial couple, tell her that the TEA party is not bigoted because they belong, she chooses her own twisted views rather than the facts that are in front of her.
Might as well stop right there, no logic or proof will work because her liberal views are her religion and we all know that religion requires only one thing, absolute FAITH and BELIEF, end of story.
As a Catholic, it is not possible for me to explain Virgin Birth, yet I believe it, nutz, crazy, insane or just part of my religion?
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.
Limousine liberal Wagman can’t find some peace at her Sierra Nevada retreat? Because her tea-party neighbors have suddenly rented some of the (widely) available space in her head? Boo f*cking hoo ...
The bottom line is that Mr. Sowell is quite right. There is such a cultural and sociological divide between liberals and conservatives that it is probable that their brains are hardwired differently and there will never be a reasonable consensus achieved. But the good lady should understand that as a conservative, I want nothing more than the most superficial relationship with liberal colleagues or neighbors. Simply do not trust them. Anyone who can alter their conscience to acquiesce to the wholesale killing of innocent human life is quite capable of any betrayal or atrocity. Kindly stay away from me.
3AM?
I wonder what it was they were drinking?
She probably agrees with Obama that this ‘movement’ is like Mandela and Gandhi. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QrmQBcfu0s
Compare two groups
One believes in self governance and freedom, understands human nature.
The other believes in government control.*
*”The left, after all, is about the pretense of planning, power and control. It’s about the belief that man — political man — can define and control the world and can appoint himself the final authority to determine what is fair and then mete out justice.” Star Parker
She is the poster child for the phrase, “Liberalism is a Mental Disease”.
If we did they would hunt us down, telll us how to live, call us names and demand we send tax money back to earth to pay for their French ticklers, abortions and algae powered Volts.
“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.”
Sounds like a guilt complex to me. She is afraid they will continue to be cordial, patriotic, and American. What response would the neighbors receive if they came to ask for something? Door in the face I bet. So much for civility and tolerance on the part of liberals.
I doubt it, because she is ignorant and clueless like all liberals
After arriving in California some time ago, I was told that the thing which makes California different (intended to be a description of how California is supposed to be better) is the following:
In most places, nothing goes, and everything matters. People are busybodies, and try to worry too much about what others think.
In Cali, the contrast being, that here it’s more like Shania Twain sang so wonderfully:
“that don’t impress me much”.
Nobody really gives a * whether you’re driving a BMW, or what you do. Someone else has more, drives a cooler car, or knows so-and-so.
Big woop.
Now all that’s changed. The left now has morphed into the snooping neighbor, peering through the curtains and being busybodies.
I think that’s what is destroying California. Without question there was once a sort of perfect combination of libertarian free-wheeling inventiveness, and defiant independence to Californians. Especially defiance.
Now it’s become the opposite. Pod people rule Cali.
A leftist, gray bog of nastiness, hating those who do not adhere to the marxist orthodoxy.
Liberals do not recognize, they have destroyed the very freedom to “live and let live” which once characterized the state.
I'm not feeling so charitable this morning (waiting for coffee).
During the late 80’s early 90’s, my husband & I lived in Ojai CA in Ventura County. We drove north to visit my brother in Fresno. Geographic confusion in title.
“We are not the same. I equate Republicans’ political views with thoughtlessness, intolerance and narcissism. They’re neither kind nor empathetic.”
And I equate Democrats’ political views with defining kindness as forcing others to do their will for the benefit of those who refuse to provide for themselves, and empathy as enabling the weak to indulge in their character flaws.
Not a whole lot of common ground there.
The Personalization Fallacy, a relative of the Authority Fallacy, is part of the bedrock of the liberal thought process.
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