You might get a kick out of this old ditty:
Poor Left Winger by Janet Greene(scroll down 1 screen and play #7)
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.
“They’re neither kind not empathetic.” Oh.....my.....this shows how deluded Democrats are. I’d be willing to bet you that if you asked this woman to describe herself, she would say that she’s kind and empathetic. I’m sure she considers herself to be a “good person”. She doesn’t like Republicans, so they can’t be good like she is. If they’re not like her, then they must not be kind and empathetic. She is actually on the road to recovery. She realizes that there’s dissonance in her view of the world. A mature person’s next step would be to investigate the reasons for this dissonance in her life. I hold little hope that she will behave in a rational and mature manner.
You might get a kick out of this old ditty:
Poor Left Winger by Janet Greene(scroll down 1 screen and play #7)
Here you go:
“Therapy group”?
Uh huh.
“Her views seem so logical to her...”
Those views don’t come from her brain but her intestines.
Progressives are invariably visceral, hostile, psychotic animals; the ultimate in jihadism.
IMHO
For want of a better higher power, liberals have turned to partisan politics to define the world. But,the insider ‘politically correct’ morphs so frequently that most liberals in this part of the country are a page or two behind and terrified that they can’t catch up.
Thus, they’re obsessed with politics and will bring it up within the first three sentences of a conversation. They have no idea how crazy they sound to anyone outside of their fearful little colony.
From her article as posted Ohio.com...
My mother had Republican friends. She was a lifelong Democrat, worked with the Adlai Stevenson for president campaign and was a precinct chairman for Hubert Humphrey. She was ashamed of Richard Nixon and thought Ronald Reagan was misguided. Still, she didn’t hate Republicans. She disagreed with their politics and they with hers, but she believed people, no matter how they vote, are basically all the same.
I don’t agree. 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 not kind or empathetic. And my neighbor made it clear that he does not respect my opinions or me.
For a minute I thought you were describing Minnestoopid.
“I don’t understand any of these people any more, how they can so strongly support Obama and his anti-American policies.” Agree! I’m tired of having the vile views and intolerance of the left promulgated as a higher standard in which we all will participate either voluntarily or by force. My dem relatives and former friends are either deluded, naive or self-centered beyond belief. Sadly, there is no relationship left to salvage.
It’s interesting to me in that I was recently re-reading a Science-Fiction book from the 1960’s. I won’t go into detail because it’s not germane to this discussion but even back then he saw the world splitting into two or possibly three broadly defined groups.
One group he called the Delinq’s because they were incapable of telling right from wrong or morals. They believed in anarchy above all else yet they were instinctively drawn to the most powerful and vicious as their leaders.
The other main group he called either the ‘Police’ or “Security”, they in turn fought the Delinq’s in every way they could. They were all about Law and order and had severe morals, yet they were willing to fight using the most nasty means possible.
And last were the ‘Normals’ or ‘Neutrals’, they were the ones who just wanted to be left alone by the other two groups to live peaceful productive lives.
The point I want to bring up is that nearly fifty years ago this man was able to extrapolate from what he was seeing in society around him and could visualize where it was leading us.
I see parallels today with the ‘Liberals’ and how they seem to have difficulty telling right from wrong and are drawn to strong and vicious leaders. You can figure out who the other groups are yourself.
And from what little I can figure out from the Article’s quotes about Ms. Wagman, she certainly has aligned herself well. She is a good Delinq or Liberal.
So she wants this guy's kid dead in Afghan, or his daughter preggers...well, maybe I want *her* out of work, broke, in debt and facing food and fuel that she can't afford. Let her be POOR, since she so clearly wants everyone else to be poor...
I understand, and it’s sad. With democrat liberals, there is only one way - their way - or else.
She told you she could still work with you?
Awww, Bless her heart.
Ooops! There lies a Freudian faux pas. For a liberal to equate a beloved lesbian lifestyle with "bitter misfortune" must take some Olympian mental gymnastics. I would have thought such an announcement would be a blessed event in her atheist environment.
To have been a young man in California in the 19th century, or even the prewar 20th, was to hold more opportunity in the palm of your hand than any human beings before or since. Even in my childhood in the 60’s and 70’s it truly was the Golden State. Now it is permanently ruined.
I was at one of my daughters CYO basketball games and a mother sat next to me who I usually avoid but am friendly to. She was known to raill against George Bush with my older daughter in the car which I thought was inappropriate. We had become more friendly after I coached her daughter who I really like. Right before the game she asked “so what is (our Parish) thinking about the contraception mandate”. I said they were pissed, even the people who support Obama, and that Obama himself must have thought it was stupid because he tried to change it two days later. She said everything should be free like in Europe (she is Italian). I asked “should be the Catholic Church pay for abortion?” She said yes - I replied that she can check how popular that idea would be. She said she believes in the separation of church and state and I said “so do I, we just define it in different ways”. She was out of line bringing this up at a Catholic basketball game but I believe I was perfectly allowed to push back when it is pushed in my face.
It’s been my personal experience that conservatives are much more tolerant of liberals ... by that I mean liberal friends, relatives and co-workers ... than liberals are of conservatives.
I tolerated an extremely liberal friend for 30 years ... I mean she was big in Texas dem politics. She knew we disagreed but I never argued with her, just asked her to talk about something else.
The first time we actually argued was the day of Ronald Reagan’s funeral. I mentioned that I’d spent and dedicated the entire day watching the ceremonies and she said something nasty about Reagan.
I said to her, “I love Reagan and I would never say something like that about Jim Mattox (her very special friend).”
That was it, she never spoke to me again.
That’s democrat tolerance.
I’ve considered living in MN, if circumstances ever were to result in not having a reason to stay in Cali.
Do you also see liberals in St Paul chipping away at what is the independent spirit and ‘nice’ there?
As an aside, ever listen to the morning show Davis and Emmer on Twin Cities News Talk?
Very interesting morning show - I listen to it online as an alternative to KFI, which is insufferable until Rush comes on. :D
Great station IMO.
Clausewitz noted that war is politics carried on by other means. I hold that the reverse is also true.
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