Posted by
Brantley on Wednesday, August 13, 2008 6:12:03 AM
Now that I have your attention. Actually, I just hate stupid people.
Here's why:
I found this editorial and couldn't help but reply. It is an editorial, and thus just simply his opinion, but that doesn't mean it's right or that he is in anyway protected from scrutiny. Here is the link:
Why I am not a liberal.
Who knew there were so many replies? Amazing the man still is bold enough to speak (or type) in public.
We’ll be very judicial in this dissection:
I believe in American exceptionalism, meaning that (a) America has done more than any international organization or institution, and more than any other country, to improve this world; and (b) that American values (specifically, the unique American blending of Enlightenment and Judeo-Christian values) form the finest value system any society has ever devised and lived by.
-So you’re an elitist? But… first, (a) Are we forgetting the Greeks? Romans? I’d say that Asia has probably added a fair amount (god bless gun powder after all…). Or then you must mean music, because I certainly believe Matchbox 20 is a good contrast to Beethoven. What about the Aztecs, or those little anthills along that little creek in Egypt? They probably didn’t add anything to this world either. So you must then be referring to the Atom bomb, cause we know how much you conservatives like war. (b) Article 11 of the Treaty with Tripoli which specifically states that; "the government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion..." This treaty was negotiated by the American diplomat Joel Barlow during the administration of George Washington. Washington read it and approved it, although it was not ratified by the senate until John Adams had become president. When Adams signed it, he added this statement to his signature "Now, be it known, that I, John Adams, President of the United States of America, having seen and considered the said treaty, do, by and within the consent of the Senate, accept, ratify and confirm the same, and every clause and article thereof."
I believe that the bigger government gets and the more powerful the state becomes, the greater the threat to individual liberty and the greater the likelihood that evil will ensue. In the 20th century, the powerful state, not religion, was the greatest purveyor of evil in the world.
-Well, I’d agree, except that you seem to state you’re not a fan of big brother, but as a confirmed conservative and (I’m assuming here) a Bush fan, you of course then support and are glad for the Patriot Act, which does allow the federal government to go into your personal life without warrant, and after finding evidence, then is court admissible. I’d have to ask George Orwell if that counts as Big Brother.
I believe that the levels of taxation advocated by liberals render those taxes a veiled form of theft. "Give me more than half of your honestly earned money or you will be arrested" is legalized thievery.
-Spoken as a true rich person. As only the first $102K of your income is taxed as a part of social security, but my entire pay check (which with some rough math skills) seems about %40 less after taxes come out, now that we’re enjoying how kind and low taxing your conservative government (cause it’s only been two years now that the Dems have had majority) can be.
I believe that government funding of those who can help themselves (e.g., the able-bodied who collect welfare) or who can be helped by non-governmental institutions (such as private charities, family, and friends) hurts them and hurts society.
-So wait… so we’re clear you’re still ok with unable-bodied people collecting welfare, but who decides that? And what’s the difference between charity and tax, if either way my money coming out of my pocket benefits someone else? And what’s the difference between family and friends and society? Speak clearly man!
I believe that the United States of America, from its inception, has been based on the Judeo-Christian value system, not secular Enlightenment values alone, and therefore the secularization of American society will lead to the collapse of America as a great country.
-Ah ha… ha… ha… See my earlier comment. Or I found a very in-depth argument on theinformationparadox.com about whether this country was intended to be Judeo-Christian or not. And what about Quakers, I mean, weren’t they pretty instrumental in establishing this country? And… secular Enlightenment, kinda obviously, is secular. If America is a great country based on religion, then heaven help us all, cause we’re f*cked.
I believe that some murderers should be put death; that allowing all murderers to live does not elevate the value of human life, but mocks it, and that keeping all murderers alive trivializes the evil of murder.
-That would lead to the death of all people on earth. Because… wouldn’t the murderers of the murderers be murdered? And then they’d be murdered. I’d recommend Cat’s Cradle from Kurt Vonnegut if you can’t comprehend this, though I warn you he is… liberal.
I believe that the American military has done more to preserve and foster goodness and liberty on Earth than all the artists and professors in America put together.
-I’m sure the dead men and women (oh and children) in Hiroshima and Nagasaki would agree. Or maybe the hundreds of thousands of Tokyo residents during the fire bombings. Hey, didn’t we support Sadam during Iraq/Iran wars? Well, but then we were supporting both sides, so I guess that cancels it out. I will say though, that when I served in Korea, I did see a lot of people who benefited, ironically enough from the freedom our presence granted, by protesting our very presence there.
I believe that lowering standards to admit minorities mocks the real achievements of members of those minorities.
-I can’t believe I’m going to utter this, but I agree! However… if we’re going to be brutally honest… when White people are the minority (as most predictions state within the next 20-50 years) will we still agree? I do however feel that if you’re not qualified, capable, or willing, then perhaps there’s a reason we have standards.
I believe that when schools give teenagers condoms, it is understood by most teenagers as tacit approval of their engaging in sexual intercourse.
-Hmm… so then we should stop teaching chemistry? Isn’t that what brought on Meth, Alcohol, gun powder (wait, that’s a good thing right?), or perhaps history. I mean, most places I’m aware of still teach the holocaust, so surely we’re teaching our impressionable youth to kill Jews? Cause I tell ya what, I damn well didn’t want to have sex till my teacher told me it was ok and gave me a condom.
I believe that the assertions that manmade carbon emissions will lead to a global warming that will in turn bring on worldwide disaster are a function of hysteria, just as was the widespread liberal belief that heterosexual AIDS will ravage America.
-Do what? So what is leading to global warming? Or is that a made-up fear too? I mean… you’re saying that the manmade carbon emissions are slowing down the eventual (cause let’s face it, it’s only a matter of time) global warming. Cause if manmade emissions aren’t causing it, then surely they’re preventing it! Or maybe all of us driving our crappy gas-mileage cars around and pumping out thousands of tons of carbon at our power plants and beer factories isn’t affecting anything, right? I mean, so what that all that carbon which used to be locked inside the earth, is now being released, that probably isn’t anything bad, right? Oh, and just so you know, your feared gay disease, just glancing at the CDC’s report on HIV/AIDS it looks like heterosexual males grow each year with AIDS at the same rate as homosexual male. Sounds to me like it’s a problem that all people have to deal with. Hmm…
I believe that marriage must remain what has been in every recorded civilization -- between the two sexes.
-Cause god knows gay people don’t deserve to be just as miserable as us straights huh? I then say that to make marriage as sanctimonious as most of you conservatives say, I suggest then we add to the amendment about marriage that divorce is hereby outlawed. I mean, if it’s such an important thing, then why do we allow so many divorces?? Oh, on a side note, Roman’s had this thing called the cult of the young boy. Ever wondered why David’s little soldier was so small? And I’m sure you’ve noticed. Think about it…
I believe that, whatever the reasons for entering Iraq, the American-led removal of Saddam Hussein from power will decrease the sum total of cruelty on Earth.
-What about Kim Jung-Il? Or Bush? Cause I mean, we’re really worried about the rest of the planet. But… here’s my problem. What were the reasons? I mean… Don’t just pander to me what you think I want to hear, tell me the truth. If it’s oil, fine. If it’s to depose the leader, fine. If it’s for my own safety, then show me how it benefited me.
I believe that the trial lawyers associations and teachers unions, the greatest donors to the Democratic Party, have done great harm to American life -- far more than, let us say, oil companies and pharmaceutical companies, the targets of liberal opprobrium.
-Wait… a union has done more harm then a pharmaceutical company? Have you watched any commercials for some new drug that will cure you of whatever isn’t ailing you? Dude, you must be smoking whatever it is they’re dealing! But… I admit, I mean for the bottom line of a company, having to pay its employees more is very bad, but then I’m sure that parent whose kid is retarded now because of some stupid pill probably hates the unions too. At least they would if they were a conservative.
I believe that nuclear power, clean coal, and drilling in a tiny and remote frozen part of Alaska and offshore -- along with exploration of other energy alternatives such as wind and solar power -- are immediately necessary.
-I agree with about 40% of that statement. Nuclear is the most viable, RIGHT NOW. But, clean coal? Isn’t that an oxymoron? And drilling anywhere does this… it hurts. What does it hurt? It hurts our planet. Why is that bad? Because we live here. Isn’t oil more important then the earth? Well, ask that after we’ve raped our mother earth of all her fruits to the point we have to leave the planet (or die…) as long as there’s enough oil to go around. But good answer on nuclear and alternative. But really, it isn’t the gas in our cars that’ll hurt when oil runs dry. It’s the plastic keys I’m tying on, the LCD screen I’m looking at. The composite desk I’m resting on. The plastic and plether chair I’m sitting in. The plastic fork in the empty microwave meal I just had. The cellulose shell around the pepto I’m about to take. The plastic bottle that contains the coke I’ll wash it down with. The… well, you get my point.
I believe that school vouchers are more effective than increased spending on public schools in enabling many poorer Americans to give their children better educations.
-What is a better education and why do you have to go to private school to get it? Is it the teachers? Can’t we hire them? Is it the uniforms? Cause we can issue uniforms for all I care. Is it the strict nun with the ruler? I have issue (painful memories) with that. You mean, it’s better for Americans to PAY for Americans to go to PRIVATE schools, rather then public? Where is the logic? You must have gone to a public school as a child.
I believe that while there are racists in America, America is no longer a racist society, and that blaming disproportionate rates of black violence and out-of-wedlock births on white racism is a lie and the greatest single impediment to African-American progress.
-I kinda agree. That is an amazing in-depth look at problems in our society. My take: the problems we (all people) have, are of our own doing. Of course it’s easy for me to say that, I’m white. But I do feel that what keeps people down is people themselves.
I believe that America, which accepts and assimilates foreigners better than any other country in the world, is the least racist, least xenophobic country in the world.
-Well… maybe except for you. I mean, that is unless they’re not racist themselves, or gay. Or in a union.
I believe the leftist takeover of the liberal arts departments in nearly every American university has been an intellectual and moral calamity.
-How many righties actually know what liberal arts is? Shouldn’t liberal arts be… I dunno… liberal? I don’t mean liberal vs. conservative, but rather liberal as in free though. Now I’m not really familiar with a leftist take over of a liberal arts department, but somehow I doubt they stifle free thought. Kinda goes against what liberals believe.
I believe that a good man and a good marriage are more important to most women's happiness and personal fulfillment than a good career.
-But what does that have to do with what women believe? I mean… I assume your wife is a homemaker (though whether you’re a good man is in question here) so other then her, shouldn’t it be up to an individual to determine what is important to them? Or was this just rhetoric?
I believe that males and females are inherently different. For example, girls naturally prefer dolls and tea sets to trucks and toy guns -- if you give a girl trucks, she is likely to give them names and take care of them, and if you give a boy trucks, he is likely to crash them into one another.
-Cause you were born a girl, right? Or your girls were allowed to choose? Cause I know a lot of women who were born tomboys would turned out to be perfectly good and natural women, who take difference with that statement. And heavens knows you didn’t play with dolls. Of course, you just called them GI Joe, right?
I believe that when it comes to combating the greatest evils on Earth, such as the genocide in Rwanda, the United Nations has either been useless or an obstacle.
-But didn’t we create it? Wasn’t it people just like you who created it? What does this diatribe have to do with anything? What then was the right action? Go in and kill people? That does seem like a good way to stop people from killing people.
I believe that, generally speaking, Western Europe provides social and moral models to be avoided, not emulated.
-So then I’m assuming you’re white from china then. Or maybe you’re eastern European, like Stalin was. Do you realize that you just said the FOUNDING fathers, of whom were descendent from Western Europe, who emulated a Western European civilization from old when the structured this country that you claim to be such a fan of. More of that public education coming back to you huh?
I believe that America's children were positively affected by hearing a non-denominational prayer each morning in school, and adversely affected by the removal of all prayer from school.
-I remember forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, so shouldn’t you forgive that some parents prefer their children be allowed to think, rather then indoctrinated? How about this for a prayer: Grant that we do not swallow all we’re taught as all there is, for there is more then we will ever know, and that may include a god or may not, and all religions may have it right, or may not. As history changes, so shall the future. Amen. I’d let my kids say that before each day of school. But why? Because, didn’t Christ question authority and the establishment? Didn’t Muhammed? Didn’t Buddha? So in that way, we’d be more resembling them then just saying a drone to something that may offend someone else.
I believe that liberal educators' removal of school uniforms and/or dress codes has had a terrible impact on students and their education.
-I agree. Wow… you just stopped me in my tracks.
I believe that bilingual education does not work, that for the sake of immigrant children and for the sake of the larger society, immersion in the language of the country, meaning English in America, is mandatory.
-I do agree with this. Well, partially. Don’t get to happy, this isn’t two in a row. Bilingual education does work. Look at most other countries throughout the planet. Many countries teach at least basic English in their schools, but they do so because let’s face it, economically all countries have to deal with us at some point. And somehow they seem to function, and in fact they seem to be doing better, in school, then we are. But, I do think immigrants should learn English. If I moved down to middle of nowhere Mexico I’d be expected to learn Spanish, or starve. Same with China. Same with Russia.
I believe that English should be declared the national language, and that ballots should not be printed in any language other than English. If one cannot understand English, one is probably not sufficiently knowledgeable to vote intelligently in an English-speaking country.
-Hold the presses… I think I… god it hurts…. Agree.
Finally, I believe that there are millions of Americans who share most of these beliefs who still call themselves "liberal" or "progressive" and who therefore vote Democrat. They do so because they still identify liberalism with pre-1970 liberalism or because they are emotionally attached to the word "liberal."
-I seriously question whether any intelligent person shares your beliefs. There are people that believe whites are superior. There are people that believe women are weaker (hey, I’m not singling you out…). They are allowed to believe that, because… tada, they’re Americans. But some basic facts usually dispel stupid beliefs. And the best part is… I get to stay here, in America, and dispute your spewings. It’s my natural born right.
I tried to post this as a comment to his article, Why I am not a liberal. Apparently you can only post 2000 characters, and I was up around 17,000, so I had to do this.
“Why do I hate stupid people? Because they’re stupid!” – Carlos Mencia