Hated by the Right. Mocked by the Left. Who Wants to Be ‘Liberal’ Anymore?

[CaliCat 3,957]

And that's how you do it. 

 

Hated by the Right. Mocked by the Left. Who Wants to Be ‘Liberal’ Anymore?

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/05/magazine/hated-by-the-right-mocked-by-the-left-who-wants-to-be-liberal-anymore.html?ribbon-ad-idx=13&rref=politics&module=Ribbon&version=context&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Politics&pgtype=article

 

 

‘‘Liberal’’ has long been a dirty word to the American political right. It may be shortened, in the parlance of the Limbaugh Belt, to ‘‘libs,’’ or expanded to the offensive portmanteau ‘‘libtards.’’ But its target is always clear. For the people who use these epithets, liberals are, basically, everyone who leans to the left: big-spending Democrats with their unisex bathrooms and elaborate coffee. This is still how polls classify people, placing them on a neat spectrum from ‘‘extremely conservative’’ to ‘‘extremely liberal.’’

Over the last few years, though — and especially 2016 — there has been a surge of the opposite phenomenon: Now the political left is expressing its hatred of liberals, too. For the committed leftist, the ‘‘liberal’’ is a weak-minded, market-friendly centrist, wonky and technocratic and condescending to the working class. The liberal is pious about diversity but ready to abandon any belief at the slightest drop in poll numbers — a person who is, as the folk singer Phil Ochs once said, ‘‘10 degrees to the left of center in good times, 10 degrees to the right of center if it affects them personally.’’ The anonymous Twitter account ‘‘liberalism.txt’’ is a relentless stream of images and retweets that supposedly illustrate this liberal vacuousness: say, the chief executive of Patagonia’s being hailed as a leader of ‘‘corporate resistance to Trump,’’ or Chelsea Clinton’s accusing Steve Bannon of ‘‘fat shaming’’ Sean Spicer.

This shift in terminology can be confusing, both politically and generationally — as when baby boomers describe fervent supporters of Bernie Sanders as ‘‘very liberal,’’ unaware that young Sanders­istas might find this vomit-inducing. It can also create common ground. Last year, the young (and left-leaning) writer Emmett Rensin published a widely read piece on Vox deriding liberals for their ‘‘smug style’’; soon enough, one longtime adept of the right, National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru, was expressing his partial approval, writing in Bloomberg View that what contemporary liberalism lacked most was humility. Here was a perspective common to both sides of the old spectrum: that liberals suffered from a serene, self-ratifying belief in their own reasonableness, and that it would spell their inevitable defeat.

When it comes to diagnosing liberalism, both left and right focus on this same set of debilitating traits: arrogance, hypocrisy, pusillanimity, the insulated superiority of what, in 1969, a New York mayoral candidate called the ‘‘limousine liberal.’’ In other words, the features they use to distinguish liberals aren’t policies so much as attitudes. The profane hosts of the popular podcast ‘‘Chapo Trap House,’’ prime originators of the left’s liberal-bashing, spend a good deal of airtime making fun of liberal cultural life, with one common target being fervor for the musical ‘‘Hamilton.’’ ‘‘Nothing has represented them more: a hagiographical musical where they can pretend to be intersectional and pretend to be multicultural,’’ said Felix Biederman, a co-host, on the second episode of the show. ‘‘They have no policy. They’re all cultural signifiers.’’

[OriZ 3,165]

What I don't understand is why anybody would want to fall under any labels. Even here, sometimes I will see a poster commenting, and it will seem like they are just towing party line. It's as if people go "well, I'm considered such and such, so I'll go with the popular opinion in my group" without actually trying to independently and thoroughly think about the issue and then comment regardless of whether or not it fits the narrative of the group they "belong" to. I honestly try to always keep an open mind and evaluate each subject based on my common sense. I couldn't care less what anybody on the right or the left or the middle thinks.

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

1 hour ago, CaliCat said:

And that's how you do it. 

 

Hated by the Right. Mocked by the Left. Who Wants to Be ‘Liberal’ Anymore?

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/05/magazine/hated-by-the-right-mocked-by-the-left-who-wants-to-be-liberal-anymore.html?ribbon-ad-idx=13&rref=politics&module=Ribbon&version=context&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Politics&pgtype=article

 

 

‘‘Liberal’’ has long been a dirty word to the American political right. It may be shortened, in the parlance of the Limbaugh Belt, to ‘‘libs,’’ or expanded to the offensive portmanteau ‘‘libtards.’’ But its target is always clear. For the people who use these epithets, liberals are, basically, everyone who leans to the left: big-spending Democrats with their unisex bathrooms and elaborate coffee. This is still how polls classify people, placing them on a neat spectrum from ‘‘extremely conservative’’ to ‘‘extremely liberal.’’

Over the last few years, though — and especially 2016 — there has been a surge of the opposite phenomenon: Now the political left is expressing its hatred of liberals, too. For the committed leftist, the ‘‘liberal’’ is a weak-minded, market-friendly centrist, wonky and technocratic and condescending to the working class. The liberal is pious about diversity but ready to abandon any belief at the slightest drop in poll numbers — a person who is, as the folk singer Phil Ochs once said, ‘‘10 degrees to the left of center in good times, 10 degrees to the right of center if it affects them personally.’’ The anonymous Twitter account ‘‘liberalism.txt’’ is a relentless stream of images and retweets that supposedly illustrate this liberal vacuousness: say, the chief executive of Patagonia’s being hailed as a leader of ‘‘corporate resistance to Trump,’’ or Chelsea Clinton’s accusing Steve Bannon of ‘‘fat shaming’’ Sean Spicer.

This shift in terminology can be confusing, both politically and generationally — as when baby boomers describe fervent supporters of Bernie Sanders as ‘‘very liberal,’’ unaware that young Sanders­istas might find this vomit-inducing. It can also create common ground. Last year, the young (and left-leaning) writer Emmett Rensin published a widely read piece on Vox deriding liberals for their ‘‘smug style’’; soon enough, one longtime adept of the right, National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru, was expressing his partial approval, writing in Bloomberg View that what contemporary liberalism lacked most was humility. Here was a perspective common to both sides of the old spectrum: that liberals suffered from a serene, self-ratifying belief in their own reasonableness, and that it would spell their inevitable defeat.

When it comes to diagnosing liberalism, both left and right focus on this same set of debilitating traits: arrogance, hypocrisy, pusillanimity, the insulated superiority of what, in 1969, a New York mayoral candidate called the ‘‘limousine liberal.’’ In other words, the features they use to distinguish liberals aren’t policies so much as attitudes. The profane hosts of the popular podcast ‘‘Chapo Trap House,’’ prime originators of the left’s liberal-bashing, spend a good deal of airtime making fun of liberal cultural life, with one common target being fervor for the musical ‘‘Hamilton.’’ ‘‘Nothing has represented them more: a hagiographical musical where they can pretend to be intersectional and pretend to be multicultural,’’ said Felix Biederman, a co-host, on the second episode of the show. ‘‘They have no policy. They’re all cultural signifiers.’’

 

Liberal like  charity (who wants to be a charity case?) is one of those words that has become shopworn. Its too bad...English has become a poltical weapon at the hands of cynical men and women. Just like someone who wants to drill for gas in Yellowstone...dont it always seem as though, you don't know what you got till it's gone. 

 

Liberal 

open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values.

"they have more liberal views toward marriage and divorce than some people"

• favorable to or respectful of individual rights and freedoms.

  "liberal citizenship laws"

  synonyms:

  tolerant, unprejudiced, unbigoted, broad-minded, open-minded, enlightened; More permissive, free, free and easy, easygoing, libertarian, indulgent, lenient "the values of a liberal society"

  antonyms:

  narrow-minded, bigoted

• (in a political context) favoring maximum individual liberty in political and social reform.

  "a liberal democratic state"

  synonyms:

  progressive, advanced, modern, forward-looking, forward-thinking, progressivist, enlightened, reformist, radical "a liberal social agenda"

  antonyms:

  reactionary, conservative

 

Edited July 6, 2017 by ccneat

[CaliCat 3,957]

40 minutes ago, OriZ said:

What I don't understand is why anybody would want to fall under any labels. Even here, sometimes I will see a poster commenting, and it will seem like they are just towing party line. It's as if people go "well, I'm considered such and such, so I'll go with the popular opinion in my group" without actually trying to independently and thoroughly think about the issue and then comment regardless of whether or not it fits the narrative of the group they "belong" to. I honestly try to always keep an open mind and evaluate each subject based on my common sense. I couldn't care less what anybody on the right or the left or the middle thinks.

 

I don't either, but I find it amusing how much being a liberal gets under the skin of the jurassic conservatives still roaming around. America is by all standards a liberal country, and yet, there are people who believe they can turn back the clock and take us back in the 50s. It's kind of entertaining watching the daily hissy fits here on VJ, for example. It's good material that shouldn't go to waste.

 

 

 

 

[Ban Hammer 14,286]

14 hours ago, OriZ said:

 and it will seem like they are just towing party line.

hope they have a good tow rope.
it's much easier to toe the line.

[OriZ 3,165]

1 hour ago, Ban Hammer said:

hope they have a good tow rope.
it's much easier to toe the line.

Now, don't be going toe to toe with me.

[jg121783 3,921]

On 7/5/2017 at 10:14 PM, CaliCat said:

 

I don't either, but I find it amusing how much being a liberal gets under the skin of the jurassic conservatives still roaming around. America is by all standards a liberal country, and yet, there are people who believe they can turn back the clock and take us back in the 50s. It's kind of entertaining watching the daily hissy fits here on VJ, for example. It's good material that shouldn't go to waste.