Forum Overview :: Motherfucking News :: Any attempt by either side to 'classify' or explain the other is always a laugh

[quote name="Senor Barborito"]Republicans, and right-wingers, are not idiots. They are not 'Stalinists', etc. etc. They are not the new Nazi party. They <i>may</i>, to generalize overly, be under-concerned with personal liberty in exchange for concerns about the integrity of the state - they may be concerned about profit to the point of having a negative impact on many other facets of life (environment, etc.). But that's as far as I'll take it. A lot of those people are intelligent individuals, just as with the left. I grew up around Republican doctors and lawyers, I know how they think, why they think it, and why a good portion of it is not completely flawed. This is why the American left and I do not agree on everything. Things like preventing gun control are more important than the majority of the American left realizes. A lot of them seem to be coming around these days on that issue, however (you'll notice that with Howard Dean kicking so much ass in the Dem polls, there really isn't a good gun-control candidate out there - and when I've described how much I hate having to label myself a 'pro-gun liberal' on Metafilter, many other people in that leftest hole chime in that they have the same problem). That is not the only issue, though, where the left is short-sighted. Ultimately the definition of 'short-sighted' has more to do with the definer's beliefs, environment, and experiences than anything else (though I'd say preventing fascism in America is a pretty universal concern and I have severe misgivings about how Fox news is influencing America into an Orwellian state) and those need to be taken into account. I can say that I'm pretty damned sure I'm correct for the perspective of an atheist who simply does not wish to cessate ever at all (to the point of hating losing consciousness to such a degree that I often go days without sleep). Give me any such atheist-Extropian and we will reach an accord on our political views very quickly. The further you branch out from there the more difficult things become. I can reach an agreement often enough with INC and L_K because they are both essentially atheists regardless of their philosophical endgame. There are certain givens and mannerisms of thinking that facilitate agreement. Sorry to write that in a weird almost-third-persony style, but as a lot of people have noticed - I'm writing for myself as usual. --SB[/quote]