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A Message to All Conservatives


Justin_Case001

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I no longer like to identify as any part of the political spectrum, mostly because I believe that identity politics is utterly toxic tribalism that prevents us from talking honestly about issues, but also because I'm finding it increasingly difficult to see anywhere on the spectrum that's a comfortable fit.  My views haven't changed much in the last decade, but the political sides sure have.  For my whole life, I have considered myself left/liberal, and I still have what I would describe as "classically liberal" views.  For my whole life, I have also been under a grave misapprehension, which is why I wanted to write this post.

I want to speak directly to all conservatives/anyone who considers themselves right of center.  For most of my life, I have been under the impression that conservatives are, for the most part, all backwards, bigoted, racist, sexist, gay-hating religious maniacs, and that this is more or less the definition of conservatism.  This is obviously false.  It's only in the last year or so that I started to look, listen, escape my echo chamber, and realize my mistake.  I've read and listened to the opinions of many conservatives whom I was pleasantly surprised to find are very open-minded, rational, compassionate people.  Some even share many of my views, and it surprised me when they said they identify as conservative.  It made me stop and say, "Wait a minute....but those views you have sound like classically liberal views!"  Most conservatives are just normal, nice, decent people who don't want to stomp on other's rights.  Likewise, most liberals can be described exactly the same way.  I have always considered myself a liberal, but I am absolutely not one of these trigger-warning, free speech stifling, offensive word banning, college speaker de-platforming, SJW snowflakes.  Don't make the mistake of thinking that that's how all liberals are.  Both sides seem to see only the worst of the other.  In one corner the liberals say, "Yer all a bunch of bigots," and in the other corner, the conservatives say, "Yer all a bunch of delusional nutjobs."  Neither is true.  These extremes are just fringe minorities that are not representative of most people.  I believe that the percentage of leftists that are extreme, free speech stifling SJWs is about the same percentage of rightists that are truly racist, sexist, hateful bigots.  Please remember that these are just tiny, yet disproportionately noisy, minorities.  Conservatives are not all my enemies, and liberals are not all your enemies.  If we drop the labels and listen to each other, we might find allies in unexpected places.

Of course, I feel like I'm probably preaching to the choir in here, as I've always been extremely impressed with the maturity and decency of this community (at least what I've seen of it.)  My words probably aren't needed in here.  They're needed out there.  Like....y'know....on the Twitters or the Youtubes....but I don't feel like being chased down the street by a mod with torches and pitchforks....so I hide in here.  :/  It's better than nothing.  Better than not speaking up at all, I guess.  Thanks for reading.  Have a ponirific day.

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Dawwwwwww! Isn’t that nice? :wub:

I wish there was more of these kind of sentiments in the majority of people. All people are just people, trying to get through life the best way they know how. You won’t LIKE everyone and everything they have to say, but stepping back and recognizing your basic connection as people sharing the human experience is truly beneficial to making the world better I think.

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Just now, BronyNumber42licious said:

Yet you don't see conservatives throwing a fit when a liberal tries to give a speech at a college.

I've seen conservatives thropw a fit whenever a liberal says something too. Stop attempting to be divisive.

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It's a matter of numbers. You can always find 1 example of anything. 

4 minutes ago, Duzzkey said:

I've seen conservatives thropw a fit whenever a liberal says something too. Stop attempting to be divisive.

 

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Just now, BronyNumber42licious said:

It's a matter of numbers. You can always find 1 example of anything. 

That's true, but also applies to what you said as well.

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5 minutes ago, Duzzkey said:

That's true, but also applies to what you said as well.

I'm not taking away from Justin's point. But one must also recognize when someone, or a group, is well beyond the point of discussion. And I see a lot of social justice warriors going insane about everything that isn't "woke" enough. So the question is, does a rational liberal find more in common with a rational conservative, and leave the extremes nut jobs behind? I think that is the question he answered. 

But that still leaves so many unresolved issues. I've seen too many people talk about tolerance, then turn around and call someone a Nazi for not agreeing with them. Theoretical talk is cheap. Specific issues and a fundamental principle can prove it.

I'm not saying he is doing that. I'd like to know more about specific issues.

Edited by BronyNumber42licious
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Just now, BronyNumber42licious said:

I'm not taking away from Justin's point. But one must also recognize when someone, or a group, is well beyond the point of discussion. And I see a lot of social justice warriors going insane about everything that isn't "woke" enough. So the question is, does a rational liberal find more in common with a rational conservative, and leave the extremes nut jobs behind? I think that is the question he answered. 

But that still leaves so many unresolved issues. I've seen too many people talk about tolerance, then turn around and call someone a Nazi for not agreeing with them. Theoretical talk is cheap. Specific issues and a fundamental principle can prove it.

I think the original post answered that question for you. Most people find much more in common with more moderate political factions than either extreme.

How does this have to relate to people getting along?

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Just now, Duzzkey said:

I think the original post answered that question for you. Most people find much more in common with more moderate political factions than either extreme.

How does this have to relate to people getting along?

Yes your are correct. I didn't want to get too far afield. What do you think of this? @Justin_Case001

 

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Guest

Posted (edited)

To be fair there are more libtards who are obsessed with hating on white people, feminists, snowflakes, SJW's, the ones who claim that there are more than 2 genders than conservatives who are racist homophobic bigots. I myself am a conservative and I'm not a racist nor a homophobe, I respect people's opinions and as a republican (if we're discussing about american politics) I don't agree with their opinion about climate change and religion, thats all.

I was a liberal once aswell, and I get your point, but when it comes to my point of view, I think that I'd rather stick with conservatism.

Edited by Guest
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I consider myself right of centre and I recognise that any ideology is harmful when taken to extremes.  We've seen this time and time again with Communism, Nazism, extremist religious sects and yes, even the excesses of fandoms like our own, or furries, Sonic, SU and so many others (yes I am aware that these are not strictly ideologies).

People have a tendency to be tribalistic, whether that be literal tribes, or sportsball teams, political affiliations and so on.  When people on one side of a divide see an increase in the fervour of the other side, they will tend to increase their own fervour in response.  Not the majority, but the 'anyone but X' extreme fringes.  This can be seen clearly over the last few years in which the farther left end of the political scale has gained a lot of influence in academia and media.  In response to this we have seen a growth in the right wing, if you doubt this just look at recent elections in Europe, even if none of the far-right parties have taken control of their governments they have massively increased their share of the vote in France and Germany among others, and are likely to do so in the upcoming elections in Italy.

If either the far right or the far left gain too much control it can only be a bad thing, we've seen it before, we know where that road leads, nobody wins in the end.  What we need is to end the political arms race and talk the extremes back towards the centre.  Note that I am not trying to suggest some kind of centrist utopia, rather that we return to and maintain the slightly left or right of centre politics that predominated before more and more people started to flee that centre ground to set up camp at the extremes.

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On 2/10/2018 at 7:57 AM, BronyNumber42licious said:

Yes your are correct. I didn't want to get too far afield. What do you think of this? @Justin_Case001

 

I don't have time to read that long of a blog entry right now.  Not sure when I'll get to it, but I'll try at some point.  No promises of when.  I just didn't want you to think I was ignoring you.

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