1
   

Why did you choose the side you're on?

 
 
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Apr, 2004 12:23 pm
Good question. I simply don't know the answer, except to say, watching Fox has never appealed to me. I don't avoid news or commentary simply because a conservative voices it, generally. I spent two or three years listening to Limbaugh daily, thinking I had to answer every point he made. I had a subscription to Bill Buckley's magazine. My alltime favorite author described himself as a conservative. Why I won't tune in Fox news I cannot give a reasoned answer to.
0 Replies
 
Foxfyre
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Apr, 2004 12:34 pm
Fair enough edgar and I think that's a truly honest answer. Anyhow, none of us have time to watch em all.
0 Replies
 
nimh
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Apr, 2004 01:45 pm
Quote:
Which brings me to the next question here. Do you get angry if you watch Fox news? Or if you watch CNN? Why?


Yes, CNN makes me angry sometimes, like with the Iraq war, and before that, with the Gulf War.

Going on CNN, these wars (especially the first one), were merely "clean", technocratic war games in the sand. So much coverage of the first Gulf War's "smart bombs", and hardly a mention of the thousands of Iraqi soldiers who died being literally bulldozered into the sand.

Dont get me wrong, at the time I was neutral and when I look back I think that war was justified. But I still didnae like the way CNN reported it at all. All America All the Time, is the impression I get from CNN - which would be fair enough for a purely American station, but not for a news station which continuously proclaims itself to be "global" - and did, in many ways, actually have a monopoly of sorts on first-minute news.

And the political slant ... I remember watching Crossfire, back then, with Buchanan versus some weak-willed centrist-sounding liberal ... and that was supposed to represent the width of the political debate? Some loony right-wing radical versus the blandest of centrists? Again, for a purely US context that perhaps made sense, but it seemed like an insult to our intelligence.

That said, I didnt stop watching CNN whenever something was up - war, elections, disaster - as long as I had a TV at home. But yeh, I got agitated at times <grins>. Just like I get agitated when I read some radical leftist defend Milosevic, or when I read articles from the perspective of the "red-brown" (communist-nationalist) parties in Eastern Europe.

I feel much more at home with the Dutch broadcast news or the BBC, with the Dutch newspapers or the Frankfuerter Rundschau or Sueddeitscher Zeitung, or the Guardian or the Independent (though English newspapers have notoriously little foreign news and a ridiculous amount of crime news). But still I keep looking up stuff from far outside my wavelength, too. How else do you get to understand the world? I once spent an evening reading everything the National Review had written about Pim Fortuyn. Very trippy.
0 Replies
 
mesquite
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Apr, 2004 04:11 pm
nimh wrote:
And the political slant ... I remember watching Crossfire, back then, with Buchanan versus some weak-willed centrist-sounding liberal ... and that was supposed to represent the width of the political debate? Some loony right-wing radical versus the blandest of centrists? Again, for a purely US context that perhaps made sense, but it seemed like an insult to our intelligence.

Sounds to me like a description of Hannity & Colmes. Very Happy
0 Replies
 
Sofia
 
  0  
Reply Tue 13 Apr, 2004 04:40 pm
Foxfyre,
This was an education. I thought the liberal mind was so complicated and nuanced.

I am really surprised to see *some of * the incredibly simplistic answers to why A2K members are liberal, or despise the GOP.

Because we're greedy? Half-hilarious, and half-tragic. I thank you for actually showing which party has so many million/billionaires, and for establishing that greed doesn't roost in one party.

I can understand reasoned explanations of why one chooses a political party--but this? Its a step above believing in the boogeyman.
0 Replies
 
McGentrix
 
  0  
Reply Tue 13 Apr, 2004 04:50 pm
I am a conservative because of people like Hobitbob. If people like him ruled the country we would be in a world of crap. So, to counterbalance people like him there must be people like me to bring logic, sanity and humor to the country.
0 Replies
 
Lightwizard
 
  2  
Reply Tue 13 Apr, 2004 04:53 pm
Don't break an arm, McGentrix.
0 Replies
 
hobitbob
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Apr, 2004 04:59 pm
Hmmm..so that's two members of my fanclub! Very Happy Now where are the randy teenaged groupies? Razz
0 Replies
 
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Apr, 2004 05:04 pm
hobitbob for president!
0 Replies
 
hobitbob
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Apr, 2004 05:05 pm
Please, no, I refuse to accept sympathy blowjobs! Wink
0 Replies
 
sparky
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Apr, 2004 05:06 pm
Being an independent, I've never exactly chosen a side. I do find myself leaning towards the left, more often than not. Why?

I blame my mother. She taught me to respect other people. She taught me to say 'please' and 'thank you'. She taught me not to be prejudiced. She showed me that you don't have to have a lot of money to be happy.

I've also learned some things. I've learned that the Earth's environment is important, and I trust those that try to protect it more than those who try to exploit it.

I've learned that having lots of money will not make you happy. I've seen that screwing someone over for a buck is bad. I've learned that being screwed over for a buck is bad. I've learned that you don't have to be smart to make lots of money. I've seen that having more money makes you paranoid. I've learned to trust happy people with less money more than paranoid people with lots of money.

I've learned to respect other people's beliefs. I've learned not to push my beliefs on other people. I've learned not to trust people that don't respect my beliefs.

I believe that most politicians are less intelligent - I believe intelligent people avoid running for office. I believe we would be better served by college professors in office than by lawyers.

I like to speed, but I don't run red lights. And I use my turn signal. So I lean to the left. Go figure.
0 Replies
 
sparky
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Apr, 2004 05:07 pm
hobitbob wrote:
Please, no, I refuse to accept sympathy blowjobs! Wink


Uhm, I don't. Embarrassed
0 Replies
 
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Apr, 2004 05:10 pm
Bjobs? Out of the question.
0 Replies
 
hobitbob
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Apr, 2004 05:14 pm
I will, however, promise to accept them from big haired girls from Portland with self-esteem problems, and from the Bush Twins. Very Happy
0 Replies
 
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Apr, 2004 05:22 pm
Heh heh.
0 Replies
 
nimh
 
  2  
Reply Tue 13 Apr, 2004 05:24 pm
Sofia wrote:
Foxfyre,
This was an education. I thought the liberal mind was so complicated and nuanced.

I am really surprised to see the incredibly simplistic answers to why A2K members are liberal, or despise the GOP.

Because we're greedy? Half-hilarious, and half-tragic. [..]

I can understand reasoned explanations of why one chooses a political party--but this? Its a step above believing in the boogeyman.


Sofia

Sometimes you just post stuff thats a downright insult to our intelligence.

After three pages of posts, you take a quote from a post by Wilso - and declare what this thread has taught you about "the liberal mind" and "why A2K members are liberal"?

You're kidding, right?

Thats like if, say, you, Scrat and Foxfyre articulated your personal political convictions, and I'd then take a post by Italgato and proclaim that it has taught me everything I need to know about what conservatives stand for - what simplistic fools they are!

I'm sorry, but if you want to keep your "enemy image" of liberals intact, its your prerogative, but don't blame us for it.
0 Replies
 
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Apr, 2004 05:25 pm
Come on, sophia; don't be like that.
0 Replies
 
nimh
 
  2  
Reply Tue 13 Apr, 2004 05:30 pm
She's edited her post. It now says, "I am really surprised to see *some of * the incredibly simplistic answers to why A2K members are liberal".

So I guess not all our answers are mindbogglingly simplistic anymore ... but Wilso's are still, apparently, a pars pro toto for "the liberal mind". I would say his political views tell you as much about the liberal mind as Pat Robertson's tell you about the conservative mind, but hey.

Of course, then Sparky had to post and practically prove her point ... ;-)

(I edited my post too - to italicize "Italgato").
0 Replies
 
Craven de Kere
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Apr, 2004 05:35 pm
Foxfyre wrote:
I think CNN is less liberal, i.e. anti-GOP, now than it was a few years ago, mostly because competition from Fox News has pulled it right. It remains a bit left of center however.


Left of the center of a bloc (US) that is to the right.
0 Replies
 
Sofia
 
  0  
Reply Tue 13 Apr, 2004 05:40 pm
nimh wrote:
Sofia wrote:
Foxfyre,
This was an education. I thought the liberal mind was so complicated and nuanced.

I am really surprised to see the incredibly simplistic answers to why A2K members are liberal, or despise the GOP.

Because we're greedy? Half-hilarious, and half-tragic. [..]

I can understand reasoned explanations of why one chooses a political party--but this? Its a step above believing in the boogeyman.


Sofia

Sometimes you just post stuff thats a downright insult to our intelligence.

After three pages of posts, you take a quote from a post by Wilso - and declare what this thread has taught you about "the liberal mind" and "why A2K members are liberal"?

You're kidding, right?

Thats like if, say, you, Scrat and Foxfyre articulated your personal political convictions, and I'd then take a post by Italgato and proclaim that it has taught me everything I need to know about what conservatives stand for - what simplistic fools they are!

I'm sorry, but if you want to keep your "enemy image" of liberals intact, its your prerogative, but don't blame us for it.


It wasn't just Wilso. After reading your initial post, though, nimh--I didn't want you to think I had lumped you in. I changed it a while back. Several minutes before seeing your most recent post to me.

Frankly, I was surprised at EB's posts concerning conservatives, and thought they were in line with wilso's, in content--though, not in tone. No offense intended eb. I wouldn't have mentioned you by name, had nimh not made an issue of my post.

I think I'm also carrying over some information from another thread, wherein I heard some lame reasoning, as well.

Perhaps I should bring it back here.

I do want you to realize I changed edited to *some of* long before I saw your criticism. I do stand by my statement.

I am not an enemy of liberals. Intentionally, anyway.
0 Replies
 
 

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