Let me be not misunderstood: I love liberals. I'm a liberal. A proud one, in fact. That is what has driven me to compose this.

I've made some posts in response to others, so in an effort not to seem as though I was personally attacking those particular individuals, I present this open letter to all those who would be little "rebellious liberals":

Dear Super-Alternative Descendent of Lenin Himself,

First of all, stay liberal. We love you, want you, enjoy your company, what not. But if you haven't noticed, there is quite the abundance of teenage liberals who seem to think they have the only correct opinion. Once you get started, it's quite easy to go overboard, too.

First you start out with some generally mundane issue that doesn't require too much commitment or thought to support, like defending civil liberties. You're happy for awhile, but maybe you go to a peace rally or two. Then you stop eating meat and begin buying only organic foods. Next you install a solar panel on your roof and stop showering to save energy. And before you know it, you're blowing up Wal-Marts and muttering on about the corporate oligarchy ruling our country.

Okay, I exaggerate, but let's think about this. One principal tenet of Making a Difference is that people must take you somewhat seriously. If you're the kooky hippie on the street corner, you probably aren't contributing too much to rectifying the evils of our society.

Now ask yourself, Why am I a liberal? Is it because I have some delusional notion of bringing down the Man, causing the world to finally disarm, and making us all give up eating meat? Is it because I entertain some totally rad punk notion that I'm some alternative, underground freedom-fighter? Because you won't, and you're not, respectively.

Idealism is good. Activism is good. Without either of these things, we'd be nowhere. But so are logic and respect. The greatest problem with the archetypal teenage liberal is that he or she is whiny, angsty, presumptuous, and often disrespectful. You're not saving the world or reaching out to anyone by being these things.

You (and myself included) are not always right. Just because you think you have all the answers and the clearly superior moral imperative doesn't mean you have to act that way. Get over yourself. Listening to the other side without screeching can actually be helpful. Being predisposed to thinking that everything a conservative says is wrong is just plain stupid. And most importantly: You're not being oppressed.

I don't care what authority figure has done what to you, compared to what's happening in the rest of the world, being disciplined by the principal, police, etc. for something bone-headed you've done is really quite trivial. Yeah, some damn awful stuff has happened to kids at the hands of authority figures in this country. But think: Is Joe or Jane Authority Figure giving me a hard time because I'm a teenager or because I was actually acting in a way that was not to be condoned? I would be willing to bet that 90% of the time, it's the latter, not the former. There are certainly people in positions of authority who really don't respect you and probably do discipline you for the very fact of your age or your appearance, but automatically assuming that that's the rationale for everything that happens to you is just faulty reasoning.

There are respectful ways of making your opinion known, and there are disproportionate, ineffective ways. Some injustices do call for civil disobedience and protest, but only as a last resort and only if the issue is worth fighting for. For example, protesting a school dress code by getting a whole group together to violate said dress code should occur only after every other avenue of petitioning for redress (no pun intended) has been exhausted. Too often does the need for attention outweigh the need to effect the desired ends of whatever is being protested.

And what's worth fighting for? Stopping genocide? Yes. Supporting sustainable farming practices in impoverished nations? Yes. Trying to get some intentionally controversial piece in the school newspaper just for the hell of it? No. Choose your battles. We liberals are the masters of the seemingly hopeless cause, but let's not be stupid about it.

But most importantly, think about how you act. Intentionally derogatory and extremist rhetoric does you little, if any, good. Refusing to empathize with the other side or even consider their opinions likewise gets you nowhere. Blanket generalizations about other groups and people--while certainly fun and easy to come up with--do not serve as proof of anything and only serve as diversionary tactics from making a real argument. They're hard to control, but they do no one any good. (I know I'm more than guilty of my fair share.)

Finally, know what you're talking about. Boilerplate talking points are no substitute for your own thoughts. Do your research from sources that are non-biased or at least present a more compelling case than "President Bush is a royal asshole." Rhetoric and style (or all-caps and multiple exclamation points) do not make up for substance. The corporations may actually have invented Osama Bin Laden to turn national attention away from their ripping off the general public, but proving such a wildly conspiratorial notion is another thing entirely.

So please do those of us who do take our beliefs seriously a favor and not make us look like a bunch of unsophisticated little pricks who can't formulate a better argument than "Bush sucks and so do the corporations!" Thank you kindly.

Yours,
EQB

EcceQuamBonum (is there a shortened version of that or summat?) I think that you have hit it right on, my entire frusteration with the "liberal" populace. It's so frusterating when people who complain that conservatives think inside the box and think that their right is the only right, their way is the only way, think inside their own little go-green pro-life box. Red and blue are both definitve colors with their own ways, the best way is in the shades of purple.

I used to hang out with crazy liberals. I used to be a crazy liberal.

Then I suddenly realized that they're ridiculously anti-science and that I myself am pro-genetic engineering, cloning, chimera research, meat culturing, etc, and that they were basically creating a culture of ignorance similar to that of conservatives. So now, I refuse to identify with any political stripe.

I just use the term "libertarian socialist" as it sounds obscure. I'm thinking of reidentifying as postmodern ontological neosocialist. That term probably doesn't exist yet. Hopefully.

quote:

Originally posted by CelticNewAger:
But that's for the crazy liberals.

Righto.

But that's for the crazy liberals.