Frustrated hurt independent
Nov. 3rd, 2004 09:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
celticdragonflyI came back to reading LJ today, and it's not fun.
I do not belong to any political party. I am an independent centrist. Yep, that classic undecided swing voter. And liberals, you have totally alienated me.
And it's not because I'm against gay marriage, or against keeping abortion legal, or any of a long list of liberal causes. Because I'm NOT. I'm in agreement with liberals on a huge list of these things. I'm a supporter of these things.
But I am so tired of the hurtful, arrogant attitude that I am seeing from liberals, that anyone who doesn't think and vote exactly the same as them is stupid and evil. That they completely cannot understand that anyone might think differently from them on anything.
From a journal comment, "There is nothing but downright stupidity that would get ordinary people to vote neo-conservative." From another journal, "but I simply cannot think of any valid reasons that a thinking person would want Bush to win" From another, that someone who votes differently from her is a "low-life scum-sucking dog-fucking ghastly perverse ugly bastard". From the people at our Unitarian church, who are rapidly driving us away, talking about how so and so is awful, but this other person is a good democrat, making it quite clear they think only democrats are good.
It is very unpleasant and difficult these days to be in the middle. You get crap from both sides. But I gotta say, I've gotten a *LOT* more crap from the liberal side. I'm so tired of hearing people I thought of as friends talking about how anyone who thinks differently from them is a fascist or is no better than a murderer. And I am hearing this. All the time. There are a few liberals, gems of people, who do not say that and in fact will disagree if someone does. (Dear Gems, thank you so much for being you!) But they are the exception. Both sides are driving the middle away, but I'm sure getting it worse from the left.
Don't liberals ever think, when they come out and say these things, that somebody standing right next to them may feel differently than them? Can they not conceive of diversity at all? I know that not everyone is going to think and feel as I do and have the same priorities as I do. And that's okay. That's what's good about this country.
I'd already had to trim the flist because the political rants were too much. I'm having to trim it more today. I don't like doing this. I don't like giving up on friends. I don't want to be someone who only hears information from a limited pool of sources. I *want* to hear what the liberals have to say. But if they only want to be nasty, I'm not going to read it.
I want liberals to think about that. Next time they have some issue that they want to lecture and rant about, that they want people to vote for or against, that they'd like to reach the undecided centrist swing voter on. I'm not reading that post, because the liberal attitudes have driven me away. They're just preaching to the choir. And the choir may not be enough to carry their issue.
I do not belong to any political party. I am an independent centrist. Yep, that classic undecided swing voter. And liberals, you have totally alienated me.
And it's not because I'm against gay marriage, or against keeping abortion legal, or any of a long list of liberal causes. Because I'm NOT. I'm in agreement with liberals on a huge list of these things. I'm a supporter of these things.
But I am so tired of the hurtful, arrogant attitude that I am seeing from liberals, that anyone who doesn't think and vote exactly the same as them is stupid and evil. That they completely cannot understand that anyone might think differently from them on anything.
From a journal comment, "There is nothing but downright stupidity that would get ordinary people to vote neo-conservative." From another journal, "but I simply cannot think of any valid reasons that a thinking person would want Bush to win" From another, that someone who votes differently from her is a "low-life scum-sucking dog-fucking ghastly perverse ugly bastard". From the people at our Unitarian church, who are rapidly driving us away, talking about how so and so is awful, but this other person is a good democrat, making it quite clear they think only democrats are good.
It is very unpleasant and difficult these days to be in the middle. You get crap from both sides. But I gotta say, I've gotten a *LOT* more crap from the liberal side. I'm so tired of hearing people I thought of as friends talking about how anyone who thinks differently from them is a fascist or is no better than a murderer. And I am hearing this. All the time. There are a few liberals, gems of people, who do not say that and in fact will disagree if someone does. (Dear Gems, thank you so much for being you!) But they are the exception. Both sides are driving the middle away, but I'm sure getting it worse from the left.
Don't liberals ever think, when they come out and say these things, that somebody standing right next to them may feel differently than them? Can they not conceive of diversity at all? I know that not everyone is going to think and feel as I do and have the same priorities as I do. And that's okay. That's what's good about this country.
I'd already had to trim the flist because the political rants were too much. I'm having to trim it more today. I don't like doing this. I don't like giving up on friends. I don't want to be someone who only hears information from a limited pool of sources. I *want* to hear what the liberals have to say. But if they only want to be nasty, I'm not going to read it.
I want liberals to think about that. Next time they have some issue that they want to lecture and rant about, that they want people to vote for or against, that they'd like to reach the undecided centrist swing voter on. I'm not reading that post, because the liberal attitudes have driven me away. They're just preaching to the choir. And the choir may not be enough to carry their issue.
