Having grown weary of being called hateful for every conservative stance I take, I suddenly realized that liberals call their opposition on almost every issue “hateful.” It’s an epidemic! And WHY do they do this? I surmise that two things are going on – one, it is easier to make ad hominem attacks than make logical counter arguments, but secondly, and more importantly, they are victims of The New Tolerance, which mistakes every moral judgment for hate.
One interesting example that author gives of liberal inconsistency in this matter is the infamous Piss Christ painting. Paint Christ in a jar of piss, and leftists call that free speech. But paint a homosexual in a jar of piss? Unthinkable. Offensive. And you know what? It probably is. But only the OPPONENTS of the left are hateful in almost every stance.
In fact, for budding liberals, here’s a quick checklist for how to respond to conservatives on the issues:
- Conservative: “Homosexuality is not healthy or normal, and should not be condoned or taught to our children.”
Liberal: “You HATE homosexuals.” (BONUS: You are a bigot) - C: I don’t buy into the global warming panic and the “argument-is-over” bulldozing
L: You HATE the environment (BONUS: You are a flat-earther who is ignorant of science) - C: I don’t think entitlement programs work as they are. We need a hand up, not a hand out.
L: You HATE the poor. - C: I think affirmative action is reverse discrimination and unfair.
L: You HATE minorities. (BONUS: You are a racist bigot) - C: I think abortion is murder and should be illegal.
L: You HATE women and women’s rights (BONUS: You are a fascist totalitarian religionist) - C: I doubt evolution.
L: You HATE science and love religion instead. (BONUS: You are a flat-earther who is ignorant of science)
Hate-accusation is an intellectual pandemic on the left, and a grand, childish self-delusion, as I discussed in What is Hate, one of my favorite posts.
What’s really interesting is that I’m a moderate on immigration, and disagree with the far right on this issue. But while I consider their policies mean-spirited, and legalistic, I don’t think of those people as hate mongers. Why? Because I don’t have the erroneous knee-jerk liberal reaction that everyone who has opposing policies, even policies that are a bit hurtful, is hateful. From the outside, liberals really look to have a pathological, deceptive, irrational group think going on.
But then again, maybe it’s because, in general, in the balance between love and truth, lefties err on the side of feelings instead of truth and logic, and righties err on the side of cold, compassionless logic. So maybe that’s why the left looks illogical and oversensitive (because they are), and the right looks heartless and insensitive (which they are). So maybe I am a little insensitive. Hmmm.