Post #108,797
7/9/03 4:42:06 AM
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'Culture Wars' / USSC via Jon Carroll
[link|http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/07/03/DD254027.DTL| Fight Fight for Dear Old Something] I've been thinking more about that "culture war" that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and a whole slew of conservative pundits have been nattering about. As I said a few days ago, it's not so much a war as a siege. They started it, we didn't.
There have been no laws passed requiring people to engage in homosexual acts, dance naked or write songs with suggestive lyrics. There have never been mandatory abortions for all women; there have never been legal injunctions to refrain from prayer. You can believe in the Ten Commandments or not believe in the Ten Commandments; your choice. No government agency or private business has ever required people to smoke marijuana as a condition of employment.
We used to have another name for "culture war." It used to be called "being different." Some people did things one way, some people did them another. When I was growing up, "being different" was combined with another fine concept, "hypocrisy."
. . .
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Post #108,804
7/9/03 8:51:19 AM
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On the other hand...
there has been legal action to suppress the free expression of religion.
There has also been legal action to allow minors to have abortions without parental consent (a particularly thorny issue, since technically the parent is LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE for anythign the child does until 18).
There has also been legal action to FORCIBLY STOP home schooling -- which for the most part is seen as some kind of fundie brainwashing, which is funny because it started out as a product of the left.
There has also been legal action to ban the ownership of firearms mostly because people consider it "uncivilized."
I really hate appearing like I walk in step with the conservatives, because I really don't. But the political left is DISINGENIOUS when it claims to be on the side standing up for individual freedom -- there are too many areas where it cops out. True freedom is very inconvenient to a lot of people in a lot of ways, and it seems to me that neither side is willing to endorse it at the expense of parts of their own agenda.
There is a culture war on both sides of this. It's not just a conservative thing, it's not just a liberal thing, it's a "I'm an arrogant elitist asshole who knows better than you how you should live your life" thing... and neither side is blameless of that.
"We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?"
- Edward Young
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Post #108,810
7/9/03 9:23:53 AM
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[applause]
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Implicitly condoning stupidity since 2001.
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Post #108,815
7/9/03 9:44:06 AM
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[applause also]
Well said.
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Post #108,825
7/9/03 10:25:03 AM
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Vote Libertarian
-drl
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Post #108,872
7/9/03 2:28:29 PM
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Re: Vote Libertarian
I think the Libertarian Party is very fraudulent:
Labor unions -- they're against 'em
social security -- against
prescription drug benefits -- against
on and on towards absolute monarchy
A
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Post #108,877
7/9/03 2:40:59 PM
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You need to read some.
the last 2 are big government programs...absolutley the opposite of Libby thought.
And Libertarians support the right of workers to organize.
[link|http://www.lp.org/issues/platform/uniocoll.html|http://www.lp.org/is...orm/uniocoll.html]
If you push something hard enough, it will fall over. Fudd's First Law of Opposition
[link|mailto:bepatient@aol.com|BePatient]
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Post #111,385
7/24/03 11:58:25 PM
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I read it: they don't support unions
the libertarians are a fraud
they say employers have the right to choose whether or not to recognize unions
this no unions
A
Play I Some Music w/ Papa Andy
Saturday 8 PM - 11 PM ET
All Night Rewind 11 PM - 5 PM
Reggae, African and Caribbean Music
[link|http://wxxe.org|Tune In]
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Post #108,916
7/9/03 5:14:38 PM
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[additional applause]
Yes, I believe that Republicrat nicely dispenses with The One Party with Two Right Wings (Imho there hasn't been a 'Left' *Wing* for nigh on these many years - nor does 'Liberal' at all coincide with its meaning as expressed in the ancient phrase, a liberal education.
That said - isn't it about the right Millennium to dispense with all the bafflegab attending All these labels? Left/Right Liberal/Conservative, "compassionate" Conservative / "socially" Liberal yada ?
Nobody knows what any of these slogans mean! - because every single person has a highly personalized definition of each blab-word [Thank You, Stuart Chase]. Ditto for Freedom, Liberty [almost Anything Capitalized and a plank in a pseudo-party 'platform'].
Unless and until Language itself is reclaimed, thus actual communication becomes again possible: even and especially re the very fuzzy idea we call politics - I believe that all political discussion / debate in the USA is doomed to remain on the current treadmill of utter banal turgid meaninglessness.
How To Do That:
I dunno.
Ashton,
but I damn-well know Why
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Post #108,921
7/9/03 5:24:45 PM
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Speaking of Republicrats ...
I came up with a way to describe American plitics: Every restaurant in the country has to pick a single soft drink to serve.
Sure, Coke makes Sprite and Pepsi makes Sierra Mist (or is it the other way around?). And Coke makes Nestea while Pepsi makes Lipton tea (or is it the other way around?). But when you're competing to be the Only One, you put your money behind your top gun. And all the other guys combined don't have the advertising budget of either Coke or Pepsi.
So we all end up arguing over whether Coke or Pepsi is better. And drinking cola.
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Implicitly condoning stupidity since 2001.
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