Toward A More Constructive Dialogue
Jul. 30th, 2004 09:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
athelindI could have phrased Monday night's entry more tactfully, and probably should have. Several people whose opinions I value and respect have noted that accusing those who disagree with you of being stupid, deluded or worse will win no converts and prove no points.
With the outrage and frustration filtered out, what I was really trying to say was, "What are you people thinking??"
On that level, this was not an entirely unsuccessful attempt at communication. Several of you did give some indication of what you've been thinking.
You think, apparently, that George Walker Bush is a "conservative".
Please note that I did not attack the conservative philosophy. I did not claim that one had to be Stupid, Deluded or Corrupt to adhere to conservative ideals. While I disagree with many -- though not all -- conservative positions, while I am in fact far more willing to proudly embrace the label of "Liberal" than any candidate endorsed by the Democratic party in well over a decade, I can indeed see the logic and the internal consistency of conservatism.
The single author who most deeply influenced my personal philosophy is well-known -- even infamous -- for his conservative views, particularly later in life. I may have reached different conclusions than he did, but I still hold his opinions and his thought processes in the deepest respect.
I think, however, that, were Robert Heinlein still alive, the regime of George Walker Bush would horrify him.
He has, in![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hafoc's words, "...betrayed the good conservative principles while throwing all his strength behind the bad ones."
With the outrage and frustration filtered out, what I was really trying to say was, "What are you people thinking??"
On that level, this was not an entirely unsuccessful attempt at communication. Several of you did give some indication of what you've been thinking.
You think, apparently, that George Walker Bush is a "conservative".
Please note that I did not attack the conservative philosophy. I did not claim that one had to be Stupid, Deluded or Corrupt to adhere to conservative ideals. While I disagree with many -- though not all -- conservative positions, while I am in fact far more willing to proudly embrace the label of "Liberal" than any candidate endorsed by the Democratic party in well over a decade, I can indeed see the logic and the internal consistency of conservatism.
The single author who most deeply influenced my personal philosophy is well-known -- even infamous -- for his conservative views, particularly later in life. I may have reached different conclusions than he did, but I still hold his opinions and his thought processes in the deepest respect.
I think, however, that, were Robert Heinlein still alive, the regime of George Walker Bush would horrify him.
He has, in
hafoc's words, "...betrayed the good conservative principles while throwing all his strength behind the bad ones."
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no subject
Date: 2004-08-01 08:35 am (UTC)And for that matter, even more pregnancies - maybe as many as one in three - are miscarried before the woman in question even suspects she might be pregnant.
But what makes a human intrinsically 'better' than a tapeworm?
What makes a human better?
Date: 2004-08-01 02:57 pm (UTC)Human babies are kyooote and pwecious. Tapeworms aren't. That's what makes them better.
Re: What makes a human better?
Date: 2004-08-02 01:10 am (UTC)Kittens, yes. Baby alligators, yes. Puppies, yeah.
None of them excretes foul-smelling slime from both ends that has to be cleaned up for the better part of their first year unless they're sick.
I'd rather have a tapeworm - at least then, I'm on a biological weight-loss plan *grins*
no subject
Date: 2004-08-01 03:33 pm (UTC)That means something to me, maybe I just have a very strong preservation of species urge in me, because it'd be hard as hell to have children myself, thus there is no preservation of my own young urge.