much too much too little

[jazzfish]

The Importance of Being Politically Correct: "[Tolerance is] about attempting to understand people who are radically different from you, and saying to them you want their voice in the process. . . . The conservative movement has never gotten 'tolerance.' They think tolerance is something you do as a favor for someone else, that it's a slogan, that it involves appointing a showman who employs ancient slang. They don't understand. Tolerance is about warfare-- it makes your army bigger than the other guy's army."

(As a side note, every time I hear or read the phrase "politically incorrect," I mentally replace it with "being an asshole," because that's more honest. More "politically incorrect," if you will.)

The Bobblespeak Translations: Obama Press Conference, June 23, 2009:

Q: what took you so long to express your meaningless outrage about an election in a far-off country where we have a history of illegal interference?

Obama: because I'm not a total dumbass and didn't want to give the Iranian government ammunition!

Q: that's Reagan's job

Obama: exactly!

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The problem with this whole "posting more" thing is that then I get comments, many of which are quite intelligent and thus take time to craft responses to. (Also, my sacks of gold are so heavy!) I will, however, get there. Today, even.

And we leave for Origins this afternoon. I'm less excited about Origins this year than ever before. It's kind of odd. Partly this is a disillusionment with board gaming (that's its own post: tl;dr is that it's not feeding my social needs as well as it used to), and partly it's that I've been travelling more so it's not as huge a trip. And partly that some of the people I'd been hoping to see won't be there. But, I'll see rislyn and Good Chris and J. and various Looney folk. So that'll be alright.

Comments

[jazzfish]

that equation demonstrates my very concern--that "conservative" is thought to equal "intolerance." And that's simply not true.

Fair enough. Again, what conservative ideas are not being tolerated? Give me a point where I can acknowledge that I/we haven't given you/you [stupid english] a fair hearing.

Fertility treatments: mea culpa, and yay for internal consistency.

I like the dialogue, Tucker, but I feel that the tone is heated and that makes it difficult for me to respond.

When you accuse me of not practicing what I'm preaching, I'm likely to get upset. Invoking the Tone Argument is a convenient way for you to not have to back those accusations up. After all, if I were just nicer about being called a hypocrite, we could calmly discuss all the ways in which my hypocrisy makes it difficult for me to understand that [liberalism is bad / conservatives are the real put-upon minority / tolerance is just so much crap].

[meghatronn.livejournal.com]

If you thought that I was referring to you personally when I said "every liberal segment" and therefore implying that you were a hypocrite, that's not what I meant in the least. I was responding to the quote from your cited article, as it reminded me of that very theme that I have discussed in my journal a couple of times in the last few years. So if the impression was that I thought that was your opinion and I was beating you down for it, I apologize for perhaps not being as clear as I could have been. The point I was trying to make is that I disagree when "conservative" is generalized to be negative by definition, as there are many different types--social, fiscal, etc., and it encompasses a wide range of values.

And on that note, I wasn't using Tone Argument as an excuse, I actually wanted some time to reflect to choose a good idea...I thought most of the afternoon, actually. And I do find it difficult to respond when there's heat. Which makes me wonder why I do so enjoy the debate, but that's a question for another day...

So in thinking of all of the "conservative" ideas that I value, I choose the conscience clause as applying to doctors and pharmacists. That they should definitively have the right not to perform abortions or dispense Plan B if they consider it to be morally wrong. Some people on the liberal side of the fence would consider that to be the denial of access to necessary medical services. Some conservatives would consider that right to be the exercise of their freedom of religion/morality.

But on the whole, my observation has been that the loudest conservatives and liberals (again, not referring to you) don't give "the other side" a fair hearing on really any of their ideas. That's the nature of the forum today and I would like to see that change as per President Obama's philosophy of common ground.

P.S., Stupid english=agreed. Language is so inefficient :)