Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Modern Liberalism Versus Schizophrenia

These thoughts are my own (gasp!) but perhaps someone could explain to me the following paradoxes.

  • A CEO in a major industry might make $10 MM in annual salary after decades of hard work getting to that level. Liberals see that as unfair that his salary is many multiples of his employees. Yet some 20 year old snotnose actor gets the same amount for a single movie and that's OK.
  • An environmental activist like Robert Kennedy, Jr. preaches against gas-guzzling cars destroying the environment yet travels to each speech in a private plane putting more crap into the air on each trip than one or more SUV drivers will in a lifetime.
  • Diversity is to be celebrated but, meanwhile, let's stamp it out at the school level to avoid offending anyone. St. Patrick's Day becomes Happy Green Day. So, let's not openly discuss our differences and celebrate those differences, let's cover it up.
  • Dr. King said the most important thing in all of us was the content of our character but, forget that, a rich black kid can get a higher admissions score into a college than a poor white kid because he's black.
  • The death penalty is bad but killing unborn children in the womb in the 3rd trimester by sucking out their brains is OK.
  • GOPers are evil geniuses intent on usurping our freedoms yet, at the same time, idiots and morons. Huh?

That's just off the top of my head. If I thought real long and hard I'd probably have had 10 more. So how is liberal thinking different from schizophrenia? I dunno.

6 comments:

Garrett said...

Hmm, how is it different?

"Defending the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban in court, as teams of Justice Department lawyers were dispatched this spring and summer to do, requires arguing to judges that pulling a fetus from a woman's body in dismembered pieces is legal, medically acceptable, and safe; but that pulling a fetus out intact, so that if the woman wishes the fetus can be wrapped in a blanket and handed to her, is appropriately punishable by a fine, or up to two years' imprisonment, or both."

Garrett said...

"Dr. King said the most important thing in all of us was the content of our character..."

Funny, that's not how I remember it.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

They don't live there yet. God willing, I'll see it in my lifetime. Until then, I can hardly quibble about attempts to put right what was wrong for so long.

Gonzo said...

That was a defense?? Man, I have to add more mental illnesses to my list besides schizophrenia!

Gonzo said...

You don't see it yet? In Maine? Bullshit. Total fucking bullshit. It's more about making minorities a permanent chattel class .... you want a dependency and therefore can't be inconvenienced with reality.

SeattleSusieQ said...

CEO story - it's unfair when that CEO is tanking the company, employees are cut or they lose their benefits and the CEO still gets his millions - yes, that's unfair.

Kennedy - your numbers don't add up - and what's more, it still doesn't make gas guzzlers ok.

Diversity - I don't know what the heck you're talking abou thtere.

affirmative action - I like John Edwards' approach - the extra points should go to the financially deprived, whatever color of skin. Or was that Obama? Or both - you can be sure it wasn't a Republican. Oh, and by the way, let's take away the legacy admissions - so that stupid idiots like George W. Bush will never qualify for Yale.

Nobody kills unborn children in the womb in the third trimester unless it is to save the life of the woman. And even then it is so rare that it was one of those right-wing scare tactics to get out their vote.

GOP leaders are the evil geniuses - really geniuses, actually. They've convinced a lot of people that they are the victims, when in reality, they run everything (until now). The sheep that follow them are the morons. ;-)

So how is right-wing thinking different from delusional paranoia? I dunno.

Gonzo said...

Suz -

"CEO story - it's unfair when that CEO is tanking the company, employees are cut or they lose their benefits and the CEO still gets his millions - yes, that's unfair."

How is that unfair? It's sad, true, but unfair? What's stopping a motivated employee from eventually becoming a CEO?

"Kennedy - your numbers don't add up - and what's more, it still doesn't make gas guzzlers ok."

The numbers are not that out of line and it's akin to a 500 lbs person telling us to cut fat out of the diet.

"Diversity - I don't know what the heck you're talking about there."

You would if you had school age kids. Schools are so afraid to offend anyone that they eliminate references to anything culturally centric or religious. To me that's a huge mistake. If you ignore cultural identities, how do you teach appreciation and respect? That's another form of intolerance, IMHO. I want my kids to understand Hannukah, Kwanzaa, black history, jewish history, St. Patricks Day. Why? Because you are afradi by what you don't understand, right? And how can you understand if not discussed?

"affirmative action - I like John Edwards' approach - the extra points should go to the financially deprived, whatever color of skin. Or was that Obama? Or both - you can be sure it wasn't a Republican. Oh, and by the way, let's take away the legacy admissions - so that stupid idiots like George W. Bush will never qualify for Yale."

You are so wrong here it's not funny. In the State of Florida, under the "evil" Jeb Bush, a program was instituted that guaranteed college admission to the top 10% of high school graduates. No other provisions. Guess who the #1 opponents were? When you look at word and deed, modern Republicans are the true egalitarians. True, not always, but actions do speak volumes.

Open your eyes. Look. Think.