I am not a leftist

[luvtinayothers]

At least I think I'm not.
Am I?

[a_unique_person]

Originally posted by luvtinayothers
At least I think I'm not.
Am I?

Anyone who questions the ethics, morality or quality of the mass media, (just look at your insulting tag line), is clearly a leftist. Ronny would have dobbed you in to McCarthy in a trice.

[luvtinayothers]

Oh dear. But I have conservative values...

[a_unique_person]

Originally posted by luvtinayothers
Oh dear. But I have conservative values...

You think you do, but we know better, your subversive nature is proudly displayed to all.

[Dancing David]

Test: watch some poor person scrounging in a garbage can for food.
Do you:
a. blame them for being too lazy to get a job.
b. wonder what led them to that place.
c. wonder if there are enough soup kitchens.
d. plot the overtrown of the oppresive capitaist regime.

If you answer other than a. you are most likely a leftist. Wink.

Lots of leftist have conservative values.

Funk ON.

[DrChinese]

Originally posted by luvtinayothers
Oh dear. But I have conservative values...

Don't let people put you into a category you don't feel comfortable with. I consider myself conservative, many on this board think I am a raging leftist liberal. At most, I identify myself as a Texas Democrat (we are so conservative we are almost Republicans). I vote for both Democrats and Republicans.

There is no political party that can EVER represent you 100% on all issues. The idea is that there is strength in numbers, and sometimes it is more effective to band together with others. Since the winds of politics in a two-party system ebb and flow, don't be surprised if you find yourself more agreeing with one side or the other (i.e. shifting) over time.

Republican ideas I like: balanced budget, flatter tax rates
Democratic ideas I like: attention to the domestic economy, pro-choice on abortion
Republican ideas I don't like: bigger military
Democratic ideas I don't like: welfare programs

Decide for yourself.

[Kodiak]

Originally posted by Dancing David
Test: watch some poor person scrounging in a garbage can for food.
Do you:
a. blame them for being too lazy to get a job.
b. wonder what led them to that place.
c. wonder if there are enough soup kitchens.
d. plot the overtrown of the oppresive capitaist regime.



If you are a true conservative, you can either pick a., or you can pick e..

e. realize they are an independant adult living in the most prosperous country in the world, and leave them alone to live as they see fit.

[Dancing David]

Hahaha
Wjat do you think this thread is, Am I a Rightist?
Very funny thank you.

you forgot f.
F: unless of course that homeless individual is a large corporation scrounging in a metaphorical trash can, the you can give them taxpayers money because they aren't reponsible adults, thier men of bussiness.

Funk On

[a_unique_person]

So what has brought this on? Were you just stating what appeared to you to be a simple, commonsense point of view, and someone then accused you of being a raging, commie liberal?

[Nikk]

Originally posted by a_unique_person
So what has brought this on? Were you just stating what appeared to you to be a simple, commonsense point of view, and someone then accused you of being a raging, commie liberal?

And therein lies the problem. As a result of some Orwellian newspeak exercise the US has lost the distinction between socialist and liberal which as all well informed people know are quite different political positions.

And so our hero luvtinayothers is doomed to wander forever between the Scylla of leftism and the Charybdis of conservatism. What a terrible fate!

[JAR]

Originally posted by Kodiak


If you are a true conservative, you can either pick a., or you can pick e..

e. realize they are an independant adult living in the most prosperous country in the world, and leave them alone to live as they see fit.

Ha, Ha!!!:D :D :D :D

[shanek]

Originally posted by a_unique_person
Anyone who questions the ethics, morality or quality of the mass media, (just look at your insulting tag line), is clearly a leftist.

Well, geez, by that definition I'm a leftist!

[RandFan]

Originally posted by Nikk
And therein lies the problem. As a result of some Orwellian newspeak exercise the US has lost the distinction between socialist and liberal which as all well informed people know are quite different political positions. Politics my friend. Just watch the primaries. You will find it is Democrat against Democrat and Republican against Republican but as soon as the primaries are over the basterd who won the primaries is OUR bastard and "I'll be damned if I let you speak ill of him even if he does lie about my record."

Oh and by the way, in an Orwellian twist Orwell has been turned into a Conservative Republican. Never mind that he was actually a socialist. That is the nature of politics. Accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative (AKA spin) and if that doesn't work make something up.

"Those that love sausage and respect the law should never
see either being made." --?

[a_unique_person]

Originally posted by RandFan
Oh and by the way, in an Orwellian twist Orwell has been turned into a Conservative Republican. Never mind that he was actually a socialist. That is the nature of politics. Accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative (AKA spin) and if that doesn't work make something up.



That is one thing that p**s me off. He has been appropriated by the right. He never went in for the Stalinist style of politics, but he certainly wasn't a right winger either.

A very interesting to read is 'A Homage to Catalonia'. (We had it on our reading list for school). A real eye-opener in terms of just how varied the world of lefty politics is and what his political views were. He ended up being chased out of Spain by the Stalinists.

[subgenius]

"Republican ideas I like: balanced budget......"
Ha, Ha, Ha....only when the other party is in power, I guess.

[peptoabysmal]

Originally posted by subgenius
"Republican ideas I like: balanced budget......"
Ha, Ha, Ha....only when the other party is in power, I guess.

B.S. :rolleyes:

I think the only requirement to get into the Democratic party is to flunk math, at least twice.

Check out the financial situation of my home state, California, after several enlightened years under the Democratic regime.

Recall Gov. Gray Davis (http://www.recallgraydavis.com/)

[subgenius]

Didn't we just go from a surplus to record deficit?

[Nikk]

Originally posted by a_unique_person


That is one thing that p**s me off. He has been appropriated by the right. He never went in for the Stalinist style of politics, but he certainly wasn't a right winger either.

A very interesting to read is 'A Homage to Catalonia'. (We had it on our reading list for school). A real eye-opener in terms of just how varied the world of lefty politics is and what his political views were. He ended up being chased out of Spain by the Stalinists.

I didn't realise he had been appropiated by the right!

I appreciated his essays as much as if not more than the books.

[Nikk]

Originally posted by RandFan
Politics my friend. Just watch the primaries. You will find it is Democrat against Democrat and Republican against Republican but as soon as the primaries are over the basterd who won the primaries is OUR bastard and "I'll be damned if I let you speak ill of him even if he does lie about my record."

Oh and by the way, in an Orwellian twist Orwell has been turned into a Conservative Republican. Never mind that he was actually a socialist. That is the nature of politics. Accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative (AKA spin) and if that doesn't work make something up.

"Those that love sausage and respect the law should never
see either being made." --?

"Things fall apart; The centre cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world........"

And where is a rational person to stand if there is no centre ground? Hey, ho.

[schplurg]

Pepto:
Check out the financial situation of my home state, California, after several enlightened years under the Democratic regime.

Recall Gov. Gray Davis
The thing that pisses me off the most is that just about anybody should have been able to beat Davis the last time around. But who did the Republicans pick to run against him? Simon! How could they be so stupid?

The whole "Recall Davis" thing, although probably doomed, is really picking up steam and getting a lot of press. Who is available to replace him? According to his plan, our sales tax will be pushing 9%.

[QuarkChild]

Originally posted by Nikk


"Things fall apart; The centre cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world........"

What's the source of that quote? It sounds applicable to a lot of situations. I'm reminded of Stephen King's The Stand: "Things are getting flaky around the edges."--Randall Flagg

[shanek]

Originally posted by QuarkChild

What's the source of that quote? It sounds applicable to a lot of situations. I'm reminded of Stephen King's The Stand: "Things are getting flaky around the edges."--Randall Flagg

"The Second Coming" by Yeats.

[Frank Newgent]

Originally posted by shanek
"The Second Coming" by Yeats.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

[RandFan]

Originally posted by Nikk
I didn't realise he had been appropiated by the right! Time and oral history is sandpaper. "It wears away distinctions. "You played it for her now play it for me" has become "play it again sam".

Animal Fram has come to be known as an indictment on Communism and by extension, Socialism. Conservatives and republicans (myself included) love to reference Orwell. But in truth Orwell was not trying to indict Socialism but alert the people to the dangers of puting to much trust in leaders and power.

"I meant the moral to be that revolutions only effect a radical improvement when the masses are alert and know how to chuck out their leaders as soon as the latter have done their job. The turning point of the storey was supposed to be when the pigs kept the milk and apples for themselves". --George Orwell

Animal Farm and 1984 are ripe for Conservative rhetoric and I can live with that. I would however like people to know the truth about him.

[QuarkChild]

Thank you, Frank and shanek. Great poem.

[Whoracle]

Does it really matter?

[RandFan]

Originally posted by Whoracle
Does it really matter? I think it is important.

[RandFan]

Originally posted by a_unique_person
That is one thing that p**s me off. He has been appropriated by the right. He never went in for the Stalinist style of politics, but he certainly wasn't a right winger either.

A very interesting to read is 'A Homage to Catalonia'. (We had it on our reading list for school). A real eye-opener in terms of just how varied the world of lefty politics is and what his political views were. He ended up being chased out of Spain by the Stalinists. In all fariness it should be pointed out that Hitler was also a socialist. That fact had slipped from my memory until I watched the made for TV mini-series "Hitler."

[Kodiak]

Originally posted by RandFan
In all fariness it should be pointed out that Hitler was also a socialist. That fact had slipped from my memory until I watched the made for TV mini-series "Hitler."

Don't be confused by the word "socialist", RandFan. The Nazi Party, or NSDAP, was "National Socialist", which is extreme right wing, not leftist. The Nazis had countless bloody battles with the German bolsheviks until Hitler gained power and wiped them out completely.