"Liberals vs Conservatives"
Apr. 14th, 2010 02:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackhttp://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-341825
I happened to see an old link, from America, but that so enraged me, I had to rant about it immediately.
A sample from the link:
But then you go and spoil it all by doing something stupid and offensive like picking something that YOU want to ban and so-called liberals DON'T and sticking it in the middle of the list as if it supports your point. What the fuck?
Many intelligent (if in my opinion misguided) people support less gun control and more discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. But they have the good sense to find some argument which is more convincing than "the things you want to bad are stupid, the things we want to ban are a-ok" or AT LEAST not to list them right next to each other to draw attention to them!
I also particularly hate the way the list is introduced with a superficial veneer of impartiality, "so, so-called liberals, are you offended by this characterisation of you?" Obviously, people accused of a random list of slurs are disproportionately likely to be "offended" by them, but it is in fact possible to see whether there is very much humour in the characterisation. You could ask someone on neither side if they thought it was funny. You could look for characteristic hallmarks of humour, such as wit, or subtlety, or high-level insights presented in ingeniously simple ways, etc. All of which are noticeably lacking.
If you passionately hate so-called liberals, then it serves the purpose of validating your ill-thought-out negative stereotypes by demonstrating that other people naughtily share them. But I think that you can say that it is, objectively, stupid as well as offensive, unfunny to anyone else and boring[1].
[1] OK, OK, maybe cheap humour is sometimes funny and sometimes I do it myself. Possibly in this post. But I still think it's artistically lacking.
I happened to see an old link, from America, but that so enraged me, I had to rant about it immediately.
A sample from the link:
Anyway, if you are liberal [terms used in the American sense], are you offended by the comparison below? Do you see any truth in it?I honestly don't understand it. It's supposed to be funny, which means humorously exaggerating people's views. Not just listing them and going "ha ha". You appear to, in general, be attempting to promulgate the argument that "because so-called liberals supposedly want to legislate more things than so-called conservatives, they want to legislate everything AN INFINITE AMOUNT which is stupid stupid stupid"
If a conservative doesn’t like guns, he doesn’t buy one.
If a liberal doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.
...
If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.
If a liberal is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.
But then you go and spoil it all by doing something stupid and offensive like picking something that YOU want to ban and so-called liberals DON'T and sticking it in the middle of the list as if it supports your point. What the fuck?
Many intelligent (if in my opinion misguided) people support less gun control and more discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. But they have the good sense to find some argument which is more convincing than "the things you want to bad are stupid, the things we want to ban are a-ok" or AT LEAST not to list them right next to each other to draw attention to them!
I also particularly hate the way the list is introduced with a superficial veneer of impartiality, "so, so-called liberals, are you offended by this characterisation of you?" Obviously, people accused of a random list of slurs are disproportionately likely to be "offended" by them, but it is in fact possible to see whether there is very much humour in the characterisation. You could ask someone on neither side if they thought it was funny. You could look for characteristic hallmarks of humour, such as wit, or subtlety, or high-level insights presented in ingeniously simple ways, etc. All of which are noticeably lacking.
If you passionately hate so-called liberals, then it serves the purpose of validating your ill-thought-out negative stereotypes by demonstrating that other people naughtily share them. But I think that you can say that it is, objectively, stupid as well as offensive, unfunny to anyone else and boring[1].
[1] OK, OK, maybe cheap humour is sometimes funny and sometimes I do it myself. Possibly in this post. But I still think it's artistically lacking.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-14 05:09 pm (UTC)Since when does "conservative" mean "we don't want the police enforcing the laws against assaulting and killing strangers on the street"? Right, since they noticed that some of those strangers are non-white or queer.