This may cross a line.
There is a man I love and respect – whom I regard as a better man/husband/father/minister than I am – whose social-political views are often very different from mine. We are “friends” on Facebook. He often posts opinions that are pretty strong – very critical toward conservatives and Republicans. Which is fine. Normally I ignore them because (a) not always in the mood for a debate and (b) we have day jobs.
He posted something that did not require a response but the chain of comments got interesting.
Someone #1: if you die of crime or terrorism you can blame the criminal or terrorist. :/
i agree with a___…somebody needs to take joe lieberman into the senate cloak room and beat him with a sock full of penniesFriend: [Link to Daily Kos article: "F--k you Senator Lieberman!" I will not link to it.]
Someone #2: Tell him to sue those bitches when you guys die.
With me so far? So I took the risk of chiming in.
Rick: Hmm – disagree with a person (say Lieberman) even strongly. But “f–k you”? Not feeling the love or the warm liberal fuzziness here. Can one say “you are wrong” without saying “you are stupid and evil and should suffer”? Does such rhetoric persuade the opposition? Normally content not to chime in but this was a bit much.
The reactions were interesting.
Someone #2: We Democrats learned such tricks from the Republicans.
Someone #3: Richard – Hate to burst your bubble…but just cause everyone assumes that liberals are all tye-dye wearing, pot smoking and free loving…it is not so…and we are, at times, not so warm and fuzzy. [emphasis added]
And that boys and girls is why I normally avoid these exchanges.
What struck me about this was:
1) My complete and utter failure to communicate successfully. Which is “wait a second – you characterize conservatives as evil and stupid and even worthy of violence. Can I assume you think of yourself as a liberal? Can I also assume you regard yourself as being more caring compassionate loving tolerant and open-minded than conservatives? Maybe you do not – but I think that is a safe assumption. So why can you not just say ‘Lieberman is dead wrong and this is why‘? Why do you say ‘f–k you!’ and fantasize about beating him with a sock full of pennies? Do you think that conveys the impression – perhaps we should ask is that consistent with your assumption that you are caring compassionate loving tolerant and open-minded?”
2) The effort to redirect attention onto the person asking the question. “Everyone assumes that liberals are all tye-dye wearing, pot smoking and free loving” – speaking of assumptions.
3) Yeah yeah I know conservatives say it a million times each day but might as well say it again. How would self-described liberals respond if I said “Frak you Senator Reid! Someone should take you into a cloakroom and beat you with a sock full of pennies. You want hundreds of thousands of Americans to be enslaved to the government”?
For the record the issue here is not “liberals bad – conservatives good”. In fact the title of this post is problematic. “Liberals”? What kind of a gross generalization is that?
The primary prayer of the Christian is “Lord have mercy on me” not “Lord have mercy on that heartless scumbucket over there”.
The conservative websites I visit do sometimes exhibit (a) profanity and (b) hateful rhetoric (mainly in the comments – much harder to control). Conservatives are not immune to “you are not merely wrong – you are evil and stupid”.
Perhaps I should lay off asking liberals to remove the motes in their eyes and continue to work on the beams in my own. That sounds like a good plan.
