"No actual intelligent person in modern society can call themselves a Conservative or Liberal. If you call yourself either one, you're likely an idiot." Agree or Disagree?

submitted by Mcheetah from self.AskSaidIt

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[–]Mcheetah[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

I identify as liberal. I don't identify with the modern left or the Democrat party.

That statement is contradictory. You ("you" in the general sense) cannot call yourself "Liberal" while also doing everything that is not now, or in the past, ever been seen as "Liberal." This is not me doubting you or anything; this is me saying that's how it works. You can't be a Feminist without believing in Patriarchy, you can't be a Capitalist without believing in the Free Market, and you can't be a Christian without believing in Jesus or God. I didn't invent what a modern-day "Liberal" is. The term has changed. The Swastika used to mean "the mark of well being" and a symbol of peace, but you're not going to get very far getting one tattooed on your head nowadays and trying to explain that to people.

If you said, "I lean more to the left and would be closer to being called a 'Classical Liberal'," that'd be one thing. But if you're part of the club, you don't get to change the rules. Not that I think most Liberals in the 2024 Western world would see you as a "Liberal," anyway. That's kinda the whole point here. You can still believe in capitalism, free speech, private property rights, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, etc, without having to pay the fees and join the membership of being a "Liberal." I certainly agree with those things. (Most modern Liberals would call those beliefs "Far-right, MAGA-hatter, Trump, January 6th" values, anyway; that's how far-gone they are.)

I get what you mean; I haven't changed since I was 19 and in the 2000s, up to 2015, considered myself a "Liberal," too. Then in 2017, thought I might have been a "Conservative." Then I figured out I'm just a (mostly) rational human being who doesn't want any of the bullshit membership dues and second-hand beliefs pushed into my head attached to what I call myself or how I choose to live my life. You might think it's semantics, but with how polarized and divisive people are nowadays, it's really not. Try calling yourself Conservative in southern California or super-blue New York City and see how popular you are.

[–]PsychoTranyRedditMod 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Its speckled with assholery. I can be for fair wages, healthcare, and education, and not be for all the faggy tranny drama or being soft on crime.

403 error bs again. Fix this damn site plz.

[–]makesyoudownvote 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

I don't think the statement is contradictory any more than saying "I'm a pirate and I've never even been to Pittsburgh" is contradictory. You could also be someone who downloads content on the internet, or someone who raids ships off the coast of Somalia.

The terms liberal and conservative are simply colloquial terms and are only used that way in ONE of dozens of English speaking nations. In most English speaking nations in fact the liberal party IS their right wing party.

I am a liberal because I believe in the political philosophy of liberal. That's a more true definition than the loose term in the U.S. that vaguely means someone who is left wing, even though liberalism isn't even really on the left right spectrum but an entirely different axis of being anti-authoritarian.

I guess in a way that does make me an idiot though because I will die on this hill. I want to bring the term back to it's actual meaning. The left stopped being liberal the moment they started pushing for socialism and wanting to enforce speech laws.

[–]Mcheetah[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I get what you mean, but politics and language change too much for that to still really apply. It's why you're never going to bring back the Swastika or the term "feminist" being a positive thing. But I mean, good luck with that and all.