[FRIAM] Liberal dilemmas

[uǝlƃ ☤>$]

Since we're mostly old people on this list, some older than others, it might be useful to suggest that "liberal" no longer means "left" in most lefty circles I travel. Liberals are just slightly to the left of the middle. Basically, liberals are now moderates. It's not the liberals that are "woke". It's the lefties.

And the lefties are definitely *not* in control of governments. The liberals are. People like Biden are war-mongering, capitalist liberals, though he's shifted left to some extent. Harris was a *prosecutor* for Yog's sake.

And I *think* I'd even argue that the lefties aren't "progressives", either. A friend of mine, who worships Voltaire and the Enlightenment, describes himself as a Fabian, starkly conservative compared to most of the lefties that surround us. Fabians are (were?) progressives. Lefties seem to be more revolutionary, "radical", or nihilistic, as willing to throw bombs at government as your staunchest righty.

That person in the comic is *not* a lefty, not by a long shot.

On 8/31/21 3:23 PM, Prof David West wrote:
> I reacted to the comic with the mental observation that, to me, conservatives seem heaven bent on telling people what they *cannot* do or think; while liberals are hell bent to telling you what you *must* do and think. (If you don't do as they say you are, at minimum, stupid or, more likely, evil and subject to punishment (even if that is just shaming and ostracism.)
> 
> And I am terrified of liberals (progressives, democrats) because, at the moment, they have the power of government enforcement of their diktats.
> 
> davew
> 
> 
> On Tue, Aug 31, 2021, at 2:31 PM, Jon Zingale wrote:
>> Thank you, Glen and Frank. Seeing the image, and whether authoritarian or not, I couldn't help but relate. There have probably (right or wrong) been a number of times in the last month where the very same narrative ran through my mind while in line for coffee or groceries or whatever. I appreciate that the comic said nothing of vaccination, whether those in the crowd were or were not. I guess I read the comic as being an individual's feelings "in the moment", regardless of whether the causes are low-blood sugar or post-lockdown social anxiety or the sense that there is a breach of social contract or ...
>>
>> What I like about the comic is that it could be a great way to poll the country (a'la one of those New Yorker comic contests we sometimes talk about on vFriam). We could produce a second comic with a person without a mask surrounded by masked individuals. Then with thought bubbles cleared, hand both images to people and ask them to fill in the bubbles for both comics. I can imagine that collecting the comics at the end would give a richer picture of the kinds of thoughts and feelings people actually have than the strangely averaged forms I often receive.


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☤>$ uǝlƃ