Liberal self-loathing
Liberals drive me nuts.
There. I said it.
This is a bit problematic, of course, since I'm a liberal. About as bleeding-heart as they come. As are the vast majority of my friends. I take pride in the label. I take pride in the values I believe we stand for.
But good lord, I've got to say it. If I see one more tie-dye clad, protesting lib calling for, say, the impeachment of the President, or resigning their post over a commencement speech, or pestering me to sign some petition to save the whales, I'm going to lose it.
Why have we become the party of ineffectual action, lost causes, mixed (or non-existent) messaging, and i'm-more-liberal-than-you infighting? Why, for the love of god, can we simply not get our shit together?
As much as I might love to see it happen, the President is not going to be impeached by a Republican Congress. (And if a Democratic Congress does it as one of their first moves, I'm betting we won't have a Democratic Congress for long). And while it's nice that you're making your opinions heard, Brookline, is it really possible that you have no other problems you could work on in a constructive way with that time?
I agree whole-heartedly with BC students and faculty not wanting their institution to award Condoleeza Rice with an honorary degree. But a self-righteous letter to the Globe resigning your position as an adjunct professor? Oh, that's going to do a lot of good.
And I hate to break it to you, but elected officials rarely, if ever, even see those well-meaning save the whale petitions. Those stupid postcards you want me to sign? They're sorted by interns into massive bins in the mail room, never to be seen again. (I know. I was that intern. I sorted those useless postcards).
I think it's great that people are standing up for what they believe in and trying to make a difference. Seriously, I do. I just wish the people on my side could try channeling their energies towards efforts that might actually make a difference. I just wish we could stop running around being so politically correct that we end up sounding like loonies to anyone even remotely in mainstream America (where, by the way, most of the voters are). I wish we could stop giving the conservatives so much freaking ammunition.
I just wish we could get our shit together, just a little bit, and win an election.
Is that really so much to ask?
There. I said it.
This is a bit problematic, of course, since I'm a liberal. About as bleeding-heart as they come. As are the vast majority of my friends. I take pride in the label. I take pride in the values I believe we stand for.
But good lord, I've got to say it. If I see one more tie-dye clad, protesting lib calling for, say, the impeachment of the President, or resigning their post over a commencement speech, or pestering me to sign some petition to save the whales, I'm going to lose it.
Why have we become the party of ineffectual action, lost causes, mixed (or non-existent) messaging, and i'm-more-liberal-than-you infighting? Why, for the love of god, can we simply not get our shit together?
As much as I might love to see it happen, the President is not going to be impeached by a Republican Congress. (And if a Democratic Congress does it as one of their first moves, I'm betting we won't have a Democratic Congress for long). And while it's nice that you're making your opinions heard, Brookline, is it really possible that you have no other problems you could work on in a constructive way with that time?
I agree whole-heartedly with BC students and faculty not wanting their institution to award Condoleeza Rice with an honorary degree. But a self-righteous letter to the Globe resigning your position as an adjunct professor? Oh, that's going to do a lot of good.
And I hate to break it to you, but elected officials rarely, if ever, even see those well-meaning save the whale petitions. Those stupid postcards you want me to sign? They're sorted by interns into massive bins in the mail room, never to be seen again. (I know. I was that intern. I sorted those useless postcards).
I think it's great that people are standing up for what they believe in and trying to make a difference. Seriously, I do. I just wish the people on my side could try channeling their energies towards efforts that might actually make a difference. I just wish we could stop running around being so politically correct that we end up sounding like loonies to anyone even remotely in mainstream America (where, by the way, most of the voters are). I wish we could stop giving the conservatives so much freaking ammunition.
I just wish we could get our shit together, just a little bit, and win an election.
Is that really so much to ask?
posted by Melissa at 10:42 AM
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