What is Your Favorite Encounter with Liberal Rage?
As a resident of Portland, Oregon, I've seen my share of red-faced liberals. Rage is sort of like an accessory around here -- like Birkenstocks. For this reason, I don't volunteer my political opinion, but if someone asks I will certainly tell them. In return for being frank, I have been called a "toady," been told I don't care about other people, and have had numerous inquiries about my ability to sleep.
My very favorite (and bizarre) incident came a few years back. It was not the loudest encounter I've ever had. There was no profanity. No Reductio ad Hitlerum. In fact, only a few words were spoken -- none by me.
It goes like this: I was invited out to lunch by a friend, along with several other of his friends whom I did not know. I got there a few minutes late, so people were already eating. The conversation proceeded pleasantly enough; very general, not political in the slightest. Then, out of nowhere, my friend announced to the guy sitting next to me (I'll call him Mike) that I was a Republican. Mike looked up from his plate, stared at me for a few seconds, then looked back at his plate and said "that's too bad." He sat silently for about a minute and then, without a word, stood up, dropped his napkin on the table and walked out, leering at me as he went like I owed him money. He did not return.
I've never angered a liberal without uttering a single word. Yeah, there are more interesting stories, ones with more fireworks, but this one almost seems like an accomplishment. Like pitching a no-hitter.
Any personal brushes with liberal rage out there?
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Comments:
Mar '11
Re: What is Your Favorite Encounter with Liberal Rage?
When ever I hear the Hitler stuff I ask one simple question: Name me the last dictator who tried to oppress the masses by decentralizing power and promoting local control.
This is one of the biggest problems that conservatives face. The left does not know the difference between the European right wing, and American conservatism. When it comes to group identification, central planning, and enthusiastic obedience to a charismatic leader, I'm afraid they have more 'splainin' do to.
Apr '11
Re: What is Your Favorite Encounter with Liberal Rage?
Me too. And I drove old Volvos for over 20 years, recycle, and have an organic garden. I love to defy stereotypes. I remember my lefty cousin being shocked, shocked that I was conservative, given my lefty flair. I have bad feet, and Birks are about the only shoes that don't hurt (the others are Danskos). Like my Great Depression, WWII generation parents, I am thrifty and don't like waste - when did those become lefty values?
MMPadre: I once responded to a facebook friend's post in which he felt moved to excoriate Newt Gingrich. I responded by agreeing with his assessment, contributing further attributes (Spawn of Satan, the Guy that gives sleazy opportunists a bad name) but also adding: I'd still vote for him if that's what it took to get rid of Obama. My correspondent expressed his disappointment in me. To add insult to injury, I am a Birkenstock wearer. There, I said it. · 13 hours ago
Edited 13 hours ago
Feb '11
Re: What is Your Favorite Encounter with Liberal Rage?
True_wesT
Name me the last dictator who tried to oppress the masses by decentralizing power and promoting local control.
I suppose you could make an argument for Emperor Palpatine. When he dissolved the Senate and placed regional governors in control of territories, that was more decentralization than had been seen since the early days of the Old Republic.
Bottom line: the impulse that everything must be political is a statist impulse. You only worry about everyone being in lockstep if you're trying to bring everyone under one system. If your primary goal is for people to control as much of their lives as possible, then you don't really concern yourself with how other people are going to live their lives.
For those who want to see others prosper, there is a natural impulse that if someone is not doing well, you want to make them do so. It takes a great deal of maturity to realize that, ultimately, everyone determines their own destiny. It requires one to let go of the illusion that you can control everything. That is the hardest part of all, and requires more maturity than most leftists are capable of.
Feb '11
Re: What is Your Favorite Encounter with Liberal Rage?
RetroGeek
profdlp
RetroGeek: ...Apparently, in running to all those Duran Duran concerts in my car, she never noticed my "W" stickers. · 13 hours ago
Edited 13 hours ago
Maybe she was dyslexic and thought it was a "W". · 10 hours ago
Well, I have stayed at a "W" hotel before. Maybe she thought I really liked their beds? :)
On a related note, one of my more frequent sources of Liberal Rage is my car. On the rear window, I have a "Sarah!" sticker, the American flag (leftmost, higher, proper orientation of stars to stripes), and... a pride flag (lower, to the right).
I can't tell you how much it's increased my enjoyment of stoplights, watching liberal brains ooze out their skulls as they gesticulate wildly towards my car, unable to comprehend how these items could share real estate. Further proof of who has the narrowest mind on that stretch of road... · 10 hours ago
I think it always startles the Left to see anything with more than one dimension. :-)
Nov '10
Re: What is Your Favorite Encounter with Liberal Rage?
I used to run an organic garden, but mainly because I liked the challenge. It's like preferring sail boats to motors.
Goddess of Discord: Me too. And I drove old Volvos for over 20 years, recycle, and have an organic garden. I love to defy stereotypes. I remember my lefty cousin being shocked, shocked that I was conservative, given my lefty flair. I have bad feet, and Birks are about the only shoes that don't hurt (the others are Danskos). Like my Great Depression, WWII generation parents, I am thrifty and don't like waste - when did those become lefty values?
MMPadre: I once responded to a facebook friend's post in which he felt moved to excoriate Newt Gingrich. I responded by agreeing with his assessment, contributing further attributes (Spawn of Satan, the Guy that gives sleazy opportunists a bad name) but also adding: I'd still vote for him if that's what it took to get rid of Obama. My correspondent expressed his disappointment in me. To add insult to injury, I am a Birkenstock wearer. There, I said it. · 13 hours ago
Edited 13 hours ago
10 hours ago
Aug '11
Re: What is Your Favorite Encounter with Liberal Rage?
This is a parable, and my favorite analogy of, liberal rage... http://youtu.be/TCDbY_lXS5A
Nov '11
Re: What is Your Favorite Encounter with Liberal Rage?
Mark Wilson
Fred Cole:
And eventually, as her father took a liking to me, he took a dislike to me being thought of one-dimensionally like that. So it got to the point where someone would mention it and he'd say "That's not all there is to him." · 19 minutes ago
I suppose that's a positive development. But it's still really sad that even has to be pointed out to anybody. What kind of person defines ther people primary based on their politics, and has to make a conscious effort to see the rest of the human being? · 16 hours ago
Political people define things in political terms. I don't begrudge them. There's worse things to be judged by.
Jul '11
Re: What is Your Favorite Encounter with Liberal Rage?
I hope you plagued them real good like. That'll teach 'em!
Jul '11
Re: What is Your Favorite Encounter with Liberal Rage?
A couple of years ago, I was visiting friends in Boston, a couple, and one of their friends (I'll call her "Marple", because I can't remember her name now, and "Marple" sounds sufficiently, um, mockulatory) joined us for dinner. For some reason, me being a Republican came up, and Marple said "Oh, you're one of THOSE people", and started laughing, and we were all laughing. She was really good-natured about the whole thing, she didn't projectile vomit on my gazpacho or anything like that. The (paraphrased) conversation:
Marple: So why are you a Republican?
Nazi (me): Because I'm good at math.
Marple: What does that mean?
Nazi: It means that spending 1.5 trillion annually over the 2.2 trillion you take in annually is not a financial model that works in the short or long term.
Marple: Oh.
Nazi: Did I mention the 60-100 trillion in unfunded liabilities?
Marple: ** crickets **
I said all this good-naturedly, and no feelings were hurt. Maybe I should have applied more snark. Had she mentioned increasing taxes, I would have broken out Whittle's "Eat The Rich" on her, and let her digest that, too.
Jul '11
Re: What is Your Favorite Encounter with Liberal Rage?
flownover: We have all forgotten a cardinal rule of good manners : Never discuss politics or religion .
There was a reason for that.
Has everyone and everything been politicized these days ?
I mean , I can handle that readily, but it has affected my social life. · Aug 2 at 12:41pm
Edited on Aug 2 at 12:42pm
I try to stick to this, too. I have very close friends who don't share the same views, and I'm unlikely to change those views. If politics comes up, I'll talk all day about it, but I won't get steamed, I won't get pissy, and I will be as rationale as I can be with facts and data. The data don't lie, and that's why their use can be convincing, but I don't try to yank my friends over to my side of the line.
I also don't think it's worth a conversion effort if I lose a close friend. A political argument resulting in a lost friendship, a meaningful friendship, is a loss for everyone. It's not worth it.
Jul '11
Re: What is Your Favorite Encounter with Liberal Rage?
This is a perfectly horrifying anecdote.
Jul '11
Re: What is Your Favorite Encounter with Liberal Rage?
Higgs Boson Jr: My sister-in-law, a kind, good person who happens to be far left, was a guest in our home spending a few days visiting. We get along fine.
On day 2 or so she happened upon an issue of The Weekly Standard and asked me what it was. I told her it was an opinion magazine from the conservative perspective. She made a face, tossed it away as if a turd, muttered something hostile and walked away.
Here is an otherwise genuinely good and polite person, so incapable of any dissent from liberal orthodoxy, she's unable to stop herself from ostentatiously insulting her hosts in their own home. And I know she thinks nothing of it; to the liberal mind such a reaction is justified. · Aug 2 at 3:45pm
She would have found herself on the front stoop, with her belongings tossed out, too, and a complimentary copy of "The Weekly Standard" tossed in her face.
It's rather amazing that anyone would think this is the right thing to do, but much less so in someone else's home in which you are a guest. An infant's response deserves the same treatment.
Mar '11
Re: What is Your Favorite Encounter with Liberal Rage?
Peter Gøthgen
True_wesT
Name me the last dictator who tried to oppress the masses by decentralizing power and promoting local control.
I suppose you could make an argument for Emperor Palpatine. When he dissolved the Senate and placed regional governors in control of territories, that was more decentralization than had been seen since the early days of the Old Republic.
You got me there. should have thought of that.
P.S. Were you at Celebration IV?
Apr '11
Re: What is Your Favorite Encounter with Liberal Rage?
True_wesT
Peter Gøthgen
True_wesT
Name me the last dictator who tried to oppress the masses by decentralizing power and promoting local control.
I suppose you could make an argument for Emperor Palpatine. When he dissolved the Senate and placed regional governors in control of territories, that was more decentralization than had been seen since the early days of the Old Republic.
You got me there. should have thought of that.
P.S. Were you at Celebration IV? · 2 hours ago
I'm getting a little worried now, and so am impelled to point out that Emperor Palpatine was not a real dictator. Not because of some technicality, but because he never existed.
[Backs up, waits for Star Wars flame war to begin.]
Mar '11
Re: What is Your Favorite Encounter with Liberal Rage?
Begun, this Star Wars flame war has.
Mar '11
Re: What is Your Favorite Encounter with Liberal Rage?
Not too long ago I was out eating lunch by myself and quietly reading a book. Unfortunately, I was committing the apparently unpardonable offense of reading Jonah Goldberg's "Liberal Fascism," since a random woman stomped up to my table and started haranguing me about "how could I read such a thing" and "didn't I understand how racist it was" (which I still don't really understand) and so on. Now, because of my background, I have two methods that I tend to use when dealing with rude people. First, I become insultingly polite. You can't imagine how angry that makes people. Second, and what I did here, is I pretend I find the whole thing very amusing and the longer they are being rude, the wider my grin gets. Eventually, the woman says something like, "You think hate is funny!?" "No, but you're a lot more entertaining than this book is!" Which is really a slander on the book, since it's a great read, but the comment had the effect I wanted which was that she sputtered and stomped back to her table.
Jan '12
Re: What is Your Favorite Encounter with Liberal Rage?
Not my encounter, but my wife's. We homeschool and she had hooked up with some crunchy granola folks. She was baby-sitting their toddler for a couple of months and the dad was doing some handyman repairs around our place in payment. I guess he assumed my wife would share his politics since we also lived in the country, homeschooled, and listened to a lot of the same music.
She said he began ranting about the venality of George Bush and when he paused for breath, she mildly said that she supported his response to the attack on 9-11. This guy had a complete meltdown and cried - literally sobbed in his frustration that she would hold a contrary opinion. He had to leave because he couldn't control himself. I was much amused when my wife told me.
These folks also frequently decried the evils of Walmart. While we've long since parted ways with these folks, I've got to admit I go out of my way in Walmart to say "hi" when I see him skulking down the aisles buying low-priced groceries.
Apr '11
Re: What is Your Favorite Encounter with Liberal Rage?
I don't have these sorts of encounters. Maybe it's my "VISUALIZE NO LIBERALS" t-shirt.
Jul '11
Re: What is Your Favorite Encounter with Liberal Rage?
So she failed to see how walking over to a stranger and telling them what they should or should not read is fascism at its core?
Surprise.
Apr '11
Re: What is Your Favorite Encounter with Liberal Rage?
Actually, the Nazis were eugenicists, you know, like those famous conservative George Bernard Shaw, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Margaret Sanger.