Is Liberalism in the Genes?

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You're getting paid to be here?

Heheh, good one there... always thought DRD4-7R had something to do with that...

No. I am volunteering. I do a lot of volunteer work because someone has to do it whether or not they are paid for it.;

I have a half dozen volunteer occupations to keep me busy in my retirement. Being retired does not mean being idle.

ruveyn

I'm genuinely curious about what sort of additional volunteer work you do. Would you mind disclosing?

Among other things, I record technical books and journal articles for the dyslexic, blind and visually impaired. So why do I do it? Because some day I might become blind and I cannot ask for help unless I have already given it. Fair dinkum. Even Stephen. I am a trading man, not a beggar or a moocher.

I am also a 20 gallon platelet donor. I have three times the normal platelet density that you mortals have and I am also cyto-meglavirus negative which makes my platelets very good for new-born children. O+ CMV -. That is very typical for people from Minbar. When I show up at the blood center the people line up on either side of the corridor and wave palm leaves as I pass by.

ruveyn

That's very nice of you and, for some strange reason, I'm not at all surprised. Why do you enjoy appearing as such a callous person, when in fact, you are kind?

I thought the mortal comment was kind of funny. My husband also likes to refer to others as mortals.

Every useful thing I do is for rational self interested reasons. So I am being "nice" to myself.

ruveyn

My conservatism comes from an intense preoccupation with political questions starting in childhood. I read a lot about the world around me, so that's another reason I'm more rational (and also more knowledgeable about the major problems caused by the actions of leftists and current regimes). I understand people in a scientific way better than most NTs.

I know I have my own personal bias here, but I'd have to say the main reason I became a conservative is because it makes more logical sense than anything else if we're trying to build a more just and free world for everybody.

Strange, I find it doubtful that you will ever become a newborn again (as do you, I believe).

You may rationalize it however you like, but actions speak louder than words.

I don't know if I like the term liberal. I think its kind of meaningless. They try to make out this group that isn't entirely against social safety netting but isn't entirely against private ownership as being some sort of extreme. I see liberals as mainly being centrists as far as the left-right spectrum goes. I guess, I lean more to the left, though, than conservatives, because I care about people. Yah, its about ideas, but it has to do with making sure people don't starve to death if the economy hits a hard enough down turn. It really has little to do with autism. I think autistics that are socially liberal are for the same reason anyone else is. To me, market anarchism/market liberalism is the absolute extreme of the right, and complete collectivization and common ownership of all things is the absolutist extreme of the left.

Also, I think autistics understand what its like to be marginalized, so they're more likely to empathize with other marginalized groups, such as gays and the poor. I could takethe argument the other way though. I could say autistics are marginalized by a large enough chunk of society that they're likely to develop a contempt for most people, becoming rampant individualist, neo-liberal types. I've seen a lot of liberals as well as conservatives. I think you'd have to do a study showing that liberals make up a higher percentage of autistics than the rest of the population if you really wanted to debate this. In my view, it depends on what beliefs you were raised with and what you've encountered in your life. I don't see it as a genetic thing.

I have actually found that being liberal doesn't equate to being tolerant. I have been extensively harassed by people whom are liberal online, I have beentreated poorly by some conservatives or moderates but never to the level I have seen from the left.

I've been called a racist for not agreeing with President Obama and not trusting the man. (Which I don't trust him because he comes from Chicago Politics and is friends with a Domestic Terrorist and was in the church of a man whom said, "G-d d*** America!" for 20 years). I don't care what color his skin color is.

I've been called a bunch of things for being against gay marriage.

Etc.

I don't know if there is two definitions of Liberal running around or what.

The older meaning of the world "liberal" meant be pro-liberty and anti-state. Herbert Spencer is a good example of liberal in the old meaning. "Liberal" these days means pro-state, pro-government and pro centrally commanded and funded Welfare and Regulation. This is the modern face of fascism. Forget about right arms stuck out in front or goose stepping. It is about redistribution of income with most of the transported funds sticking to the hands of the government burocrats.

ruveyn

Well, I free ball sometimes, so I guess it might be in the jeans.

I have no trouble believing that there is a "liberal gene". I wouldn't say that your political, philosophical, or religious idealogies are predetermined as much as they give you a predisposition. For instance, my mother is a Protestant, but my maternal grandmother is Catholic. Despite going to Catholic elementary school, middle school, high school, and college, my mother eventually became a Protestant. We still say that my mother was just born Protestant. On the other hand, my grandmother, I am convinced to this day, was born Catholic. What we mean by that isn't that either person was predetermined to adopt a certain , but that the temperament they were born with caused them to be drawn to the beliefs they would ultimately adopt.

I can't see a huge difference between Catholicism and Protestantism (but I guess it depends on which denomination you're referring to). It would be a greater leap to atheism, agnosticism, Buddhism, or Islam, for example.

Protestant boys are less likely to be buggered by their pastors than Catholic boys are to be buggered by their priests. That is a difference.


ruveyn