Left vs Right vs Left vs Right vs Left vs Right vs Left.....

Post Reply New Topic

Passion and subjectivity aside, if you are Left or Right, what do you appreciate about the other side?
And if you are a moderate, what do you appreciate about both sides?

I often see one side name-calling the other, as if there is no virtue to be found.
Can we find virtue in our opposites? (without it being inverted condescension)

I'm a moderate who tends to lean towards the left socially, a bit toward the right fiscally.

I have a hard time appreciating reactionary viewpoints.

I could appreciate some conservative views which are not reactionary, and which take into account the dignity of human beings.

If someone just complains, complains, and complains, and offers no solution, I stop "listening" to that person really fast. That's the essence of being reactionary--merely "reacting," not being proactive.

There are some "liberal" views which are impractical--but I'm able to appreciate the intent involved in these views. My mind is oriented toward idealism--but some of it is impractical, despite the fact that I really "like" some of these "impractical" views.

These distinctions are irrelevant. When the singularity happens, we'll all be united, cowering on a pile of skulls while the nano robotic hive mind consumes everything we require to live to fuel its evolution to god hood.

Well said, kraftie.. I tend to think along similar lines.

Most people never really question the ethical principles and the version of history they have been taught – but they have good intentions, and sincerely believe that whatever position they're advocating would be for the best. There are people I like and admire both on the "left" and "right" even though I think they're quite wrong on some issues. Nothing could be more tiresome than the attitude that "if you don't agree with me on everything, you must be in league with Satan".

I draw the line, however, at the out-and-out totalitarians. When an adult advocates wholesale slaughter I can't say "oh, he means well." He doesn't, and his does not deserve to be treated as just another point of view.

The only thing that comes to mind is that, in the US at least, the mainstream right has the fortitude to at least own up to being right-wing. Because from where I sit (about a billion light years to the left of Marx) the mainstream "left" in the US is only about a hair to the left of the mainstream right.

Heh, that's my attitude towards statism, whether of the left or right variety. I hold equal contempt for the Republicans, Democrats, Conservatives, Labour, Socialists, Nationalists etc when their solutions involve the state. Such views don't deserve to be treated as a mere "difference of opinion". Now, if his or her opinion *didn't* involve forcing said opinion on everyone else...

I'm an Independent who is basically a Classical Liberal in most regards. I'm not left, right, or middle.

In general, the closest thing to a Classical Liberal is the Libertarian Party but I don't identify with them because of their absurd adoration for Ayn Rand. If they would approach their views through Classical Liberalism instead of Ayn Rand's nonsense, they would find themselves with similar views without Ayn Rand's morally bankrupt "philosophy" of greed and superman to whom laws do not apply.

That hive mind singularity sounds like a crappy dystopia. Unfortunately this might be happening. Makes me want to throw up.