In My Opinion
By L.N.P.

"Liberal Tolerance"

I used to consider myself a liberal-a liberal democrat in fact. To me, liberal meant being a champion of the under-privileged (unlike those right wing conservatives) and supporting all the “liberal causes:” feminism, the right to choose; no censorship of anything; protecting the environment; being tolerant of everyone, regardless of race, class, or creed. It meant I was anti-war, anti-establishment and a lot smarter than anyone who wasn't a liberal.

Except, the funny thing is, when I look at all those statements now I realize I never really WAS a liberal. I never championed anyone who was underprivileged until two years ago. The only thing I liked about feminism was equal pay for equal work. I thought I was “pro-choice” but I didn't know anything about the developmental stages of a fetus; I was just going with the flow and being politically correct. Protecting the environment meant not littering, which I was careful to avoid. As far as being against censorship; I guess I still am, although I now see the difference between censorship and the endorsement, proliferation and glorification of total crap, especially when children are involved.

I thought I was tolerant of everyone, but that was only an intellectual construct. I had no black friends, no friends from the wrong side of the tracks, no Christian or Muslim friends; I didn't travel in those particular circles. I didn't even have the requisite gay friend that almost every liberal has. My world was pretty homogenous, made up of lots of people exactly like me. And anti-establishment? Well, I never marched for anything, or protested anything, and I always paid my taxes and did what I was told, so how exactly was I anti-establishment? Yeah, I didn't much care for the Vietnam War, but I wasn't a protestor. Unless you count enjoying “Apocalypse Now” and “The Deerhunter.”

About the only thing that allowed me to identify myself as a liberal was that I was sure I was far more intelligent than almost everyone else–but especially those “hayseeds” from the vast mid-west and those “rednecks” from the south. That, and that alone, gave me the inalienable right to call Reagan an idiot, or Bush a dummy and laugh mockingly along with the rest of my “exactly the same as me” friends.

I suppose the real reason I was a liberal was because that was the “cool” thing to be. After all, I grew up in New York and wound up in L.A. , so everyone I knew was a liberal. All the hot rock stars and the most famous movie stars were screaming liberals, so it stood to reason that in order to be cool, you had to be like them. You had to say you supported artistic freedom, even if an artist used my tax dollars to paint Jesus in urine. You had to embrace rap, even if the lyrics were so offensive they made you cringe, because to do otherwise would be racist. And, you had to hate any president named Bush, even if you didn't know squat about him.

Well, guess what? I'm not at all proud of that personal profile from my past, but it has provided me with some amazing insights. Nothing's changed! I mean, I'VE changed, but liberals haven't. They still think they're smarter than anyone else. It's almost laughable, because I see right through them. They think they're smarter, and cooler and way more sophisticated than everyone else. They still hate Bush, just because it's the “in” thing to do, and the majority of them have never fed a poor person, or marched for anything, or cared passionately about any cause, or really practiced conservation, or have any friends who aren't just like them. (Except their gay friends; they need to find a bunch of gay friends to really be considered cool.)

Most of them are so politically correct that they'd far prefer to defend anything happening in any terrorist-filled country than to defend the United States , because they believe the U.S. is responsible for it all anyway. In fact, many of today's liberal can't seem to find anything good to say about this country, where they have the freedom to say whatever they want. If you ask the average liberal whom they respect more: Dick Cheney or Fidel Castro, most would say Castro without skipping a beat. It's just cooler. If you ask the average liberal why they don't like the President's social security plan, they can't tell you, but it doesn't matter. If Bush proposed it; they have to hate it.

Which is strange, because as a rule liberals will fight to defend everything : partial birth abortions, obscenity masquerading as music, pornography pretending to sell hamburgers, the beliefs of Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Kabbalah followers, scientologists, wikkas, witches, spiritualists, atheists, psychics, flag-burners, gangstas, slanderers, liars, hate-mongers and Bush-bashers. Their language is the language of “the people,” with enough “motherf------s” and women described as b----es” and “ho's” (where ARE all those feminists now?) to insure that no one thinks of them as anything but the voice of the people. After all, it's ALL good, right? Certainly a liberal would never be judgmental.

The crazy thing about most of today's liberals, aside from their control of the media, Hollywood , The New York Times and their disdain for anyone not from New York or California , is that they actually believe that. And, they believe that they're discriminated against, even though they can say whatever they want, in front of whomever they want, whenever they want to. Which makes it all the more difficult to understand the most absurd thing about most liberals: how incredibly INTOLERANT they are. That's right, their intolerance is what makes them so absurd.

With their all-encompassing love and non-judgmental attitudes, you'd think liberals would be able fit their fellow human beings–those who live in the “red” states, those who admire their president and honor their country, those who pray to the God of the Bible–into their hugely tolerant embrace. But that's just a wee bit too liberal.

Still, since I abhor gross generalizations, I feel compelled to add that the above is definitely just that: a generalization to make a point about “most” liberals. Certainly there are liberals who are thoughtful, well-informed and who love their country. And, there are conservatives who are fanatical, believing that no liberal is a good American. Unfortunately it's extremism–on either side–that has the potential to destroy the very thing that makes this country great.

Send me your opinions at LParis@netlistings.com