Wednesday, December 19, 2007

A cry for intelligent political discussion.

My cousin and flatmate "A" will protest hotly I am sure, but do most people (not including "A"!!) who talk about being "liberal", or speak of it in positive terms, actually know what it means? I think the term is now the nouveau-cool term to be labelled with. If you want to impress people, you say you are liberal. Rather than liberalism as understood in a North American sense, or in the more traditional English sense, liberalism today - for many third rate cafe politicans - holds a different meaning. For these people, liberalism holds a new, fluffy and warm connotation - the McDonalds of modern day politics which still leaves you hungry no matter how much you eat and isn't very good for you.

Saying I'm a liberal is now taken by some as a defense mechanism which tells the other person "I am "safe" in my one size fit's all political view - accept me, I'm "normal" like you."

Neutered and apolitical, these people are the natural product of the extensive dumbing down of political discourse. More aggressive in defending their ignorance you will not meet...

3 comments:

sasa said...

It's a political tag for non-politicos. And what is this obsession with self-definition. Tell me what you believe not who you are. (Not directed at you!!)

Maysaloon said...

Exactly Sasa. I've become very interested recently in how devoid of any actual meaning or context most of the political positions taken by people in general are. This includes many bloggers I've come across as well. The very idea that 'everything is relative' is taken as the conclusion of people who are too lazy or frightened to hold any meaningful political position. Debating with them, to say the least, is like trying to catch a plastic bag on a windy day.

:-P

nadia said...

heh, in my circles the word is thrown out as an accusation, usually prefaced by the word "white." of course the person using the insult is also always a white priveleged college kid, it's funny how that works.