Like Jane Goodall
I've written many times in this space about the wierd juxtaposition one gets, being a conservative in a liberal place like St. Paul.
But what if you really dove into the heart of the left?
Doug from Bogus Gold, a former anthropology major and (like me) college actor, is doing exactly that.
It started when an old friend asked him to do a play he'd written...:
...a voice from my past (well not that far past - we've gotten together on occasion for dinner or drinks) beckons me back to that world I left behind long ago.
Of course I accepted.
And suddenly I found myself in the midst of a strange breed of creature I normally only hear about from a safe distance: Liberals. And I don't mean the namby-pamby, Katie-Couric-loving, PTA member type. These are the hard-core Bush-is-a Nazi, Michael-Moore-is-a-prophet, gay-marriage-is-the-new-civil-rights-movement sort.
We rehearse in the WAY liberal Uptown area of Minneapolis. It has been a blast.
His observations - the first in a series:
1. These people are still living in September 10th. If not in fact, in spirit, they believe events like September 11th only happen when evil men like Bush hold office. They really, truly, and deeply have no notion that this is threatening to us as a nation. To them it's just an extension of partisan politics. The idea that a foreign power would hold both the noble liberals and evil conservatives of our country in equal contempt is not remotely considered.
2. These are not bad people. They're not die-hard socialists. They're not blind to multi-cultural foolishness. They simply have very little exposure to any credible worldview other than the liberal one. And any counter vision would challenge SO much of their self-image and their social relationships, that the bar for alternative vision is staggeringly high.
More reports as I get more deeply entrenched.
I've noticed this; for all the left's nattering about the lack of intellectual sophistication of the stereotypical conservative, it's not like most of the left has dug into their own beliefs more than skin-deep.
We'll be watching for more of Doug's observations.
Posted by Mitch at
July 12, 2004 07:59 AM
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The thing is he's wrong. I know these people, and their friends. There are amongst them hard core socialists and communists as well. But there is a spectrum, and the conservatives in this sub-culture keep their heads down.
Posted by: billhedrick at July 12, 2004 11:28 AMI hope I can say this without being abusive to liberals, but I really think it's true. They're not (necessarily) stupid, but they are (in many cases) parochial. Our media make it possible for them to go days and weeks without once hearing a serious opinion that differs from their own in any essential way. Thus they get intellectually flabby. They do their sparring against straw men.
Meanwhile conservatives are bombarded 24/7 by liberal messages. We have to hear them. We can't help it. That forces us to exercise our intellectual muscles.
I heard a caller abuse Michael Medved for "intellectual violence" the other day. What he meant, I think, was that Medved was trying to force him to think, an activity he feels entitled to avoid.
Posted by: Lars Walker at July 12, 2004 04:22 PM