Joe Doakes from Como Park writes in regard to a comment thread the other day about my issues with Apple maps (with emphasis added)…:

Sanity posted this comment to a prior post on SITD:

1. Sanity on October 2, 2012 at 9:26 pm said:

“. . . I don’t have a choice about who to buy electricity or water from. Those are regulated utilities because they have a monopoly. I do, however have the choice of buying an iPhone versus Samsung vs not buying a smart phone at all. Mitch chose to buy the Apple product, knowing that he is supporting a pro-gay rights company. I find that interesting.”

For crying out loud, how long does it take Sanity to do his shopping?

Let’s see, Fiber One or Fiber Plus? Hmmm, how to decide? Price? Fiber content? Taste?

No, that’s all irrelevant. How do their company executives feel about homosexuals – that’s the important thing! Fiber One is made by General Mills, which opposes the marriage amendment, meaning General Mills is Pro Gay. Okay, Fiber One it is.

Now, Land O’Lakes milk or Roundy’s?

Honestly, do people live like that? How can they stand to think that way?

Joe’s right – I mean, if a cell phone manufacturer advertised itself as “ambivalent about gay rights”, it’d be at least irrelevant to my purchasing decision (well behind “do the maps work?”), and most likely detrimental (I mean, not only is it unseemly, but marketing via social wedges is off-puttingly cynical).

But yes, Joe, people most definitely do live like that.   And not just commenter “Sanity” (who is, I suspect, one of the “Penigma” hive).  In fact, just about everyone is like that in one way or another.

I’m conservative.  As a conservative, poitics aren’t the be-all and end-all of my life; it’s a hobby, like playing guitar or blogging.  But my religious faith?  That is important.  It plays into the major, and most of the minor, decisions in my life.  For example, in 12 years of being single a second time, I haven’t dated an atheist – or even anyone who’s not some variety of Christian.  In something as vital as “a potential life partner”,. some sort of agreement on the basic nature and meaning of life is fairly vital.

As re the company that makes my cell phone?  Not so much.  As long as they don’t trade slaves or donate too promiscuously to Democrat and anti-liberty causes (as the company that used to own Pepsi, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell did for many years with their support for The Brady Organization – until a boycott from people like me got them to reconsider), I don’t really care.

For liberals, on the other hand?  It’s a stereotype that politics are more important than religion for liberals – but stereotypes become stereotypes for a reason.  In a dozen years on the dating market (more or less enthusiastically) I’ve never had a conversation with a self-identified liberalette go south over my religion, my taste in music or my choice of cell phone.  But I have had three or four send me emails oozing horror when they discovered I was a conservative.  “I could never date one of…you“, they say.  Prodded, a few have replied to the effect of “because I think having some agreement on the basic nature and meaning of life is fairly vital”.

So even if all you have to go by is stereotype (as is the case with the commenter in question) and assume I oppose “gay rights” – I don’t, and have likely done more against anti-gay bigotry than most liberals anyway – it betrays one of the great aspects of the left-right culture clash; for conservatives, politics is a necessary evil, a chore you do for the greater good, like cleaning the septic tank, so you can get to what matters.

For liberals, politics and its attendant optics and messaging and symbology – let’s call it “liturgy” – are the point.

The commenter in question needs to remember that.

Also learn basic logic.

This entry was posted by by Mitch Berg on Thursday, October 4th, 2012 at 12:15 pm and is filed under Conservatism, PC / "Woke" Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.