some people just fit the
stereotype
Well, I guess there's where I prefer to part ways from you. I think stereotypes are always counterproductive of honest dialogue. I try never to use them. Labeling certain IDEAS as liberal or conservative is harmless and may (I won't go further than that) occasionally be helpful. But I have never found labeling PEOPLE to be helpful. People are just too complex and, IMO, too important to pretend that we can stick a label on them and think we have said anything meaningful.
BTW, this goes beyond just the terms liberal and conservative and includes labels you use pretty freely, like religious right, bigot, etc. I assume from your frequent use of them that it makes you feel better to use labels like that, or that you think you are saying something meaningful. To me, you just demonstrate that aren't interested in those people as people, and aren't interested in trying to understand their ideas, but feel that if you can label them with a derogatory name you can dismiss them as having any human value or having anything worth actually listening to and thinking about. Which, of course, as I have noted before, is why there is so much talking past and namecalling on this thread and so little substantive dialogue.
P.S. -- it also includes such names as "Klan boy" just posted not by you but by another self-defined liberal on this thread. Makes my point for me. |
