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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Taro who wrote (218576)	2/10/2005 11:08:47 AM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1575120

re: Does that make me a liberal? Some would say yes. re: I was born being a compassionate and very forgiving person. Life really is too precious and worth being lived to have time to hate. I never had any left sympathies whatsoever. It's a not a black and white issue (emotion?). There are differing degree's of empathy. Some people feel empathy and guilt when they step on an ant, as an extreme example. I think the level of empathy is a defining personality trait between liberals and conservatives. I'm not saying that conservatives have no empathy. Are you a "bleeding heart" conservative? John

To: Taro who wrote (218576)	2/10/2005 1:02:52 PM
From: Tenchusatsu	Read Replies (6) \| Respond to of 1575120

Taro and JF, it's just as easy to be a liberal without any empathy: - Those who are getting more out of the welfare system than they are putting in can certainly be "liberal" without any empathy for anyone else, simply because they have themselves to worry about. They don't even have to show one bit of gratitude, especially if they feel so bitter about their circumstances that they think society owes them a favor. - Those who aren't getting any welfare benefits, but either can't afford to be generous and charitable or choose not to be, can certainly be "liberal" without any empathy. All they have to do is point to someone richer than themselves and say they have to pay their "fair share." - Of course, the morally depraved will obviously be liberal if they get something out of liberal social policies. A convicted felon would obviously support a lighter punishment for his or her crimes, while people who thrive in the sex industry (both the "suppliers" and the "customers") would obviously support efforts to get those pesky religious righties off of their backs. - Finally, there are those I'd call the "utopia architects." These are the people whose feelings about "the way things should be" tower above all other concerns, including common empathy for their fellow man. Usually, these people are not very charitable themselves, preferring to try and shape society and government into their view of an ideal world so that, in a sense, there would be no need for charity. Some extreme examples would be Stalin, Mao, Castro, and other leftist revolutionaries, but more modern day examples, IMO, would be George Soros, Ted Kennedy, and John Kerry. Of course, ideally liberalism and empathy should go hand-in-hand, but then again, so should conservatism and empathy. Taro, you're right in saying that liberals often act as if they have a monopoly on empathy and human compassion, which is one of the reasons why I am no longer a liberal. But for many, it would seem that liberalism is indeed the more compassionate of the two ideologies, simply because it seems to preach more works (through government or some other centralized authority) than conservatism does. Tenchusatsu