Black and White vs. Grey

[Steely_Dan]

On a side note...
I was at dinner on Saturday night when one of the dinner guests mentioned that RR had died. I was sort of taken back for a moment. I said something to the effect that I was sorry to hear that. Another guest said...so, you liked RR? I stated that I didn't. Many conservatives at the table were confused. They couldn't understand how I could say that it was a shame that he had died, yet I somehow didn't like the man. I stated that while I didn't agree with RR's politics and I felt that he had done many things that were not beneficial to our country, I still respected the fact that he was a man who had the courage of his convictions.

I'm often confused by (some) conservatives that see the world in such "black and white" terms. Some simply couldn't understand how I could respect someone that I so adamantly disagreed with. It's not unlike my statement to many conservatives that I fully supported Bush once he was in office. The point they miss is that I love my country more than I do my personal politics. I wanted Bush to do well even though I had great reservations about what he might do. Unfortunately, my worst fears were realized.

Generally speaking, I think that one of the things that separate conservatives from liberals is the fact that conservatives do tend to see the world in terms of "black and white." Things in the world are more "absolute" with little or no "grey." A good example is in the arena of morality. There is right and wrong and not much else...as seen in religion. This is not a criticism as much as it is an observation. Anyone else see this simple but (I think) obvious distinction.

-PLA