Episode I:So you're a liberal....(lengthy post warning :)

[entanglement]

You have a sense of justice, you have the ability to empathize and you understand the importance of individual freedoms. You find CEOs making 1000 times a worker's wage unjust, have a vague idea about the malevolent prison-industrial complex, resent eroding civil liberties, appreciate that protecting the rights of women and minorities is not just 'political correctness', oppose the war, and agree that the poor are not to blame for their plight. You consider yourself politically aware and keep yourself well informed, and are quite proud of it.

You, naturally, look for solutions to the vexing problems that confront all of us. Reform is a fundamental axiom of your belief system. I'll vote for X over Y, you say, because at least X is progressive on SOME matters. X may well be a staunch corporatist, but at least he supports GLBT rights as opposed to Y, who's a total Neanderthal!

You are fully convinced that electing the 'right people' is all there is to it. The system's ok, it's the crooks running it who cause problems, you say. You look with vague amusement upon those who demand deeper changes OUTSIDE the existing framework. Sometimes you're mildly annoyed.

You (mostly) do the right thing, but your liberalism consists of disconnected progressive ideas lacking a sound theoretical basis. For example, you know that workers struggled for many years before being afforded basic rights, and attribute it to the trade unions. And then you learn that some of the denouncements made against suspected 'reds' to the HUAC actually came from union leaders. Wait! You say, aren't the unions the good guys? You either dismiss the source of information or you're confused about how to react to such news.

On some matters, you take a stance that you believe is the correct one in 'American interests'. For example you can't help feeling annoyed at 'Mexicans', 'Chinese', 'Arabs' from time to time for one reason or another (no matter if you don't articulate such annoyances). If it's Mexican immigrants vs American workers, you know which side you'll take. You bristle at the suggestion that a united effort of both groups is the way to go about it. You buy 'Us Vs Them' second hand, unlike right-wingers who buy (or manufacture it ;) ) it spanking new, but you eventually end up buying it. Of course, unlike those Repukes, you don't have an iota of racism in your body.

You look at disparate elements of liberalism and wonder why there is so much bickering. You find some glitches, some inconsistencies here and there. Are white, middle-class female college faculty REALLY oppressed, in the true sense of the word? If you call their condition 'oppression', what word do you use to describe the condition of the poor Cuban woman toiling in the fields of Florida? "It's a mistake to compare different forms of oppression because it invariably ends up minimizing one or the other", you say to yourself and leave it at that.

(to be continued, in Episode II)

[jarnocan]

1. hmmmm... WorldcantWait.net for episode 2 :) I'm getting a kick

out of this so far. OK so maybe being a bit liberal won't quite do the trick.