Are you Evil? Conservatives think so.

[kpominville]

Are you Evil? Conservatives think so.

The most basic and fundamental difference between Conservative and Liberal philosophy goes back to the debate between Sir Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine, and whether it is mankind's nature to be good or evil.

As explained by the conservative Burke in his book, "On the French Revolution", conservative philosophy stems from a belief that man is, by nature, evil and therefore must be strictly controlled and harshly punished. Those are the only functions of government in the conservative mind, which is why to this day they believe the only proper functions of government are police and military. Any good that comes from mankind, they believe, is the exception, not the norm and it is only the result of strict discipline stemming from a fear of punishment that allowed a rare individual to overcome their evil nature.

Liberals believe, as explained by our founding father Thomas Paine in "The Rights of Man", that man's nature is essentially good and that evils done by man are the exception, not the norm. They believe that man's primary drivers are self-fulfillment and the desire to take care of their immediate family or tribe.

What this means is that when faced with the same scenario, different people will see different things based on their expectations of mankind. For example, when confronted with unemployment, liberals first think of the good, hard working people who are being screwed out of their living for slightly higher corporate profits and they create programs to help those people such as unemployment insurance. Liberals believe people are good and therefore they want to work and they desire the self-respect and fulfillment that comes from an honest day's labor. They also believe in a fair, living wage for an honest day's work.

Conservatives' first reaction, on the other hand, is to blame the unemployed for being lazy, (or worse, unionized) and thus deserving of being unemployed. For example, the Republican senate candidate in Arizona, Sharon Angle, called the unemployed "spoiled" and "lazy". When conservatives see a program designed to help people, such as unemployment insurance, their first thought is that someone might abuse that system and thus we should not do it. If you have ever talked to a conservative about unemployment or welfare in general you have inevitably heard some variant of the same argument, "Why should I help those lazy drug dealers?" or "Why should my money go to help worthless bums who don't want to work?". Because conservatives believe man is essentially evil, they believe that most other people do not want to work and they would rather sit around all day doing nothing.

Read More.

[NC_Nurse]

1. B-bbbbut, it's part of my charm!

;-)

[OrwellwasRight]

2. I am.

The bottom line is that we know this. You have convincingly and clearly restated the original version of the debate that Lakoff much later re-stated as Dems=Caring Mommy and Repubs=Strict Daddy. The problem is that these are deeply ingrained and embedded assumptions that guide how people live their lives -- and I don't think you can overcome them with logic. So I am not sure if we'll ever get the people who think everyone besides themselves is undeserving to ever vote for us.

[Curmudgeoness]

8. I am not sure that anyone expects to get the fanatics to vote for us.

But there are so many people in the middle ground, and they are the ones to focus on. If we try to focus on the far rights, we will doom ourselves because that is worse than tilting at windmills.

[OrwellwasRight]

12. You're right.

But I think there are a lot of folks in the middle who have no clear political allegiance but who certainly have the "strict daddy" world view. They might get sick of Republican lies about Iraq or their failed economic policy and therefore vote for us once in a while, but they won't ever truly buy our "we're all in this together" approach and they'll eventually get tired of our "wasteful spending" on unemployment, children, old people, etc.

We must work on making more people adopt our world view in the first place. It's starts with the children. I think we should find poor neighborhoods in the south and give the children scholarships to liberal summer camps. It's sounds devious, but I am sure it could work . . . :-)

[Curmudgeoness]

19. Devious, yes. Would it work, probably. Brainwashing early

has always been the way to get recruits to your way of thinking. I'm not saying this in a bad way. Although I prefer to set policies and spend money on things that help people instead of wars or bridges to nowhere or bailouts for the ultra-wealthy. I think if we show people that their lives will be better, conditions in their communities improve, their taxes do not have to be raised to fund it all, then they will embrace our philosophy. They are just afraid and are watching things fall apart.

[Curmudgeoness]

3. Very interesting perspective. I never looked at "why"

the conservatives are so opposed to anything that helps people.

[RandomThoughts]

4. It is best to think of 'the other group'

As opposite, not the evil group. Since who makes that decision.

And really what they are saying is someone is not in their group, and saying their group is good, therefore they say that other person is evil.


It requires a self righteous proclamation of being good to call someone evil. Although we all do it from time to time, although it is best to try and talk about actions you disagree with, not characterizing people with loaded labels without understanding why someone says that.


I think many people are opposite of me. I will let something else decide what is good or evil, and will try, even with my faults, to be a bit better by how I think of it.

The darkness hates the light because it can not see the light, nor itself as dark.

To say someone is evil is not being able to see your own faults also.


I figure most people are mostly good.

There are some cases where it is easy to see when someone is bad, and most agree on those things. For instance most agree that torture would be bad, so most do not do it. But if you asked someone that is a sadist, they would say the people trying to stop him from torturing are bad.

Saying something or someone is evil, is also a claim of yourself being good, and sometimes the purpose.

[fascisthunter]

5. Well these "conservatives" are mentally brainwashed fanatics

mentally unfit to judge the world around them.

[TK421]

6. Those three 6's on the back of my head are really three 9's...so my old pastor told me

I got nothing to worry about

[Confusious]

7. Sharon angle is from nevada, nor arizona. nt

[Raine]

9. I don't care what THEY think

I care more that my own side thinks that liberals are "fucking retards" and "need drug testing", that is what really hurts. :-(

[kpominville]

11. Those are Conserva-Dems

The scourge of American jobs.

[Fla_Democrat]

10. Both sides thinks the other is

Both sides thinks the other is evil/stupid. It's a lot easier to accuse your opponent of character flaws, than admit they may have a valid view point. Hell, if they were not evil or stupid, they would see things the 'right' way, like 'I' do. :smoke:

[kpominville]

14. I do not think Conservatives are evil or stupid

Just misguided and giving into rage and hatred.

[Fla_Democrat]

22. Interesting, so

Dick Cheney, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, George W. Bush are just misguided? Nice take on things...... :smoke:

[kpominville]

29. George W Bush especially

He is too stupid to be genuinely evil.

[LatteLibertine]

13. Bleh

conservative policies cause; poor public health, sickness and death.

They don't blink and the destruction of lives. I'd call that harmful and sociopathic.

[proud patriot]

15. I have the Metallica song "Am I Evil" running through my head now

"My mother was a witch she was burnt alive"

[rocktivity]

16. Am I evil when it come to conservatives?

Yes, I f**cking am.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[DirkGently]

17. More like the rich are good and the poor are evil.

[Drale]

18. Its really

The Jedi vs Sith contrast
Both beleave they are bring peace the difference is Jedi are good, and want to protect while Sith are evil and want to control. As you can probably guess Democrats are the Jedi and the Republicans are the Sith.

[liberal N proud]

20. Conservatives make anyone who disagrees with them evil in their mind

[Mister Ed]

21. Andy Rooney summed it up nicely in one of his commentaries many years ago.

Comparing liberals and conservatives, he said that liberals believe people are innately good, but somehow need government to make them behave well. Conservatives, he said, believe that people are essentially evil, but that if you just keep government off their backs, they'll always do the right thing.

;)

[Iggo]

23. Am I Evil?

Yes I Am.

[Generic Brad]

24. I have known Conservatives who have accused me of being evil because I hold liberal views

The one that still has me shaking my head six years later is when a Catholic relative told me I was going to burn forever in hell because I voted for the Catholic candidate who they claimed was a secret baby killer.

[Shallah Kali]

25. some conservatives think liberals are literally evil - demonically possessed and eager to spread 'em

Lou Engle (Sen. Sam brownback's former housemate): Obama Unleashing Demons With His Father's Day Declaration
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/engle-obama-unleashing-demons-his-fathers-day-declaration

Perhaps the most telling moment occurs when Engle begins to rail against President Obama for recognizing families with "two fathers" on Father's Day, saying that such proclimations unleash demons from the spirit realm on our world and then stops and asks if that can be erased because he doesn't want it ending up on YouTube:

“Our president two days ago came out and said ‘We bless the fathers of families that have two fathers’! This is a decree, a blessing, called this month, LGBT pride month. When decrees come from high places, it actually opens doors! It is a key! It unlocks the spiritual realm for the fueling of the demonization of culture! Is this being taped?”

It seems the Engle is becoming aware of just how radical his views appear and is taking steps to censor himself and his record. Of course, that was just one of the crazy things Engle said during the evening, so he has a long, long way to go.

Read the entire thing http://www.truthwinsout.org/blog/2010/06/9408/

GOP Senator Sam Brownback’s Roommate Lou Engle Supports Eliminationist Antigay Bill in Uganda
http://blogs.alternet.org/.../gop-senator-brownbacks-roomate-lou-engle-supports-eliminationist-antigay-bill


Palin's Churches, Thomas Muthee, Witchcraft and The Third Wave
by Bruce Wilson plus
http://vimeo.com/1679097?pg=embed&sec=1679097

Fighting Demons, Raising the Dead, Taking Over the World
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/politics/1273/

[AnnieBW]

26. Only on my good days

:evilgrin:

[lumberjack_jeff]

27. They're both right.

Liberals, I got yer back.

Conservatives? not so much. The least trustworthy people in the world are those who are least willing to extend trust. Bike missing? Look between the bars on the garage windows of the neighbor with the McCain bumper sticker.

[Rochester]

28. I am liberal partly because I believe people are basically evil

The typical conservative/libertarian wants me to be totally economically free - free to compete on level ground (that is, if they don't try to rig the system in favor of their own interests instead of mine, and few of them are ethical enough to resist) against those who are more efficient, more educated, hungrier or more desperate, or all of the above. They and their friends would eat my lunch given half a chance. No, thank you! I consider that an evil ideology, not much removed from savages living in the jungle. I don't like that kind of freedom, which is why I want my union and my government to step in and tightly regiment the economy so that I get mine (and my fellow liberals get theirs), or we all go down together. The kind of freedoms I do want are the freedom to speak as I like, without possibility of repercussions of any kind (from government or any private organization or citizen), freedom from intrusive surveillance (privacy), freedom from marauding power-hungry cops and malicious prosecution, freedom from competition, freedom from harassment of any kind from my neighbors, both literal and figurative, even if they make up an overwhelming majority, freedom of religion and freedom from religion, etc.

[ThomThom]

30. then how could they believe the "free market system" would do the

right thing. Sounds like our evil nature would end up lying, stealing, and conning people just like what is happening on the right. If we are all evil than regulation is required.

[kctim]

31. It has nothing to do with good vs. evil

The most basic and fundamental difference between conservative and liberal philosophy is individual rights vs. society wants.