Why are some liberals so condescending toward Trump supporters? Do they really feel they are superior?
They can’t believe anyone voted for someone who has spouted so much hate speech, who has so few coherent ideas, and whose tendencies seem too patently autocratic.It’s not about liberals feeling “superior”: it’s about us being morally aghast that you guys got behind a demi-man who called Mexicans “rapists” in his campaign announcement, has degraded women, attacked anyone who dares criticize him, waged a systematic war on the very free press whose constant attention to him probably factored in his victory, attacked a Gold Star family and compared his “sacrifices” as real-estate billionaire to those of the young and dead Muslim-American soldier Humayun Khan, who besmirched John McCain’s status as a war hero — when was Trump ever in Vietnam?, who wants to create a registry for Muslims (much as Hitler did for Jews — bad precedent), who has the zealous support of the KKK, who cozied up to Putin (whose government interfered in the election — in the country whose security the president is supposed to ensure), who has been nominating plutocrats and alt-right loons to very lofty and powerful positions, who promises to deport millions and break up families, to “build a Wall and make Mexico pay for it” (good luck), who will lead us into trade wars and likely encourage fiscal policy that will lead to another huge financial meltdown, calls climate change a hoax propagated by China (and therefore embraces destructive industries and deregulation, and has no agenda to help mitigate the first anthropogenic extinction in our planet’s history), etc., etc., etc.We are disappointed to think we live in a country in which our fellow citizens think that these things are presidential, that they befit the leader of the free world. We are horrified to think that America elected its own image, and that image is this. The man’s affronts to common decency and infantile vulnerability to any provocation should have disqualified him in the minds of all decent and sane people.So what the fuck happened? I am no great fan of Hillary’s. I don’t think Washington is functioning properly. But electing this wholly selfish, power-hungry golem to our highest office was not a wise alternative.It’s not so much about superiority. The feeling is “This is America in the twenty-first century! How could you?”
Why do Greeks support Golden Dawn?
In many countries there has been a rise in the ultra right and hard left since the global financial crisis. Part of this is an expression of a wider protest vote at the dominant parties that are seen to have lead nations in to this current situation.Furthermore Greece has a particular problem with immigrants, and has had this long before the Syrian crisis. Non-White immigrants aren't well integrated is my impression. Especially as Greece is not a particularly diverse nation already, with some conservative people who believe that to be Greek you have to be Orthodox Christian and mostly genetically Greek. Even native Greek Muslims are not well accepted by some segments of Greece.GD tells people about their problems, and blames people, then tells these people that they cab solve the problem if they just follow them blindly. They also use bullying tactics and show their power, even if politically they are impotent.As others have said GD is just a vocal minority and they make interesting news for journalists.
US liberals actually seem right wing to me. There must be a reason for why they'd be that way if it's true. What are the reasons for that?
It can be because the term “left-wing” is often thought to be related to defending the interests of the weak and the oppressed against the dominant class, and the US (as a bureaucratic institution, not so much as the people in the US) are a dominant class when we think about the world’s big picture, whose interests are protected by its big parties, including the Democrats.Democrats may look and even actually be “progressive” from the border in, but it’s pretty obvious that they aren’t less imperialists than their republican counterparts (as a matter of fact, they often seem more aligned with the warmongering establishment than the GOP).So, there is always going to be this contradiction. Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, may be extremely conservative with its own citizens, but more often than not he acts in a fashion which makes it look like he’s protecting small states from the US’s imperialist policies. That’s why, specially on not-so-developed parts of the world, like Latin America, left-wing publications are likely to not take a firm position against Putin, regardless of Russia’s treatment toward homosexuals.PS.: Obviously, the dualism between “left-wing protecting the oppressed” and “right-wing protecting the oppressors” is nonsensical. Most ideologies want what their believers think that would be better for most people. But this perception counts to what makes people see the Democrats as a right-wing party, and that is why I quoted it here.
What is the liberal fascination with promoting Muslims and Islam?
There's not so much “fascination” or “promotion” as concern and defense. Muslims, 1.6 billion of them, are being deemed, en bloc, a priori hatemongers and possible terrorists by bigoted and fearful people. Trump’s election has catalyzed an uptick in hate crimes.When an infinitesimal minority of a huge group of people has induced the uninformed to mistreat, misjudge, and persecute countless innocent people — when an untrue caricature obscures the importance of judging individuals by the content of their character — it is (or should be) a liberal imperative to seek an understanding of the facts and to protect the civil rights of individuals.Had more people worked harder to debunk Nazi pseudoscience and combat antisemitism in Germany, things might have worked out better. That some of Hitler's victims were saved has everything to do with the kind of fellow-feeling and care that you, a “pretty far left guy,” find incomprehensible when applied to Muslims.I find your incomprehension incomprehensible, OP. I have no special fondness for Islam — or for any Abrahamic religion. I'm an atheist. But I am concerned with how its practitioners behave, and not with policing thought. Aren't you?
Benedict Arnold Confusion?
I think I know what book you are taking about. I just read it. It is "Eye of the Eagle" by Robert E. Wilczak. http://www.rwilczak.com It is a great book. Wilczak did his work and researched Benedict Arnold extensively. If you look in the back of the book there are 100 pages of facts. If you are still confused, send him an email.
What can we leftists do to redeem ourselves after a Sanders supporter committed the 2017 Congressional baseball shooting?
They are not going to believe you no matter what you say. Why bother defending yourself?More importantly, don't fall for their political booby traps. Redemption is a personal act. If you personally did nothing wrong, what is there to redeem? Guilt by association is not an American ideal. If it were, far-right conservatives would find themselves somewhere in the seventh circle of Dante’s Inferno.However, if you need a rhetorical device to help you psychologically, ask these people how they redeemed themselves after the Oklahoma City bombing. Those thugs thought they were striking a blow for liberty. Very right wing.Remember, these are the type of people who wear tee shirts proclaiming that the tree of liberty needs to be watered by the blood of patriots. Maybe that's what this guy in DC thought he was doing. Maybe in his mind he was employing “Second Amendment solutions”.You could try that approach. But don't be surprised if they miss the irony amidst the sarcasm.
Which do you think is the most biased? Quora, Reddit, or Wikipedia?
Wikipedia by far.Reddit allows pretty much anything, although they have been known to censor from time to time.Reddit CEO admits to secretly editing comments from Trump supportersQuora allows most questions, but readily censors (“collapses”) some answers that don’t reflect a liberal perspective. The user base is primarily left-wing as well, so that instills inherent bias that Quora can’t (nor should) control.Wikipedia, on the other hand, has always sort of tilted left, but since Donald Trump announced his candidacy almost two years ago, it has gone completely off the deep end hard-left. There is a team working frantically around the clock adding any mere whiff of controversy or impropriety by the Trump administration to political articles, while simultaneously scrubbing all things deemed to reflect poorly from articles related to Democrats or liberal ideology. One of the most glaring examples of this that first brought this phenomenon to my attention was the complete absence of anything related to the Clinton Foundation FBI investigation/impropriety/WikiLeaks revelations from Hillary’s 2016 campaign article. When I brought this to the attention of the other editors, I was immediately attacked as being partisan and “tendentious,” and was threatened with numerous types of penalties if I didn’t keep quiet about it.Most of the editors supported the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, and so will readily win any “requests for consensus” votes on adding, deleting, and modifying material. If you protest or point out the liberal bias, you will be banned from editing the topic or perhaps even blocked from the website altogether. Who determines whether or not this happens? A group of administrators who supported the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, who were chosen for administratorship by other administrators who also supported the candidacy of Hillary Clinton. It’s really sad to see what’s become of what used to be a relatively balanced source of information.