In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue

[vovat]

Happy Columbus Day! I remember back in elementary school when we used to get this day off, and then they suddenly stopped giving it to us. What's with that?




Where do you fall on the liberal - conservative political spectrum? (United States)
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I'm not too surprised by this result. I'm not sure I agree with the description, though. I mean, there are certainly intolerant left-wingers out there. Some people who might qualify include those who put fake bumper stickers on Hummers and Escalades that say something like, "THIS VEHICLE WASTES GAS" or whatever, and the hippies who harass the cashiers at McDonald's for working for a company that destroys the rain forest (someone mentioned such people on revme's journal about a week ago). I don't do these things, though. Overall, it's hard to be tolerant of someone who makes a point of being intolerant to others, but I don't deny them the right to express their views.

I think the first question in the quiz was on the death penalty, and I guess I'm not necessarily on the far left here, because I think it should be allowed in some cases. I think you should be as sure as possible that the person actually did it before killing them, though. I don't support making people suffer on death row, either. Also, like Al Franken, I can see both sides of the affirmative action issue, although I said I was in favor of it. I guess that the Left generally allows for more differing opinions, though, which is why they call us "liberals" (using "liberal" in the dictionary sense of "tolerant and broad-minded," not the Republican sense of "godless monsters who want to kill babies, institute a 100% income tax, and destroy the fabric of society").

Maybe my next entry will deal with something other than politics. Don't count on it, though. {g}

Comments

[revme.livejournal.com]

Heh, I got the same thing you did, but if I went back and changed my vote from "Homosexuality is totally normal and the Bible-Thumpers should shut up!" to "Homosexuality is Genetic, and there's no shame in it", I went all the way down to "Liberal". Which is kinda funny and a little weird, considering I tend to think both are correct, I just tend to get more fed up with the Fundies Constantly Shrieking About Stupid Things. So... uh, yeah. Sorta wiggy, and I'm not sure I really buy the description either.

Also, IIRC, it was zarriq who was talking about the McDonald's RegisterJockey Harrassment, although I go off on that all the time, too, heh. As does, I would assume, pretty much anyone with sense who's read Lasn's book.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I guess people on the Far Left use stronger language, or something. The thing is, I guess it's fine for fundamentalists to believe that homosexuality is unnatural and all gays are going to Hell, as long as they don't try to enforce their religious beliefs and practices on people who don't follow their religion. I think they're ignorant, but they have the right to believe whatever they want. The bigger problem arises when we get people like Bush, who want to enforce their religious beliefs on the issue upon the whole country. I mean, when's the last time you saw an argument against gay marriage or homosexuality in general that WASN'T religiously motivated?

[revme.livejournal.com]

Yeah -- that's kind of how I am. I am fine with people believing what they want, just a) Shut up about it, b) Don't try to convert me to believing what you do[1] and c) Stop trying to enforce your beliefs with wacky laws and/or constitutional amendments.

And... uh, _is_ there a gay-marriage argument that's _not_ religiously motivated? I've been trying to figure out if there's actually a Good Reason To Be Against It. (Not that I'm, like, looking for some reason to back up my beliefs or anything, just that I honestly _cannot_ think of one, which makes me think that pretty much anyone who is against gay marriage is petty and/or stupid. A while ago, a PBS station's website had a thing where it would walk you through other sides of the issues -- I think it might have been KQED, but I can't remember for sure -- and, so I tried the gay marriage one, and basically all of them were "Well, some people believe this is wrong because their book says it is." And I was all "Well, fuck those people! No one's FORCING them, and they don't even have to like it, and, y'know, I'm so Open-Minded that if, say, if one of their FRIENDS is getting married and they're gay, well, I'm even fine if they Don't Go!" So, uh, yeah.)

[1] Discussions/debates are fine; Witnessing is not.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I've occasionally seen people who had religious reasons for opposing gay marriage quoting statistics that show that homosexuals are more likely to abuse children, cheat on their partners, etc. The thing is, even if these figures are correct, there's no evidence that there's actually a direct correlation between these things. Besides, why should the vast majority of homosexuals who DON'T do these things be punished for the actions of the small amount who do? I've been seeing this kind of double-spurious argument with alarming frequency as of late. Not only is it probably not true, but if it is, why does it matter? Besides, as I pointed out before, the people quoting these figures were religiously motivated in the first place, so they can't exactly be counted on to be objective on the issue.

[revme.livejournal.com]

Yeah -- and it seems to imply that straights don't have those problems, too, since after all, if I want to cheat on my spouse whom I'm beating, as long as she's a girl, it's A-OK! So... yeah. And I don't really buy those figures anyway, but, like you say, even if they are right, it doesn't really matter since there's no connection and it's not like it's part of the Gay Agenda (to reference something that these people probably think exist -- I don't know, I know a ton of gay people, and I've never gotten the impression that they're doing secret cabal meetings planning on ways to bring down society... but, I dunno, them queers are crafty!) So.. yeah. It's all very silly.

[countblastula.livejournal.com]

You must not bee *too* far left, since you wished us a happy Columbus day, unless you were joking.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Well, I have a habit of acknowledging holidays that I don't actually celebrate. I made such posts on Mardi Gras, Cinco de Mayo, and Canada Day, despite the fact that I am not Catholic, Mexican, or Canadian. So I wasn't saying, "Columbus is cool!" but rather, "It's Columbus Day, and I want the people reading this to have a happy day.

I honestly wasn't aware that the celebration of Columbus Day was a partisan issue, though. Care to explain?

[countblastula.livejournal.com]

Well, it's just that Columbus is seen as the symbol of all the murderous imperialism in the world and far left liberals tend to frown on that.

You've read People's History of the USA by Howard Zinn, have you not?

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I can definitely see that, although I'm sure there are people who better epitomize imperialism than Columbus.

And no, I haven't read that book.

[countblastula.livejournal.com]

>I can definitely see that, although I'm sure there are people who better epitomize imperialism than Columbus.

Yeah, but he's the most famous.

I highly recommend anything by Howard Zinn.

[jenhime.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that you can actually get Moderate on that quiz. I spent about 10 minutes trying to modify my answers to get Moderate and wasn't able to. I could jump from Liberal to Conservative, but never saw the middle. Has anyone been able to get Moderate?

[onib.livejournal.com]

It looks like it may only be possible by selecting "I don't care/I have no opinion" for every question.