I don't know much, but I'm liking that it's all providing evidence for my observed pattern. Conservatives take a defensive response, holing up and saying "come and get me, you bastards." Liberals (OWS, Wisconsin state house, Eric Holder at Columbia) like to get in your face occupying a very public space when they protest. There is personality difference, not mere policy disagreement, at work here.
I thought this was going to be about the Frogs and the Ducks. Go Frogs!
ReplyDeleteSee, there you go, jumping to conclusions.
ReplyDeleteDonna's Frogs are not the jumping kind; they be the horned kind, and Stuck The Ducks.
ReplyDeleteTCU football has been interesting this year. First, the double overtime win over Baylor, then the triple overtime win over Oregon. Not to mention, the "nice guy" quarterback assaulting an officer...
ReplyDeleteAs for personality differences between liberals and conservatives, I've noticed that liberals tend to take comments "personally" by interpreting them as attacks or insults when there is at the very least another interpretation that is neutral, and often a stronger case for the directly opposite. There seems to also be a tendency to latch onto one aspect of a multi-faceted item as the only one with meaning because it's bright and shiny.
And yeah... my view is tainted because I deal regularly with a touchy progressive.
Are you sure this is a personality difference, and not a social difference?
ReplyDeleteI am reminded that the Wisconsin protesters tended to chant "SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!" at the people they were protesting. I think that is very meaningful, in that they believed that their opponents ought to have been ashamed, and more - that they really were ashamed. Because if you chant this at people who secretly agree their position is shameful, they'll tend to collapse, but they believe they are doing the right thing, they'll laugh at you, or roll their eyes, or just walk off puzzled.
In general, lefty positions are socially assumed to be the right ones, or at least to be ideal - even when acknowledging they're wrong, critics tend to say things like "they mean well", or "they're just too idealistic for this naughty world". Can you imagine anyone in a position of power saying that about the Bundy family, or the NRA, or [pick your righty]? Because I cannot.
Someone who is moved to protest will be open and aggressive about it... IF everything in their social environment teaches them that they are morally in the right and likely to be praised - maybe with some caveats, but basically approved-of. But if everything in their social environment teaches them that their causes are morally dubious at best and that no one in power will be sympathetic or receptive, their protests will be defensive in nature.
I don't think this is because conservatives and progressives are different; I think it's because they know they'll get very different responses.