"Liberals" are currently the ultimate lie. I was, and am still accused, of being liberal. Liberal, since I'm old enough to have been around when the start of the movement really got going, was originally a term applied to socialists, etc.
True liberalism, in the early 60's implied a tolerance to listen, and learn, from all points of view. It also clearly stated that "liberals" were listening to all input, and value it logically. In other words, liberal meant what it means in the dictionary.
Conservative was someone that was fixed in their ways, and would not listen, much less change.
I was in Bezerkely as a jr. high school student, and summers as a high school student, from 65-72. My mother loved the art school at UCB, and each year we would move from conservative-racist areas inland, to Bezerkly for the summer.
I was, and for that matter, still am, VERY liberal, believing in trying new ideas, new concepts, etc. and looking at the past established status quo, vs. the ideals we believed in. I was, and still am, against Korea, and Vietnam, and any other conflict where we were stupid enough to try and fight 4000 miles away, in a country that borders on 2 billion chinese, who want the same thing we did in Cuba, a buffer zone.
Not to mention that the country, Vietnam, had been through 20-100 years of war, and they were very good at it.
That said, as I grew in the area, somethings became really evident.
These 'Liberals" would not listen to others ideas when they conflicted with their own, and despite all logical arguments, nothing stopped their dogmatism. Nor did they adhere to their alleged liberalism, willing to know, and befriend, other races.
Race was a classic, since I have ALWAYS been anti-racism. Probably since
my mother firmly believed that all people were created equal, under God, and even though I had little religious training, at the time, we did function
on the concept that all were individuals, and would be judged on their merits. This was not the case inland, for either blacks, or whites.
I remember in 8th grade, after growing up in a mixed racial situation, playing basketball in Pittsburg, CA. A black guy wanted to play, and since, for a long time, my friends, and teamates had been black, and I respected your game, not your color, I had no problem. However, the guys in Pittsburg, Italian, and other European groups, and banned together, because , unlike Berkeley, they did not allow others to push them around, and, during that period, certain black gang elements took advantage of the situations to dominate, and intmidate, other races. That was not the case in Pittsburg.
In other words, the white backlash to people abusing the concepts of equality, to gain advantage, had already started.
From the liberalism of the time, came a resentment that started with abuse,
and it's grown in this area. Blacks, likewise, have become more racist then prior.
I was bowling in a league in Albany, and took a beautiful black teamate to Pleasant Hill's now defunct bowling alley. Despite the fact that I bowled with the best guy in the house, and knew the lady at the door quite well, the girl was treated like shit by the local kids that night, and all I could do was aplogize for being such an idiot, taking her there. This, in 1996, long after I thought we had fought, and won the war against racism, an entire
new generation of racist have either come from parents, or, from being discriminated against by government. When you use the Devils tools, you end up with the Devil's results, and that's exactly what has happened with affirmitive action.
Likewise, I was beaten over the head by three black guys, who didn't know me from adam, just because I had to kiss ass with the asshole white guy at the desk, because he was the manager, and at his whim, myself, and 3 other black teammates bowled for free, since we were in a league there.
The guy kicked them out, for being drunk, and, when he did it, I just happened to be at the desk, trying to get his sorry ass to turn our lanes back on. Since I was the only white guy in the place, besides the manager,
and they couldn't get him, they figured beat up the other white guy, when he went to the bathroom.
I did not know of them, and, I had never had any contact with any of them.
These are isolated examples, but, you can see a bit of a growth of conservative thought. I believe in treating others as you would like to be treated, and forgiving.
Given these situations, and others, robbery in particular comes to mind,
little by little, I quit justifying bad actions, by minorities, and started looking at the actions, and the people, and connecting them.
When you start doing this, you start getting called all kinds of names.
We get fed a lot of shit about people are all all right, it's just their actions that are bad. Bull.
I'm sure, as with animals, you get genetic defects. Children at 5 that feel no remorse, or feeling, about beating or killing others.
Actually, special education experience has allowed me to realize that all that justification garbage about poor kids is bull. The bottom line is, despite any disability, they have to know what is right, and what is wrong, and that their actions require consequences. The blame for actions have to go on the actor, not on society, but, the society must deal with all equally, or, the people given preference end up with harm in the long run.
All the liberal justification stuff did was create a sense of entitlement in our society.
Common to education is the adage that if you are faced with a difficult situation, tolerance is golden. Bull. The children KNOW what they are doing is wrong, it's just they get away with it, due to their being justified by others, and allowed to continue.
As long as this situation exists, the problems persist.
We have, since the early 60's tried all this liberal crap, and a lot of it just doesn't work. People are figuring it out, slowly but surely.
Somehow, those divorced from actually having to deal with their liberal ideals, those who are not in the trenches, dealing with Day treatment violent children, etc. come up with all these fluffy ideas about how it should be, and what will work. Those of us who do the work, have another ideal.
And here is the conflict. To really deal with the problems, you have to be continually able to test, reevaluate, and decide if what you did works, change, and go on.
Often I find, superiors are what I call facist-liberals. They have their own ideas, are unwilling to hear any contrary position, and will fire you, and try and cut your balls off, regardless if you have a valid point or not.
My favorite example of this kind of thinking is Bev Hansen, principal at Mt. Diablo High School. I was the head of the Black Student Union at the time, and the prior year, I had opened up the gym for the black kids to play, along with others that signed up, during lunch, and, at times, after school.
Considered a 'liberal educator" she refused to listen to both myself, and the local security and police, about the merits of my program, and denied us access to the gym, even though I had run it the prior year, with no problems.
This was the same woman who closed all bathrooms, except two, on a campus of 2500, because we had two bathrooms terrorized in response to her idiotic policies. I tried to present our position, but, this 'liberal' inacted a policy that attacked only one group, the BSU.
The biggest joke of the year was when a vice-principal asked me if I would sponsor, and open the gym for the volleyball team, mainly orientals, at lunch...
:evil:
This kind of facism, under the name of liberalism, is what creates a really
hatred for facists, using the liberal name, to further their own intolerance.
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