the trendiness of being liberal

[TMA_1]

Notice that now days many people arent liberal or progressive for deep purposes, but simply because it is the thing to be, it is trendy and cool. It is like during the 60s when the boomers started growing more and more liberal. not as many people were as shallow then, more innocent and naive, but still there were those who were liberal simply because it fit the trends.

now days you can talk to so many kids and adults who are liberal, and they are so because it is what to be. For instance I saw an episode of Oprah (yes I occasionally watch her show, I like it at times).  They had Madonna on the show, and they were talking about the famous "kiss". All the crowd was filled with soccer moms, obviously upper middle class and usually the liberal types. when they showed the kiss oprah kinda was weirded by it but hte crowd just cheered. Even oprah saw how shallow her crowd was and said to madonna,

"They are just cheering to impress you and look hip".

It is like people want to be noticed and want to be liked, as always throughout history. It never has been so political it seems (might be wrong there) and it saddens me to see the progressive cause become tainted by those who capitalize it simply to fit the trends.

what do you guys think?

[Caid Ivik]

Being "trendy" is a weird phenomenon, when we think that no one fits the fashion perfection, and it is us, who define it. Very weird. I would say it is all about ideals, which we try to create, but when we face them, we wouldn't truly want to be some of them.

[TMA_1]

yes, very true.

[Acriku]

Is this the little boy who got picked on at school by all the cool guys coming out?

[Edric O]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that the USA was the great bastion of conservativism - especially in recent years. So how is it "trendy" to be a liberal in the most conservative country in the world? ???

[Wolf]

It is a complicated situation, Edric. In many ways, America is a conservative country, but to label it as such would be a mistake. America has an undercurrent of conservatism coming from fierce traditionalism, habits that are hard to shake -- as well as prominent leaders in the nation.

In America, being a rebel has always been "cool". I have noticed that being liberal is something that is "cool" to be -- if you say you are conservative, even if it is for intellectual reasons, people will call you a bigot, a bloodthirsy warhawk, or a hate-monger, even if you are none of these things. Being a liberal in America is a way to escape "blame". People blame the conservative establishment for a good deal of things, and from this, there has come the impression that to be "all right" you must also be liberal.

In America, especially among the youth, being sensational, being independent, being new and rebellious, are things that are cool. No one wants to be "blinded like sheep by the corrupt and hateful facist empire that rules us" (even though this statement is truly invalid when looked at factually). Yet, there is that impression that, to be truly free, you must be liberal. From this, there comes the idea that liberalism is cool. However, in America, the older generation of people are, for the most part, conservative, and they rule the nation. This is where we get the liberal/conservative mix. America is an odd hybrid, of conservative leadership with conservative values battling it out with undercurrents of liberal leadership and liberal trendiness.

[TMA_1]

exactly wolfwiz

but edric, you actually could have shown me a bias I have towards america, and a lack of view towards the world condition as a whole.

This isnt just an "american" thing and I was wrong for making it sound this way.

America is infatuated though with pop culture, that is why I am getting partially towards america. Pop culture now days tends to be very liberal, and generally these traits rub off on people who wish to follow those who are "enlightened".

I am not a conservitive in the usual case. My ideals might seem conservitive to others and if that is how people want to catagorize me that is okay. I am not cheering for conservitivism (bad word) either, but this shouldnt even be a point in my argument. I will make a thing about the problem with conservitive politics later. Right now I am dealing with the liberal slant.

As I was saying the liberal bias is infused in pop culture, and this creates a huge rift. You create those who wish to follow the trend, and those who fly back into conservitism and hate  the change. There are always acceptions, but this is the general case.

Now days like at college, if you were for the war you were a fool, following your government like the jingoist you supposedly are. If you promoted sentiments of the sort you were looked down by others.

I never promoted the war, and disagreed with it, but I had friends who were for it, and just because they were, they were seen as hicks with absolutely no intelligence, and were not "with it". It seems this liberal mindset focuses on every single tolerance except for those who dont wish to agree with their ideas in a whole.

I just dont like perfectly intelligent people being displayed as idiots for their political and spiritual views. And lately in america and other countries especially like in england and france, you cannot hold to these views without being made fun of or looked down upon. It isnt trendy to hold to conservitive or even at times moderate ideals.

It is sad that most liberals arent true idealists who are fully knowledgable in their opinions and views, but just spout out these views because it is the hip thing to do. Dont agree with me? Think I am overgeneralizing? Then why is it that a majority of liberals that I have talked to never seem to fully understand the politics and meaning behind their views?

and that isnt just me, as around, it is true in a large portion.

I am not attacking those who honestly understand and fight for opinions that they think are right, on either side of the ideological spectrum. I am talking about the people who are so shallow as to blindly follow political trends.

[Edric O]

On the other side of the coin, you have the likes of Fox News, which are spouting conservative propaganda in industrial quantities, and whose intolerance and blind devotion to conservative dogma has reached legendary proportions.

Both sides have their fair share of close-minded fools who follow their respective ideology without really understanding it. You just happened to meet more liberals of this sort - while I have met more conservatives of this sort. Now, I don't live in the USA, but I spend a lot of time on the internet, and I must say that I know a lot of American conservatives who have no true understanding of liberalism (let alone things like socialism and communism), but they have a blind, almost fanatical devotion to conservativism, and they refuse to listen to anything or anyone who doesn't agree with them.

On the other hand, I've also met many rational, reasonable conservatives with open minds and very good debate skills.

Each side has its rotten apples.

[Mahdi]

I'd like to point out that the clapping had nothing to do with the personal, political or moral beliefs of the audience.  You see, there are these lights above the audeince that those of us who are watching from home cannot see.  They say "Applause" and whenever the producer flips a switch, they light up, and the audience applauds.

If they don't applaud, filming is stopped, whoever who doesn't applaud is thrown out of the building, someone is brought in to replace them, the producer flips the switch, and they film it over again.

[Gobalopper]

You guys get Fox News in Romania? Sheesh we can't even get it in Canada.

[Mahdi]

You guys get Fox News in Romania? Sheesh we can't even get it in Canada.

"can't"?  That one word says so much....

[Edric O]

Of course we don't get Fox News here (and thank God for that). But I have my sources... ;)

[Egeides]

I think that those who get conclusions without really understanding the meaning simply got a whole scheme in their head built up, with each element supporting the others, so there is alot of circular reasoning. But anyway, all these schemes are representative of basic strongholds of their minds, which are simple but from where the rest of the structures comes from:

Someone is Christian, therefore he tends to believe that what seems to go against some elements of Christianity is bad globally.

Someone is for freedom, therefore he tends to...

Someone sees religions institutions as wicked, therefore he approches whattever says something against religion's problems.

And so on; it's about core beliefs, and it doesn't make people necessarily wrong in their inner beliefs and their source, even if they will extrapolate too much and misevaluate. Just like we got alot of people rejecting religion in a block here, because of the problems that came from the Catholic Church.

[Wolf]

Exactly right, Edric. I suppose the world has a view of America being conservative -- well, being on the inside, I don't benefit from that point of view. Every basket has its rotten apples, and thank you for neither condemning nor praising either side as a whole; it would be irrational to do so.

[Acriku]

The people outside of America think Americans are conservative, and the people inside think they are liberal. Interesting.

[TMA_1]

... sorry acriku but duh? what a concept...hehe jk man ;)

Edric, you just happen to be on the liberal side, and this makes you a beacon to ultra concervitives. THey flock to you just like a million girls flock to the boy bands out there.hehe

By your posts you make it sound like there is an equal amount of vocal liberals to concervitives? the most vocal crowd is always he one that is most fanatical. This is why you have weirdos that bomb abortion centers, and you have people and groups that are just as weird. A good example is PETA, which is such an emotional entity, that it gets kinda creepy with their views.

It just so happens edric, that those who are in hollywood are generally very liberal. Those who are liberal dont always show it, but a few idiots use their power to taint things. From using soft money like it is tissue, to using the tv and movies for their activist goals.

This is what I am talking about! America is largely on the conservitive scale, but the vocal groups are generally liberals. It just so happens that the people who are famous in america generally tend to be liberal, and sometimes vocal about it. This leads to all sorts of things that are stapled into pop culture and influence kids.

I usually hate the argument that says the media and whatnot is leading to america's downfall, and I dont believe it. I do believe though that the media is indeed influencial, and there are some kids who have no clue and idealize those in hollywood. These kids if popular enforce these trends in their schools, and those who dont follow the trends generally are considared uncool.

Generally the popular crowds where I live are composed of those who follow the trends of the media, this creates the problem I am talking aobut.

[nemafakei]

Media itself is not the problem, so much as the poor quality of much of it. The problem is the fact that in trying to cater for a market wherein the gratest audience is essentially the lowest common denominator, that demographic group is attracted more and more to poor media, and as time goes by, the market reacts to the range of products offered... an audience spoilt by sensationalist media is often unimpressed by intelligent but prudent media.

[TMA_1]

hmm, I am not just getting at news media and other info/source media, but at all entertainment. I agree with you totally on what you are saying, and in a way it agrees with my opinion in how I see it, could be wrong though, but that the news and resource media is turning into an entertainment media. see what I mean?

[nemafakei]

"I am not just getting at news media and other info/source media, but at all entertainment"

Nor was I...

Not only is the news seeking an entertainment market, but the entertainment is becoming more tacky to accommodate the lowest common denominator.