Which side of the fence are you on: Liberal or Conservative?(Image: 29450/Pixabay/CC0 1.0 )
Would you call yourself a “conservative” or a “liberal”? There’s a meme going around on Facebook that claims to compare the two. You’ve probably seen it in your Facebook feed, and maybe you’ve even shared it with your friends. It’s the one that takes the form of, “If a conservative…. If a liberal….” For each statement about conservatives, obviously there’s a complete opposite claimed about liberals.
Have you seen it? Were you the one to pass it on to all your Facebook friends and get a good laugh? How would you respond to a social media share that makes that kind of a comparison?
The Facebook meme makes some very stereotyped claims about “what a liberal would do” in each instance. It gives examples like gun ownership, religion, vegetarianism, TV censorship, and social benefits like universal health care. Basically, the claim is that all liberals try to shove their philosophy down everyone else’s throats. On the other hand, the meme claims that conservatives take a really easy-going, live and let live kind of approach to all of these topics.
Does that sound accurate to you?
The end of the meme suggests that all liberals basically have a pole permanently inserted in one of our orifices, and as a result we lack a sense of humour. The exact quote is, “If a conservative reads this, he’ll forward it so his friends can have a good laugh. A liberal will delete it because he’s ‘offended.’”
Well, I didn’t delete the meme or just pass it by without a response. I had started to reply on the thread where a friend had shared the meme. But that reply got really long, and I decided it was better to turn it into a post.
So that is how one (Canadian) liberal deals with such a meme.
I hesitate to self-identify as a “liberal” because in Canada that’s a specific political party that I sometimes do and sometimes don’t support. But I am definitely what an American would consider very liberal. Politically and ideologically, I am pretty far left of center. So I am going to accept the designation of “liberal” for the purposes of this discussion.
The meme begins by stating that if a conservative doesn’t like guns he won’t buy one. And if he’s a vegetarian, he just won’t eat meat. He won’t try to prevent others from owning guns or eating meat.
OK, I’ll accept that. I can’t think of any conservatives on either side of the border who would try to prevent anyone from owning a gun or eating meat – though many conservatives support a sugar tax on soda that has no proven benefit and creates the very “nanny state” even the meme claims to deplore. Isn’t that kind of the same thing?
As for me, I am a confirmed meat eater who strongly supports both responsible gun ownership and hunting. I also believe not only in background checks, but in safely storing firearms. That means disassembled, trigger locked, or locked up separately from your ammo. Here in Canada, that’s the law. And when people follow the law, we don’t see preschoolers shooting their parents from the back seat of the family truck!
Response to a popular Facebook meme. If you’ve enjoyed this discussion, please share! You can use this graphic to pin the post.
(Image created with stock elements from Canva)
Our Facebook friends tell us that conservatives who don’t care for religion or for what they hear on TV, they just move along. The meme then goes on to say that liberals try to remove all mentions of religion, and to silence anyone whose message they don’t like.
I can accept that the people who most often oppose the overlap between Church and State are liberals. But are liberals trying to shut down TV programs? And isn’t it still a violation of freedom of speech or freedom of religion when you pass laws that muzzle your neighbour? What about those laws that require medical doctors to tell falsehoods to women seeking an abortion? Or the ones that forbid teachers from speaking about homosexuality even if a student comes to the teacher for help, and even force teachers to actively condemn homosexuality as part of the curriculum? They surely weren’t promoted by liberals!
Look, I support your right to free speech, as long as you’re respectful and your message doesn’t violate anyone’s rights or put anyone in danger. I support your freedom of religion, and your personal choices about lifestyle. I personally cannot abide the vegans who think they’ve got the only right way to live, and who believe the rest of us have to be “educated” (read: “converted.”)
But I feel exactly the same way about people who try to force their religious values on all of society. Most liberals I know feel exactly the same way, and we’re pretty tired of conservatives trying to force their morality on all the rest of us. And based on the claims in the meme, if you’re a conservative you shouldn’t agree with it either!
Watch for the rest of this discussion, in which I will examine the judgments levelled against liberals when it comes to social benefits.
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Actually I was thinking that the Conservative's may not quite be as open minded or tolerant as a Liberal which is why that post is live. Just a little food for thought from someone who is definitely not a Conservative.
Lorelei, I tend to agree with you that many Conservatives are really not all that open-minded. Yes, I have met some rather fundamentalist Liberals who tended to push their personal political agenda on everyone they met. But in the main, the ones who attempt to legislate morality and aggressively push their religious or political agendas, tend to be Conservatives.
This may come of no surprise, I really have no clue what a conservative or a liberal is. (Hangs my head down in shame.)
@sandyks This is an overly simplistic explanation, but for Conservative think Republican. For Liberal, think Democrat.
I am the conservative voice, but I'm sure I don't speak for all conservatives. I am a Constitutional conservative in the United States. I am for preserving the Constitution with original intent -- not for letting judges find new rights that were never there and legislating from the bench. I am for fiscal responsibility, limited constitutional government, and free markets.
I believe in freedom of speech and freedom of association, but I believe violent demonstrations that hurt innocent bystanders are wrong. There is a difference between peaceful protests and riots and injuring people who have done nothing but exercise their right to hear someone speak. It is not the conservatives who are throwing rocks at women and the disabled who choose to attend Trump rallies. That behavior goes far beyond peaceful protest and free speech.
I believe in a limited role for government. The federal government was needed to defend the nation, issue currency, settle disputes between states, and a few other things enumerated in the Constitution. Education, welfare, and other social services were meant to be local -- close to the people who need services and adaptable to the needs of a state. I grew up in the 1950's before the government had its hands in everything and local school boards actually had some power. Now the federal government controls almost all education by giving and then threatening to withhold federal money when schools don't conform. Now federal and even international agendas, mostly pushed by progressives, have almost bankrupted the country and have produced a class of government dependents. I could go on, but I won't
I haven't seen the meme. If I have, I don't remember it. I see people as individuals who have beliefs and opinions that I may agree or disagree with. If I disagree, I try to have a discussion to see what is behind our disagreements. Most of the progressives I've actually tried to have a discussion with only want to throw out talking points and make accusations. This is not persuasive. We will never understand each other if we don't really listen to each other.
Barb,
First of all, thanks so much for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful response! And I heartily agree with you that if we can't actually enter into reasoned discourse, we aren't ever going to understand one another. The whole insistence on talking points and accusations is what makes having those conversations so difficult.
I notice that your response seemed to focus a great deal on federal vs local government, and on the way the constitution in the US is interpreted. I probably don't appreciate the nuances of what you're saying there, as I'm not American and Canada is run very differently from the US. A good example is that here in Canada, we don't have a problem of federal interference in education. Interestingly, we still have many of the same problems our American neighbours face with respect to budget cuts, curriculum reform, and often even teaching to the test.
Another point that I found piqued my interest was your claim that most of the federal and international agendas were pushed by progressives. I believe that for the most part in Canada, those same agendas were pushed by Conservative governments.
i think I would agree with a free market too, if that market consisted mainly of small local businesses that dealt fairly with their employees and filed an honest tax return. The corporations that currently have a stranglehold on politics in both the US and Canada, tend to favour the Conservative approach and don't have much interest in progressives. I find that very telling, too.
Social media has become a plattform in which people seek to get approval and likes. They do anything to get these
Unfortunately, the internet has made it a lot easier for people to share their opinions with just the click of a button. The same narrow-minded attitudes were always a problem. But now it's easier to thrust them upon more people.
I refuse to do the " dirt slinging" with all the parties. Here in the USA we have to right to vote for whoever we want.
@andriaperry I'm not really sure what you mean by your comment. Of course, you have the right to vote your conscience - as do most people in the developed world. This is simply a discussion of whether a Facebook meme is a fair depiction of people who would self-identify as Liberals.
@ruby3881 I agree with you. People are just too busy worrying about what the next person is doing and trashing them that they pay no attention to what they themselves are doing. I am not a political person and I do not associate with Republicans or Democrats but for whoever is going to do the best for the most. I hate election years since that is all you hear about and the mud slinging they do to make themselves look better. This year is like a 3 ring circus and it just makes the US look more ridiculous than ever. I do not think it will ever change though. I cannot wait to read the next post.
@morgoodie I agree: this year really is the worst. And the US looks like a pack of monkeys at the zoo, because of these foolish politicians. Maybe I'm too much of an optimist about some things, but I believe it could change if the members of the public took it upon themselves to show politicians this is not an acceptable way to run a political campaign.
good points. sometimes Liberals do get a bad name. I shared this post too via Twitter
@oksummer I think we are altogether too inclined to play the "us and them" game. We sling mud and make wild generalizations or assumptions but, when we talk one-on-one, we tend to discover that we're not so very different from one another. Liberal or Conservative, each of us potentially has good points to share. If we can't respect that, we lose.
I haven't seen my Facebook for a long time. If I am going to choose between conservative and liberal. I will go to liberal way of thinking since it promotes equality to the people's rights and benefits in terms of social welfare is concern. As you had mentioned, conservative has its limitations in providing things to the people.
@shavkat I tend to lean left for exactly the same reasons as you. I am concerned with social welfare and social justice, which I find greatly lacking in most right-wing approaches to governance.