Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
I believe reasonable people can disagree about important things. The overriding aim of a liberal society is to find a way for people who disagree about important things to get along so our society and public institutions can continue to function without tearing itself to pieces. The habit of treating people who disagree with you as enemies and then attributing the worst motives to them - which is how political discourse typically goes online - is illiberal. Which is why I often take issue with it.
I’ve said I approve of the blanket rezoning of Calgary. But I don’t think most of the people who don’t want to see their street rezoned are contemptible, stupid, or malicious. Showing some empathy for them isn’t conservative - it’s liberal.
And again, that outlook is not rare out in the real world. Lots and lots of voters are moderates. They’re just less likely to engage in political discourse online than highly partisan types.
https://www.deseret.com/2022/1/14/22...s-republicans/ |
I'd argue you are just as guilty of ascribing the worst motives to those of us who have the audacity to be upset about the actual monsters in the legislature who are actively working to tear down our institutions. But hey, if you think it's more important to continue to point out that we can be mildly hyperbolic and caustic in our criticism/venting, you do you. I'll continue to be mildly hyperbolic and caustic in my criticism/venting of the ####heads in the Leg for attacking vulnerable people and making my province a worse place to live. (But really I just do it for the internet points)
If it makes you feel better we can just specify that the reasoning for resisting rezoning is contemptible and stupid from otherwise intelligent and good-hearted people, just like the reasoning for voting UCP or for being irrationally over-critical of the NDP compared to their "conservative" counterparts is contemptible and stupid.
Some of us have made that distinction at times. But it really shouldn't be necessary...we can all be grownups and acknowledge that when I call a UCP voter a morally bankrupt loser I am not actually attacking the core of their integrity in their everyday life - I just think they were just a morally bankrupt loser when they put the X mark beside the morally bankrupt monster's name (and also every time they cowardly turn a blind-eye to the latest example of idiocy from the clowns they elected).