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Showing posts with label Liberal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liberal. Show all posts
Thursday, February 02, 2012
It's good to be a liberal
In the last decade I have found myself at odds with some "liberals" (Arabs who are outraged by the murder of Iraqis only when Americans commit the murder, for example) but in the end I am a proud liberal. In American history, liberals have moved America forward, made America a better country. It's good to be a liberal!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Any true progressives & conservatives on TV?
Michael Lind blames the lack of real debate on cable TV:
'Whereas progressives and conservatives — and libertarians and democratic socialists, to say nothing of fascists and Islamists — analyze politics and public policy from the standpoint of a more or less consistent view of the world, Democratists and Republicanists are P.R. agents for one of the two parties. The job of a Democratist is to defend whatever the Democratic Party did today, whether or not it is compatible with progressive principles. The job of a Republicanist is to defend whatever the Republican Party did today, whether or not it is compatible with conservative principles. The partisan spinmeisters who use television to raise their profiles can be rewarded with jobs as presidential speechwriters or White House press secretaries, or with bestselling books and TV shows of their own.
'Twas not always thus. Let's travel back in time to the 1950s and 1960s, when there were only three networks. In both Congress and the executive branch, there was a seemingly monolithic bipartisan establishment. In Congress, this took the form of the dominant "conservative coalition" of moderate Republicans and conservative Southern Democrats (like today's Blue Dogs, only more prehistoric). The executive branch of both parties, along with the prestige press, was socially more upscale than Congress, staffed by people who prepped at the same Northeastern schools, went to the same Ivy League universities, wore the same horn-rimmed glasses, and thought the same complacently establishmentarian thoughts. If you doubt me, watch old black-and-white "Meet the Press" episodes, where the Horn-Rimmed People drone on to each other about current affairs in vaguely British, "Long Island lockjaw" accents.
William F. Buckley Jr.'s movement conservatives, the libertarian movement, and the New Left all rebelled in different ways against the sclerotic bipartisan establishment. In the 1950s and 1960s their dissent was pretty much confined to small-circulation magazines like National Review and Dissent. The real breakthrough was Buckley's "Firing Line" program on PBS, followed by the appearance on Sunday television of George Will. Buckley and Will both looked and sounded like Horn-Rimmed People, but their thinking broke with the postwar consensus. The old networks soon balanced them with overtly liberal commentators — Jane Alexander vs. James Kilpatrick. Gore Vidal debated Norman Mailer on "The Dick Cavett Show." Genuine intellectuals and authors occasionally got on Johnny Carson's "Tonight" show. In recent years, Bill Moyers has kept this kind of intelligent programming alive in an increasingly hostile media environment.'
'Whereas progressives and conservatives — and libertarians and democratic socialists, to say nothing of fascists and Islamists — analyze politics and public policy from the standpoint of a more or less consistent view of the world, Democratists and Republicanists are P.R. agents for one of the two parties. The job of a Democratist is to defend whatever the Democratic Party did today, whether or not it is compatible with progressive principles. The job of a Republicanist is to defend whatever the Republican Party did today, whether or not it is compatible with conservative principles. The partisan spinmeisters who use television to raise their profiles can be rewarded with jobs as presidential speechwriters or White House press secretaries, or with bestselling books and TV shows of their own.
'Twas not always thus. Let's travel back in time to the 1950s and 1960s, when there were only three networks. In both Congress and the executive branch, there was a seemingly monolithic bipartisan establishment. In Congress, this took the form of the dominant "conservative coalition" of moderate Republicans and conservative Southern Democrats (like today's Blue Dogs, only more prehistoric). The executive branch of both parties, along with the prestige press, was socially more upscale than Congress, staffed by people who prepped at the same Northeastern schools, went to the same Ivy League universities, wore the same horn-rimmed glasses, and thought the same complacently establishmentarian thoughts. If you doubt me, watch old black-and-white "Meet the Press" episodes, where the Horn-Rimmed People drone on to each other about current affairs in vaguely British, "Long Island lockjaw" accents.
William F. Buckley Jr.'s movement conservatives, the libertarian movement, and the New Left all rebelled in different ways against the sclerotic bipartisan establishment. In the 1950s and 1960s their dissent was pretty much confined to small-circulation magazines like National Review and Dissent. The real breakthrough was Buckley's "Firing Line" program on PBS, followed by the appearance on Sunday television of George Will. Buckley and Will both looked and sounded like Horn-Rimmed People, but their thinking broke with the postwar consensus. The old networks soon balanced them with overtly liberal commentators — Jane Alexander vs. James Kilpatrick. Gore Vidal debated Norman Mailer on "The Dick Cavett Show." Genuine intellectuals and authors occasionally got on Johnny Carson's "Tonight" show. In recent years, Bill Moyers has kept this kind of intelligent programming alive in an increasingly hostile media environment.'
Thursday, February 12, 2009
I'm a Liberal
Today a self-proclaimed "left-wing" Lebanese Australian claimed that I am right wing. I am not right wing. I'm quite liberal, actually. I'm pro choice, secular, on occasion I drink beer and wine, I've inhaled, and I've voted for the Democratic candidate in every US Presidential election since I started voting. In college I was Vice President of the Arab Students Club, and I pretty much single handedly brought Paul Findley to speak at our campus. We also brought Jack Shaheen to speak on campus. I debated the pro-Israel students a few times. I don't know how many hundreds of hours I spent on the Yahoo message boards telling people about the history of Israeli terrorism and how the Palestinians have been screwed.
To call me "right wing" is ridiculous. I'm a liberal who loathes terrorism. I'm a liberal who was born in Iraq and hates Saddamists and the sectarian Wahhabi cultists who've caused so much death and destruction in Iraq. There are many of us.
I'm a liberal who sympathizes with Israeli victims of terrorism, and maybe this sympathy has been enhanced by the incredible terrorism in Iraq in the last five years. Maybe I became less "pro-Palestinian" after I saw so many Palestinians on the blogosphere supporting Saddam, and after I learned about the Gazans who supported Zarqawi. I'm sure in both cases it was a minority of Palestinians. I still support Palestine's right to a contiguous independent state. I still believe that Palestinians who were expelled from their homes must be compensated and given the choice to return to their homes. I'm still a liberal.
I'm a liberal who is angered by the Jordanian judicial system, which gives light sentences to men who commit honor killings.
I'm a liberal who was horrified by 9/11 and is embarrassed by Arabs who believe it was an "inside job".
I believe strongly that girls and women should not be forced to wear hijab. I voted for Obama. I support gay rights and gay people's right to marriage. I believe all nations must work together to combat global warming, and I think America should take the lead.
I'm not right wing. I'm not left wing either. I'm a liberal.
To call me "right wing" is ridiculous. I'm a liberal who loathes terrorism. I'm a liberal who was born in Iraq and hates Saddamists and the sectarian Wahhabi cultists who've caused so much death and destruction in Iraq. There are many of us.
I'm a liberal who sympathizes with Israeli victims of terrorism, and maybe this sympathy has been enhanced by the incredible terrorism in Iraq in the last five years. Maybe I became less "pro-Palestinian" after I saw so many Palestinians on the blogosphere supporting Saddam, and after I learned about the Gazans who supported Zarqawi. I'm sure in both cases it was a minority of Palestinians. I still support Palestine's right to a contiguous independent state. I still believe that Palestinians who were expelled from their homes must be compensated and given the choice to return to their homes. I'm still a liberal.
I'm a liberal who is angered by the Jordanian judicial system, which gives light sentences to men who commit honor killings.
I'm a liberal who was horrified by 9/11 and is embarrassed by Arabs who believe it was an "inside job".
I believe strongly that girls and women should not be forced to wear hijab. I voted for Obama. I support gay rights and gay people's right to marriage. I believe all nations must work together to combat global warming, and I think America should take the lead.
I'm not right wing. I'm not left wing either. I'm a liberal.
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