So when our topic in class on friday turned to gay rights and the Laramie Project, we started talking about the discrimination that comes as a part of that from organizations like the Westboro Baptist Church. In class we were unanimous in that what that group does is wrong. But we live in a pretty liberal state. And so I started thinking about those two ends of the spectrum. Although most people, especially in our area, believe that what the extremist right wingers do is wrong, what about the extremist left wingers?
I want to make it clear before I go any further with this that I, personally define myself as liberal. And any offensive stand point I may take in this is purely for the sake of argument and is not intended to offend.
So. Let's say the WBC is the right most of the right wingers. Where are the left most of the left wingers? I honestly can't really think of a definite group. Sure I know people who are gay, people who are very pro gay rights and work towards them, feminists, and other types of people who are generally defined as left wingers. But I can't think of someone so on the left, that they offend a fair majority of the population because of their beliefs or actions.
I think there are two possible reasons for this:
1. That super liberals just plain old aren't offensive to a lot of people like the super conservatives are.
2. That they are offensive to SOME people, and we just can't see it because we live in a generally liberal environment.
So, where I'm going with this is, we see what the WBC does as morally wrong, and a enormous detriment and wound to society. Most people in the middle of the spectrum, with no opinion either way would probably agree. But what do those right wingers see? What if the thought of a man marrying a man makes them as sick as us thinking about a Marine's funeral being protested?
It's obviously not the same though. I can tell because I looked up for about 5 seconds and completely lost my argument. But maybe that's because I'm operating from a liberal bias. That's not a phrase you hear too often, is it? Liberal Bias.
But if conservative bias exists, why not liberal bias?
I would definatly agree with you on this one, that there should be such thing as liberal bias haha. When you told us in class about the people who come and protest against gays and protest at funerals of Marine's that made me very sick. How could anyone, no matter what your beliefs are, protest at someones funeral? That's just plain wrong.
ReplyDeleteNow this is an interesting point. This did occur to me a while back but I didn't delve into it further. I think part of the issue is that just like an evil person believes he is actually doing the right thing, both liberals and conservatives both believe that they are right. Now, is it even possible for you to come up with an argument against your own beliefs? I don't think it's easy, and you wouldn't agree with it anyway. The best you could possibly do is to guess what the other side's views are.
ReplyDeleteA lot of this comes from Nature vs. Nurture. You know, we have an instinctual moral compass but at the same time our values are drastically changed by the area we live in and around. I'm going to pray that these WBC people are operating off of their learned principles and not their own moral compass. That would be, at the least, extremely fudged up.
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