From: Robert SeebergerI realise that you have to be pretty gutsy to be a conservative on Brin-L and I hope everyone here appreciates that fact. We should be thankful that *our* conservatives do not fit any of the stereotypes of the kind that are common to ...Say.... USENET.
I'm sorry, but this is nonsense. It doesn't take "guts" to be conservative in a discussion forum like this. I mean, so someone yells at you - so what? It's just talk on either side. No one's going to suffer anything other than maybe a bit of embarrassment. Guts is living as a gay person in a homophobic world, for example, or trying to be a liberal in a country where conservatives have turned it into "the l-word" and question our very loyalty to our country. Maybe it's uncomfortable to be the only conservative here, but so what? That's not our fault - anyone can join this list, and if conservatives don't, well, tough. I think you'd find that fandom as a whole tends to be pretty liberal - are we supposed to go out and recruit some right-wingers to balance things out? I thought conservatives didn't believe in affirmative action.l
I disagree. While it's not on the same levels as the guts it would take to be an openly gay couple kissing in public in, say, some redneck part of the deep south, that doesn't discount it completely.
While we discuss a lot of politics here on Brin-l, that's only part of what we
talk about. Through these assorted discussions on varied topics, we form friendships
or at least have certain levels of mutual respect for each other here. Espousing
an unpopular point of view can (and occasionally has in the past) jeopardize
this friendship/respect between some people. If someone values their
acceptance in the group, it could be much easier to keep quiet than to speak
up. Most people don't come here purely to vent their political opinions, so political
outspokenness is not at all required or expected here. Further, we've already seen
some examples where heated disagreement on certain topics crossed over into
potential real world consequences. Most people here are not posting anonymously.
So yes, I think it does take some level of guts to speak up.
It seems that you are almost arguing that the demonization of liberals by some
conservatives somehow justifies treating conservatives on this list poorly or making
them feel unwelcome. I disagree with this and would prefer the people
of the list to feel open to expressing their points of view, regardless of their popularity.*
As an aside, I think that the demonization of the opposing party isn't something
restricted to just conservatives. I've known many liberals for whom "conservative" and
"republican" re the "c-word" and "r-word"; people who, if you told them you were conservative/republican, would immediately associate you with "KKK member" and
"Nazi". It's a two-way street.
Lastly, I don't think Robert was arguing for "affirmative action" to bring in conservatives;
you snipped a bit of Robert's post above the quoted part that gives it some context:
I really hope i have *not* made you feel unwelcome and if you do feel that way, I hope you will give some thought to what I am saying.
-bryon
* Disclaimer: "Within reason". I admit that there are probably certain extreme views
on certain topics that would cause me to want to make their supporters feel *very*
unwelcome here. I do not think anyone currently on the list comes anywhere near
that line.
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