Bleeding Heart Conservatives, and other such buzzwords.

[CaptainF]

I see a lot of people throwing typical verbal fecal matter at each other nowadays, and to me it is ammusing, partly due to the fact that it is largely reflective of the person throwing it.

Bleeding heart liberal, is a favorite crap grenade often hurled by conservatives in this day and age. It often implies that the victim of this verbal shrapnel is an emotional, whiny, wussy person who feels compelled to whine at perceived injustices excessively.

But often times, you look at the person with the grenade pin in his finger, and you see a bleeding heart conservative.

Now, i'm also not a fan of bleeding heart liberals, matter of fact, someone who is a bleeding heart person in general tends to annoy me excessively.

But I have seen many a bleeding heart conservative, one of whom was in a school class with me. This kid would feel compelled to start pro-logging, pro-bush, pro-Iraq war arguments in a science class. Some of the time he would, after class, accuse a teacher in the school of "hate speech", almost sobbing the words out of his mouth. I mean, if this kid isn't wound up, then i'm a chattering pair of teeth.

I guess my point is, that i'm just sick of politics in general, but it might just be that i'm too lazy to type out the real reason because I must leave the computer promptly.

In which case, you can expect an edit.

Me? I'm just a bleeding heart jerk who likes to nitpick other people's faults.

 

[s.c.dude]

finally a voice of reason

 

[Narz]

I thought conservatives wanted to make the other fellow's heart bleed?

 

[El_Machinae]

I must admit that I've never spoken to an emotional conservative who got weepy while complaining about politics.

 

[Rambuchan]

"Bleeding Heart Conservatives" are in abundance here. Those following the "War on Terror" in such a thoughtless, unquestioning, knee jerk fashion are the cases in point.

Their hearts are bleeding over some really limited and relatively small scale loses of life on their homesoil. They believe their people are worth more than anyone else, that there is a two or three tier value system to human life. They bleed for their own, higher tier humans, whilst growing cold to anyone else.

Their hearts bleed for a perceived lack of security for their (supposedly superior) people, whether they are really that much at danger or not. Their hearts and minds are highly susceptible to propaganda that reinforces that sense of insecurity and superiority, to serve its own power hungry, draconian, unprincipled ends.

Their reaction is to go out with the big guns and bust some heads, whilst also forgetting what it is that they are fighting for, the ability to plan ahead and more damningly - to realise consequences. They lose us the moral high ground and they create more of the enemy (intentionally and otherwise) - again because it suits their need to be viewed as an effective protector - and get voted back in by more thoughtless, unquestioning, knee jerkers.

These "bleeding hearts" embolden the enemy all the more and I would say are becoming more of a threat to our security than "the terrorists" ever were.

The phrase "Bleeding Heart Liberal" is just a smoke screen to all this and a case of cheap mudslinging to boot. Such a phrase distracts from the fact many Conservatives have become Frankenstein Monsters, with no resemblance to the core principles that supposedly identify them in opposition to "the terrorists".

But I wouldn't go round using such smoke screens and mudslinging myself. It's enough to know the above on its own.

 

[Narz]

"Bleeding Heart Conservatives" are in abundance here. Those following the "War on Terror" in such a thoughtless, unquestioning, knee jerk fashion are the cases in point.

I have noticed quite an abundance of "knee-jerk" reacations by conservations on these boards (and other ones). Of course I notice it among people on both sides (and even myself on occassion) but more so among conservatives. Seems to me like the sign of a guilty conscious.

The "bleeding heart" term reminds me of grade school when it was considered "cool" not to care and/or to be ruthless (to the point of foolishness).

I think people don't realize that by being adamant and reactionary (reacting to a claim without fully digesting it's meaning or considering it's merit) they push others away from their cause. When I first started posting here four years ago I thought of myself as much further to the right (though still not "conservative") than I am now. Of course I am still not a liberal, I consider myself independent. I resonate with some of the ideology of libertarianism and greeen-anarchism.

 

[IglooDame]

But I have seen many a bleeding heart conservative, one of whom was in a school class with me. This kid would feel compelled to start pro-logging, pro-bush, pro-Iraq war arguments in a science class. Some of the time he would, after class, accuse a teacher in the school of "hate speech", almost sobbing the words out of his mouth. I mean, if this kid isn't wound up, then i'm a chattering pair of teeth.

You've got your terms wrong - your classmate is a brain aneurysm conservative.

 

[PrinceOfLeigh]

I think one of the main problems on OT is the fact that posters either become intrenched within their views or simply box other posters off into 'conservative' or 'liberal'.

Calling someone a bleeding heart x is much easier than proving / disproving a point.

 

[pboily]

You've got your terms wrong - your classmate is a brain aneurysm conservative.

hehehe

 

[pboily]

Calling someone a bleeding heart x is much easier than proving / disproving a point.

If we only allow posters who can prove or disprove a point, we're not going to get many posts...

 

[PrinceOfLeigh]

If we only allow posters who can prove or disprove a point, we're not going to get many posts...

What's your point? Bloody bleeding heart <INSERT POLITICAL PERSUATION HERE>

 

[pboily]

And ... Scene! Thank you, thank you all. You're too kind. No, you're the greatest! Thank you, thank you....

======================

This concludes our evening of Internet Debate Theatre. Join us next week as we present Ad Hominem and You: Do You Have What it Takes?

Notice the attention to detail in the thread title...

 

[Rambuchan]

*offers canned applause as the credits and closing music roll*

 

[JoeM]

If the phrase 'Bleeding Heart Liberal' describes those wishy-washy middle-class namby-pambies who can't string a political strategy together without weeping into their hand-made-Tibetan-homeopathic-crystal-Free-Trade-fruit-flavoured-tea...then I'm going to start using it a lot more frequently.

 

[PrinceOfLeigh]

If the phrase 'Bleeding Heart Liberal' describes those wishy-washy middle-class namby-pambies who can't string a political strategy together without weeping into their hand-made-Tibetan-homeopathic-crystal-Free-Trade-fruit-flavoured-tea...then I'm going to start using it a lot more frequently.

You forgot to include "p***ing their pants in a warzone"

 

[Phlegmak]

But I have seen many a bleeding heart conservative, one of whom was in a school class with me. This kid would feel compelled to start pro-logging, pro-bush, pro-Iraq war arguments in a science class. Some of the time he would, after class, accuse a teacher in the school of "hate speech", almost sobbing the words out of his mouth. I mean, if this kid isn't wound up, then i'm a chattering pair of teeth.

Reminds me of Sean Hannity. He's trying to get schoolkids to record their teachers' conversations to expose the "leftist indoctrination." Any kind of antiBush talk is considered "indoctrination."

 

[Rambuchan]

You forgot to include "p***ing their pants in a warzone"

And surely the word "pinko"* could have been slipped in there somewhere too?

Anyway, hilarious chain of observations there JoeM.


*not that kind of pinko and not like that Prince you dirty little what not.

 

[CaptainF]

If the phrase 'Bleeding Heart Liberal' describes those wishy-washy middle-class namby-pambies who can't string a political strategy together without weeping into their hand-made-Tibetan-homeopathic-crystal-Free-Trade-fruit-flavoured-tea...then I'm going to start using it a lot more frequently.

Exactly. Those sorts of characters annoy me just as much.

 

[CaptainF]

Reminds me of Sean Hannity. He's trying to get schoolkids to record their teachers' conversations to expose the "leftist indoctrination." Any kind of antiBush talk is considered "indoctrination."

Sean Hannity (to paraphrase Maddox) is a big blubbering vagina.

 

[.Shane.]

I think one of the main problems on OT is the fact that posters either become intrenched within their views or simply box other posters off into 'conservative' or 'liberal'.

Actually, it seems many posters enjoy being boxed in and stereotyped and even try to do it to themselves.



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The underlying point that the OP is getting at, though I don't think its his intent, is that, at least in the US, the Repubs have been excellent, in fact dominent, in the political arena of propaganda the last 20 or so years. One of the things they're great at is coming up w/ easy to use, remember catch-phrases that have become part of the lexicon: bleeding heart liberal, liberal (as a negative), welfare mother, activist judges, liberal media, etc... I think they've done a great job of it, much better than the Dems.

Now, part of doing that good job is to, of course, deny that you're doing a good job.

What the Dems need is to understand that you win the "hearts and minds" of voters not with tortured arguments but with pithy phrases and words that sum up your opponent as you want to depict them, not as they necessarily are. The terms should also tug at well known predispositions of the voters.