Nathaniel

Shockey

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September 27, 2007

Will Liberals and Conservatives Remove Their Brains from the Freezer?

One of the reasons there is so much resentment between conservatives and liberals is that members of both species tend to be unbelievably smug. The problem isn’t so much about finding the answers, but about expressing ideas without alienating half the country with an intolerable attitude.

For example, I played the violin in my high school orchestra, and I happened to be pretty proficient, at least compared to my fellow fiddlers. This is all well and good, except that I was so proud of this fact that I thought I knew more than our teacher. I’d tell him we were playing stuff wrong right in the middle of rehearsal. I told him we shouldn’t be playing abridged versions of great music, even though our orchestra could barely carry a tune. I gave the poor guy hell, and why he put up with me, I’m really not sure. I guess he was just desperate for someone who could play the right notes, but when I consider the notes my obnoxious tongue was spewing whenever my violin wasn’t under my chin, it’s quite a wonder he survived me.

Who knows how different things could have been if I were encouraging and respectful? The orchestra would have been so much better, the musicians would have learned more and my poor teacher probably would have developed considerably fewer wrinkles beneath a fuller, darker head of hair.

All to say, while functionally, one relatively skilled musician adds an ounce of good, this is easily outweighed by the harm of a lousy attitude.

This idea is absolutely true on a political level. I think most of us are fully aware that George W. Bush had absolutely no business winning his second term in office. If Kerry were just a little less smug, if he could have swallowed a little bit of his pride, if he were not so completely defensive about all of his wavering positions on everything from the $87 billion for Iraq to the Patriot Act to the death penalty for terrorists – if he had simply said, “My opinions have changed for the better. I think I now have a fuller understanding on the issue,” I can’t imagine he would have lost to an incumbent who was stuck in the middle of such an ugly situation he had arguably created.

But Kerry blew it, and although I think he would have made a lousy president, the 2004 presidential election was lost, not won.

The thing about a lot of conservatives is that they are so sick of listening to the complaints of liberals that they tend to close their ears and minds altogether, even when the liberals have a point.

Take global warming, for example. I’m not convinced it’s really happening, but maybe it is. A lot of smart people seem convinced it is a reality endangering the very immediate future of our existence on Earth. Why do I tend to have such a nonchalant attitude about it? Well, I’m lazy, for one. But also, all the people who think we’re all going to die in a decade – when the polar ice caps melt, gather forces, and invade San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge, - all those people keep giving me this condescending look like I’m some sort of ignorant moron.

That’s the thing about so many liberals. They look down on people who drive SUVs, eat non-organic food, work for large corporations, buy from large corporations, don’t subscribe to global warming, buy non-recyclable products and give their children normal names like John or Sarah.

There’s nothing wrong with being aware of these things. But there’s a lot wrong with treating people who don’t share your convictions like selfish, money-grubbing ignoramuses.

A little more than a year ago, I married a beautiful woman with alarming tendencies toward liberalism. But the wonderful thing about her is that she doesn’t say I’m a heartless bastard when I come home with a half gallon of ice cream that was probably made from factory-farmed milk where cows are torn away from their families at a young age, shoved into tiny little cubicles, fed spam-enhanced hormones, and forced to watch endless reruns of M*A*S*H.

She simply told me a while ago that she chooses to avoid factory-farmed products because she has a moral dilemma with it. I guess I don’t, but who knows, my feelings could change. But this isn’t likely, because A) I love to eat large quantities of cheap ice cream and B) I don’t happen to own a cow.

Some people tend to have fuller, more informed, and quite simply, better opinions about things. They can be hard to identify, and for some reason, they don’t ever seem to find their way behind a podium on the night of a presidential debate. But even if someone ever does, they won’t have any luck if they act like I did in my high school orchestra, like John Kerry did in 2004, like so many of us do on a daily basis.

As I’ve said in the past, opinions always change. And if they don’t, some of us need to consider taking our brains out of the freezer and using them again.

For conservatives, this may mean giving tofu a try. And for liberals, I might suggest that an endless list of causes and protests may not be worth the people who are being alienated along the way.

© 2007 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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