News Article: WSJ: Why the left is so consumed with hate

chanson78 said:

If an idea is antithetical to American principles, the people who are speaking out against those ideas aren't the intolerant. They are people who are willing to stand up for principles, that are now being replaced with patriotic pageantry by the right. I've seen a whole lot of "the party of Lincoln" references as of late, as an attempt to try and distance the right from the white supremacists that have been so excellently courted since 2016. It is funny that the idea that it was the Republican Party that released the slaves, is the same party that elected Trump is even gaining any traction. However, it is a popular soundbite because when people forget that most issues are nuanced, its easy to attempt to drop such soundbites as an end to the conversation.

I am tired of being expected to not call a spade a spade when it comes to bad ideas. Just because someone is willing to fact check you or doesn't agree with your position, doesn't mean they are being intolerant. It means that either come up with a better argument in favor of your ideas or figure out how to package them in a more appealing format. The right has been doing the latter for years.


All this coupled with the right decrying their oppression at the hands of the "hateful, intolerant" left is absolutely laughable. Last I checked, any measure of progress is attained through compromise. I will give you one guess as to the party that has systematically attempted to restrict rights of minorities time and again. Now many may attempt to bring up the so called oppression of the right, and even more particularly the christian conservative right. Last I checked there was no other "oppressed" group that had their slogans on the US currency, enjoyed tax benefits for Sunday club houses, and national holidays that are celebrated/pushed in the public mind 24/7 for the two months leading up to them.

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chanson78 said:

I've seen a whole lot of "the party of Lincoln" references as of late, as an attempt to try and distance the right from the white supremacists that have been so excellently courted since 2016. It is funny that the idea that it was the Republican Party that released the slaves, is the same party that elected Trump is even gaining any traction. However, it is a popular soundbite because when people forget that most issues are nuanced, its easy to attempt to drop such soundbites as an end to the conversation.

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Its On A Slab said:

2016? Most of this started in 1964 as a reaction to Lyndon's Civil Rights initiatives.

Couple that with Nixon's "Southern Strategy", dog whistles and code words. Reagan announced his 1980 presidential campaign at the Neshoba Co fair in Philadelphia, MS....not far from where 3 civil rights workers were killed and buried in an earthen dam during the 1960s. Reagan, and then the infamous Lee Atwater, who worked for both Reagan and Bush 41 campaigns:

Atwater: As to the whole Southern strategy that Harry S. Dent, Sr. and others put together in 1968, opposition to the Voting Rights Act would have been a central part of keeping the South. Now you don't have to do that. All that you need to do to keep the South is for Reagan to run in place on the issues that he's campaigned on since 1964, and that's fiscal conservatism, balancing the budget, cut taxes, you know, the whole cluster.

Questioner: But the fact is, isn't it, that Reagan does get to the Wallace voter and to the racist side of the Wallace voter by doing away with legal services, by cutting down on food stamps?

Atwater: Y'all don't quote me on this. You start out in 1954 by saying, "......, ......, ......". By 1968 you can't say "......"—that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me—because obviously sitting around saying, "We want to cut this", is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than "......, ......".[SUP][11][/SUP][SUP][12][/SUP]

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chanson78 said:

If an idea is antithetical to American principles, the people who are speaking out against those ideas aren't the intolerant. They are people who are willing to stand up for principles, that are now being replaced with patriotic pageantry by the right. I've seen a whole lot of "the party of Lincoln" references as of late, as an attempt to try and distance the right from the white supremacists that have been so excellently courted since 2016. It is funny that the idea that it was the Republican Party that released the slaves, is the same party that elected Trump is even gaining any traction. However, it is a popular soundbite because when people forget that most issues are nuanced, its easy to attempt to drop such soundbites as an end to the conversation.

I am tired of being expected to not call a spade a spade when it comes to bad ideas. Just because someone is willing to fact check you or doesn't agree with your position, doesn't mean they are being intolerant. It means that either come up with a better argument in favor of your ideas or figure out how to package them in a more appealing format. The right has been doing the latter for years.


All this coupled with the right decrying their oppression at the hands of the "hateful, intolerant" left is absolutely laughable. Last I checked, any measure of progress is attained through compromise. I will give you one guess as to the party that has systematically attempted to restrict rights of minorities time and again. Now many may attempt to bring up the so called oppression of the right, and even more particularly the christian conservative right. Last I checked there was no other "oppressed" group that had their slogans on the US currency, enjoyed tax benefits for Sunday club houses, and national holidays that are celebrated/pushed in the public mind 24/7 for the two months leading up to them.

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Displaced Bama Fan said:

Interesting read.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-the-left-is-consumed-with-hate-1537723198?mod=e2fb

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jthomas666 said:

If by "interesting" you mean "so simplistic and one sided that it could be condensed into a Trump talking point: 'Mmmkay, libtards so mean.'"

normal day for the WSJ op-ed page.

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techster79 said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxHjjJK3BUk

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Bazza said:

Those guys are the media.

Not the people. Doesn't matter if they are right, left, middle....they do not represent me or anyone else. They are what's wrong with the political climate in our country.

If you want to make the point that the far right media is a problem, I'm OK with that.

Leave the people out of it. They are who we should be embracing and supporting.

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GrayTide said:

Although I believe it to be wrong and serve no purpose, hate, bigotry, discrimination, sexism and racism exists in every walk of life, in every country, in every city and every facet of society and will continue to do so, it will never go away. In America, both political parties have used it to divide and drive ethnicities and classes of the electorate to their cause, that will never change. America must find middle ground candidates who are willing to reject both extremes and restore some faith in our government. It will take people of courage to correct our course and right now I am not sure we have those people.

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GrayTide said:

Although I believe it to be wrong and serve no purpose, hate, bigotry, discrimination, sexism and racism exists in every walk of life, in every country, in every city and every facet of society and will continue to do so, it will never go away. In America, both political parties have used it to divide and drive ethnicities and classes of the electorate to their cause, that will never change. America must find middle ground candidates who are willing to reject both extremes and restore some faith in our government. It will take people of courage to correct our course and right now I am not sure we have those people.

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techster79 said:

Trump speaks to people that haven't been political in any way. Things that transcend politics like "making America great again". Both sides of the aisle should be able to get behind that. "Draining the swamp", all sides of the political aisle are against that.

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Bazza said:

Now see......this post is about the "people" - not the media.

There is a difference.

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Jon said:

I think there are some on the left that are willing to compromise. On the right it is considered a weakness and those who do it are considered RINOs. None of this works without compromise and I have no idea how to fix that when 1 party absolutely refuses to

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bamacpa said:

I support the ideas in quotes, I just happen to think the guy behind them, Trump, is a liar and a cheat.

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GrayTide said:

One thing we have all heard for years is that the government needs to be run like a business, by a successful business man and not a career politician. I understand where this desire comes from and in principle I would be willing to give it a try. The problem we are now faced with is we are trying this with a self proclaimed real estate mogul whose business success, business ethics and real worth are highly questionable. Trump is a narcissistic, sociopath whose real business acumen has shown to be at best elementary. I am not saying the government cannot be run in a business manner by the right person, but Trump is not the right person.

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