<p>ps.</p>
<p>I'm conservative myself.</p>
<p>woodwork- Guess i sort of missed the topic when I posted my opinion, but I believe what I say is true.<br>
I don't think sensitivity is the problem with some conservatives. The problem is a consensus "I'm fed up with the left-wing" feeling. I'm sure they feel the same way about us in the opposite regard. I guess that basically sums up partisan politics in the US.</p>
<p>Hockeygenius,</p>
<p>keep fighting the good fight! Just don't get caught up with the riff-raff.</p>
<p>sounds good</p>
<p>You should do a Wikipedia search on her and check out some of her quotations - quite humorous if you ask me. I watched a CSPAN2 debate of her and the president of the college dems at UMASS-Amherst during the election season and she got her A$$ handed to her - it was so funny.</p>
<p>cornell preaches tolerance while supressing every view that disagrees with an extreme leftist view. any conservative that open about his/her political views can expect to be harrassed to no end....</p>
<p>ive lived in ithaca most of my life....and unfortunatly will probably end up staying longer than id like to...</p>
<p>Que,</p>
<p>That was not my experience as a young, conservative Cornell student in the mid-seventies.</p>
<p>Que, I was in Cornell not 4 years ago and as a conservative, I was never supressed. And the ILR school is more liberal than most programs. Conrell supresses ignorance, intolerance and idiocy, but not conservatism.</p>
<p>The problem with Ann Coulter is not that she's a conservative. It's because whackos like her and Bill O'Reilly often lie and don't present any arguments with evidence. I recall one O'Reilly episode where he fabricated the name of some research group and provided a bogus fact. And it's not so much that they discuss it, they are more like mouthpieces for the far right. They have the reasoning skills of 5 year olds, often avoiding the whole point of the discussion.</p>
<p>Odysseus, that is exactly my point. If I were American, I would be described as conservative. I have no problem with conservatives. But I do have issues with people who are impolite, arrogant, condescending and dishonest. There is never an excuse for such behavior.</p>
<p>For every mouthpiece of the far right that exists, you will find a corresponding mouthpiece for the far left cause. I just get somewhat irritated when certain very valid conservative opinions are given off-the-cuff labels like "politically incorrect", or "ignorant" - whereas even the most liberal causes hardly suffer from such stigma.</p>
<p>Now, that's just in my experience. But it's personally irritating.</p>
<p>Joey</p>
<p>But Joey, the point here is that there is almost nothing valid about Ann. </p>
<p>One major problem I have with American conservatives is that they usually bring religion and "values" into the picture. As if religion were a prerequisite to anything and as if values were limited to any one ideology.</p>
<p>jprencipe</p>
<p>Apparently, you are not considering Ward Churchill a liberal. Talk about suffering a stigma!
I agree that what the guy has written is appaling to the extreme, nonetheless, I do believe a certain stigma was attached.</p>
<p>There has been a dumbing down of the right ever since the rise of AM talk radio. Conservatives authors used to be though of as erudite/eccentric; now they are thought of--as portrayed in the popular culture--as mud wrestlers.</p>
<p>Unlike Alexandre, I have no problem with religion and values being mixed into political/ethical distinctions--WF Buckley is a committed Catholic, in fact most of the great conservative thinkers were (starting perhaps with Aquinas/Ibn Sina). This is to some degree what made commentators of the right so facinating, in fact it has always been their raison d'etre; they did not believe they had to dismiss the genuis that preceeded them (not simply religion, including many purely secular thinkers, but not simply excluding religion either) to comment upon the issues in front of them. They did not have to develop their principals (they had them) from whole cloth. I believe that is what it is to be a traditional conservative: to know the genuis of the past and use it to create innovative solutions in the future.
The new bread of conservative-talker is, in my mind, closer to the liberal-talker than they have ever been historically--that is, a know-it-all.</p>
<p>Woodwork, I come from a part of the World (Middle East) where religion has ruined my people. I do not believe that there can be no conscructive discussion about religion. That is why, in my opinion, there must be a separation of church and state at every level. Europeans are no different. That is why Bush scares the hell out of Europeans...and why he does not sit well even with the most conservative of Europeans.</p>
<p>Alexandre, </p>
<p>I assumed you did come from the middle east, salom.
My wife is from Iran so I know the horror stories all too well. She lived through the revolution (she was a college student when they closed the universities) and she lived through most of the Iran/Iraq war. However, even in Iran or Dubai, I would hate to see people throw out their tradition--that is, that which makes them culturally/historically distinct--with the bath water of intolerance/oppression.</p>
<p>As you probably know, there is no legal seperation of church and state in the USA. There is simply no established religion--as you have/had in England.</p>
<p>I, however, understand you to be one of the most resonable people on these boards so please take no disrespect in my disagreement. I believe their is a subtle and sophisticated way to allow both religion and politics to flourish and inform each other without having either cancel the other out in public/private discourse.</p>
<p>We have two children together, one is attending Dartmouth this fall, one is 6 years old. We have tried to teach them that both secular and religious things make them what they are and inform their judgment on what they will see as right or wrong, good or bad.</p>
<p>With you, my second love is Mich.</p>
<p>I did not take offense in the least Woodwork. In fact, I agree with much of what you say and find you to be a very informative and agreeable person. And I know the feeling is mutual. </p>
<p>I was merely pointing out why I do not like the mixing of church and state. I come from Lebanon, though I live in the UAE. As you may have heard, our ex-prime minister (Rafik Hariri) was murdered just 4 days ago. A ghastly and cowardly act to be sure. He comes from the Sunni muslim faith. I am personally a Maronite. By constitutional law, the Lebanese President must be Maronite and the Lebanese Prime Minister must be Sunni. This has caused much tenssion and heated debate in Lebanon. Of course, the presence of 18 distinct faiths in a country the size of New Jersey (with one third of its population) does not help matters. For 15 years, my beautiful country was ravaged by civil war...one that was fueled by petty religious differences and by greedy and corrup politicians who were willing to manipulate and exploit the general population with those petty differences in the hopes of slaking their own insiduous agendas. </p>
<p>My sister is in a similar situation to yours. She is Maronite and her husband is a Shiite muslim. They too have two children and are raising them to respect all faiths while at the same time attempting to let them find their own way. </p>
<p>At any rate, congratualtions on your child's enrollment in Dartmouth. It is an awesome university. </p>
<p>We do differ in one way however. You say that Michigan is your "second love". With me, it is my first! hehe</p>
<p>Alexandre, </p>
<p>You can sure love it----------but you can't make love to it;)</p>
<p>Someday, something will come between the two of you. And that thing will "help" you decide what you love the most "if you know what's good for you!!" :mad:</p>
<p>I hear you. I may have already met her. She is a lovely Yugoslavian lady and she is no Wolverine! LOL We'll see.</p>
<p>-
"The new bread of conservative-talker is, in my mind, closer to the liberal-talker than they have ever been historically--that is, a know-it-all"</p>
<p>I would argue that the reason for this is that the left and right wings in the U.S. have drifted farther apart in recent years.</p>
<p>-
George W. Bush attracts so many Americans because of the strength of his convictions. The man does not try to convert people or use tactics that have plagued the Middle East; he only mutters the word "God" in a sentence to the dismay of many (esp. on the left). Frankly, the United States still practices freedom of religion, and Americans should be thankful that they live in a country that does so.</p>
<p>"George W. Bush attracts so many Americans because of the strength of his convictions."</p>
<p>May I remind you of all of the WMD's that they found in Iraq due to George Bush's amazingly strong convinctions.</p>
<p>Oh, wait...</p>