Why college students are so liberal.

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>Sorry to say it, but the vast majority of people at my Ivy League school (myself included) did not pull ourselves up by our bootstraps to get here. Most of us come from middle, upper-middle or upper-class homes with parents who nurtured us, read to us, sent us to excellent schools and put a premium on our educations. Most of us went to high-quality public and private schools with college preparatory curricula, lots of extracurricular activities, and many caring teachers. To sum it up: we got here because we had the good fortune to be born into high-achieving families with attentive parents and an already-solid socioeconomic background.</p>

<p>Even my friends here who are first-generation college, or from low-income families tend to have caring, attentive parents who’ve opened as many doors for them as they possibly could. Parenting is likely the single most important factor in a child’s success, and who one’s parents are is an accident of birth. </p>

<p>One of the things I’ve learned here is that I’m not here just because I’m smart, determined, or hard-working. I’m also here largely because I’m really damn lucky. The “system” in the United States – the way our society is structured, socially and economically – has worked to my advantage in just about every way. </p>

<p>I will almost certainly earn a 6-figure salary when I finish my education, but I don’t feel “entitled” to what I earn in the same way the OP evidently does. Part of the reason I’ll be higher-income (just like my parents are) is because of the accident of my birth. There are just as many people stuck in the lower echelons of the American class structure who are there largely because of the accidents of their births, and it would be, in my opinion, truly reprehensible for me to stick my nose up at them and decry their work ethic (as compared to mine), when a huge factor in our socioeconomic difference is luck. </p>

<p>I strongly believe that I have a duty to “pay back” into the system that has helped me get where I am – as do the vast majority of us who comprise America’s upper classes. That’s why I’m ok with higher taxes – I feel that I’m paying back into the system part of what the system has “given” to me, to help ensure that those who got screwed over by it at least have a place to live and food on the table. Would I like to see a restructuring of our entitlement systems? You bet. But you won’t see me complaining about the very idea of paying taxes.</p>

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<p>If our government wasn’t such a bloated, wasteful and abusive entity, I wouldn’t mind paying a few more bucks in taxes too…</p>

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<p>mocha: It’s very true and I am shocked that more people don’t see it that way. I am a first-gen student who went to an Ivy and had very UNsupportive parents who not only refused to open doors, but actively wanted me NOT to go to college (or high school for that matter). Luck is such a massive factor and I occasionally find myself embittered and jealous of those more fortunate. I don’t think people understand how hard it is to get ahead without supportive parents.</p>

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<p>@Bigeast – Obviously that’d be part of the negotiations you ■■■■■, it’s more complicated than I made it but I said getting them together and convincing each the other has a right to exist is a nice place to start, or maybe they could build up to that. My response was fine for an initial reply to someone who just didn’t wanna let it go.</p>

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<p>Impossible. Morality cannot be explained by science unless other assumptions are also made. A consistent system of morality can be derived from almost any non-contradictory assumptions. </p>

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<p>False. That would be agnosticism – atheism does not accept the possibility of a God, quite literally by definition.</p>

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<p>@ itachirumon- if ur wondering what racial profling is, then yes you are mostly correct. It would mean that since muslims are responsible for 100% of terrorist attacks on planes, you would profile them and give extra attention to a suspicious looking muslim in the airport; the same way a cop puled over a freind of mine who he thought looked like a drug dealer. It’s the basics. Its precaution. Watch one of them 9/11 documentaries and afterwards tell me if you STILL would have rather that happened and not used racial profling. </p>

<p>“think as soon as America comes to the table everybody else is just supposed to bend to our will without making their own demands, that’s arrogance” </p>

<p>Me: ok, that’s a classic liberal. “America is arragant and imperialist” (sounds oddly like the claims radical Islamists make against the western world.) Are we arrogant for demanding that a terrorist @#!*% -bent on wiping a country of the map with a nuke NOT do that??? ENough with the moral equivalency bit. Yes, they are the bad guys here. Say it with me “bad guys”. is it that hard for a liberal to admit theres at times a right and wrong in the world? </p>

<p>And also, “first they should sit down and recognize the other’s right to exist”. LOL, that made me laugh. Im sure once Israel states “iran has the right to exist”, Achmedinijad will hastly say “aight. we’re good now. it’s all good. i love you now Israel, im not gonna attack you anymore.” Give me a break. Negotiations simply wont work. </p>

<p>“You know how hostage situations work? Well do you? How you talk the guy holding them down through negotations, you try to understand what they’re doing and why they’re doing it” </p>

<p>ME: this isn’t a hostage situation!!! Achmedinijad isn’t looking for money, or some “we’re real sorry for existing” letter from ISrael. He’s lookign for blood, just like the 9/11 terrorists and every other radical muslim. It’s called murder and suicide- welcome to the world of extreme Islam. It’s their main tactic. And if you couldn’t grasp the goal of achmedinijad from his NUMEROUS speeches and horrifying rhetoric then ur either deaf or well, i dont know what else…</p>

<p>And reasons your Barack Huiseean Obama is terrible: </p>

<p>-the failed stimulus package.
-the 9.5% unemployment rate.
-the horrible tax hikes.
-the terrible foreign policy around the middle east and Israel
-The appeasment
-the attempt at “socailizing” america.
-the list goes on…and , btw, his terrible approval ratings show im not the only one thinking this. </p>

<p>And lastly, you called bigeastbeast a ■■■■■? really? youve got to relax. if you cant keep ur cool during a debate cause your losing and the facts and logic are stacked up against you then u can always bail.</p>

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<p>Anyone who starts their reply with False. is not only a ■■■■■, but looking to incite anger and stir up the pot.</p>

<p>It’s even more hilarious that you are dead wrong.</p>

<p>Atheism is the lack of belief in a God. Theism is the belief in a God. As you can see, there is no third option.</p>

<p>Agnosticism is beliefs about knowledge - is it possible to know for sure if there is a God or not. As you can see, it is possible to be an agnostic atheist or an agnostic theist.</p>

<h2>An agnostic atheist, for example, would not claim to know for sure whether a possible god could exist, but does not actively believe there is a God. So, Baelor, your claim, actually, was False.</h2>

<p>Oh, and delmonico, you raging republican moron.</p>

<p>BUSH SIGNED THE BAILOUTS AND STIMULUS PACKAGE YOU MORON.</p>

<p>OBAMA LOWERED TAXES FOR YOUR FAMILY AND OTHERS UNDER 250K/PER ANNUM.</p>

<p>I THINK YOU HAVE FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME.</p>

<p>Like I said, if you go to an Ivy league, you are more likely liberal. This is because you are generally more intelligent.</p>

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How do you tell someone is Muslim by looking at them?</p>

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<p>This is probably one of the best posts on this thread.</p>

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<p>Lol at peter parker. </p>

<p>a·the·ism   [ey-thee-iz-uhm] Show IPA
–noun
1.
the doctrine or belief that there is no god.</p>

<p>Oh and equating liberalism with intelligence is one of the least intelligent statements you’ve made to this point, which is really saying something.</p>

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<p>I am halfway convinced that a good chunk of the people posting in this thread are ■■■■■■■■, because this thread is astounding me.</p>

<p>Baelor, we can derive morality from purely secular means. If we are to assume that positive traits are projections of God, then we need a reason to believe that God was the cause. In this case, I am saying we don’t need it because the secular explanations are consistent and make sense with respect to their roots (an easy one: Why is killing wrong?).</p>

<p>And, also, “atheism” does not mean “not accepting the possibility of a God” “quite literally by definition.” Atheism is simply lack of belief in a God/Gods. Nobody has said God is unacceptable or impossible – just extremely, extremely unlikely. That is the typical atheist position. It’s generally a safe bet to claim that a really, really improbable event is likely false – but not impossible – much like how I can say that it’s extremely unlikely that there are tiny unicorns living under my pillows. While it’s not impossible, that doesn’t mean it’s worth believing in.</p>

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<p>If it’s so easy, then maybe you would like to enlighten me as to why killing is wrong?</p>

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<p>It’s my question posed to Baelor – me answering my own question would bias the answer and ruin the purpose behind my question to begin with. Short answer, though: Social optima.</p>

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<p>Okay then try this one: Why is stealing wrong?</p>

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<p>Same thing.</p>

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<p>Well if you won’t answer the question, I can’t demonstrate how clearly wrong you are, which , I suppose, is probably the real reason you won’t answer.</p>

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<p>Not buying into obvious ■■■■■ tactics. Going to bed now.</p>

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<p>It’s not ■■■■■■■■, it’s baiting. There’s a difference.</p>

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<p>He won’t buy into it but I’ll play. Have you heard of a little Philosophical notion called the “Divine Command Theorem” – in essence, it posits the question “is morality based on something innate, or is it only because of religion keeping us in line?”</p>

<p>Or, put YOUR way “Is murder wrong because God says so, or is it wrong of itself and God’s agreeing” Or, put another way “If God said murder was suddenly okay, would it be okay?” This one Theorem can demonstrate where a person’s morality is derrived from.</p>

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<p>@del</p>

<p>"And reasons your Barack Huiseean Obama is terrible: </p>

<p>-the failed stimulus package.
-the 9.5% unemployment rate.
-the horrible tax hikes.
-the terrible foreign policy around the middle east and Israel
-The appeasment
-the attempt at “socailizing” america.
-the list goes on…and , btw, his terrible approval ratings show im not the only one thinking this. "</p>

<p>Okay… give me a minute here… I think your ignorance just gave me an aneurysm… Okay! Here we go. The stimulus package was BUSH, BUSH BUSH BUSH, not OBAMA. Guess you weren’t paying attention there were you? </p>

<p>9.5% is bad but we all knew it’d be bad, Obama’s been in there for only 20 months, you think everything was honky dori BEFORE those 20 months? Ohh no, God forbid anybody ever blame the guy who **<strong><em>ed the economy up for *</em></strong>*ing the economy up, let’s blame it on the black democrat guy. Furthermore, statistically, there can NEVER be 0% unemployment, there will ALWAYS be unemployed people, that’s an unfortunae fact. Try again.</p>

<p>“terrible foreign policy around the Middle East and Israel” WHAT terrible foreign policy? Apologizing for this country having a brick lodged in it’s frontal lobe from January 20th 2001 to January 20th 2009?! Apologizing for the things we’ve done wrong? Oh right right, you’re one of those people who thinks apologies are “showing weakness” that’s why you made the “appeasement” comment too ne? You know who else thinks apologies are stupid? Spoiled, immature, stubborn, bratty little kids. So you’re telling me America’s a spoiled immature stubborn bratty kid? I applaud Obama for having the stones, YES THE STONES to admit we screwed up, and we’re sorry for screwing up. Cause that’s the sign of a strong leader. Only an idiot tries the same thing again and again and again without changing anything and expects the results to be different (actually, I believe that’s an old definition for “madness”).</p>

<p>There’s that 4-letter word “Socialism” again. I should really stop right here, cause if you think Obama’s a socialist, then there really is no help for you… you’re too uneducated and brainwashed by the neocons and tea baggers to really know what you’re talking about but OKAY let’s knock this wall of ignorance down! You don’t like “socialism” you say? Okay, NEVER go to the hospital again, NEVER use our roads again, ANY roads. I better not see you in the library ever. And so help me God if you got your diploma from a public school, it ought to be ripped up and your grades from said school nullified, since public schools are socialist institutions as well! Oh I’m sorry, did you not know that? Were you talking about just the health care? Then you shoulda said, just the health care, instead of that tea bagger excuse for a talking point “SOCIALISM.”</p>

<p>His terrible approval ratings mean nothing, 52% passed Prop 8 and it was an unconstitutional mess. Approval ratings, much like that, just show the people don’t always know what’s good for them. Just because a majority thinks something, doesn’t automatically mean it’s the correct choice, that’s not how it works. A majority thought Iraq had WMDs, I guess we know who was right there now didn’t we? A majority (somewhere in the ballpark of 93%) didn’t want the removal of anti-miscegnation laws, well we didn’t wait till they got with the present and grew up to ban them, we banned them outright and let the people catch up. </p>

<p>“And lastly, you called bigeastbeast a ■■■■■? really? youve got to relax. if you cant keep ur cool during a debate cause your losing and the facts and logic are stacked up against you then u can always bail.”</p>

<p>…Okay, I think I giggled out my appendix just there. Seriously? I keep my cool just fine, what I can’t stand is idiots spreading misinformation like wildfire and then having the audacity to call liberals like ME the stupid ones. “Facts and logic are stacked up against you” Hi, Pot? I have a friend named Ettle K I’d like to introduce you to. Your facts and logic have been refuted, by many many people. What facts and logic have been stacked up against me? You haven’t stacked ANYTHING against me yet. How am I losing eh Del? From my standpoint, you’ve yet to back up your claims with anything but talking points while in every one of my posts debating you I backed it up with cold hard facts.</p>