Post #93277
February 25, 2017, 06:08:39 AM
You know what's funny? I'm a mild conservative. I believe in the death penalty for certain crimes, I personally don't support elective abortions, I believe some authoritarianism in government is necessary, I support the police, I support limited restrictions on immigration, I support balanced budgets, I support taxes and I support punitive sentences for recidivist criminals. Thing is, I'm a mild conservative by Singaporean and European standards. In the states, I would be a rabid commie loon. I support full gay and transgender rights, including the right to marry and adopt children, I believe in the separation of church and state, I'm against the proliferation of firearms among the public, I'm against military intervention in foreign countries, I'm not against raising taxes, I'm not against universal healthcare and expanding social security and I most certainly do not believe Islam is a cancer or is inherently dangerous or that Muslim people must be treated with suspicion.
I like having people I disagree with. I like passionate debates and arguments based on honest disagreement. Thing is, and I would say that people on both sides of the aisle are guilty of this, when people argue nowadays there is no respect. Only the assumption that everyone who does not fully and completely agree with your philosophy in it's entirety is not only wrong and stupid, but has sinister and evil intentions. There is to much emphasis on simply 'winning' any debate at all costs, throwing any compromise to the wind as weakness, on making the other side look and feel idiotic and stupid. And that's just plain disappointing. It used to be that people who vehemently disagreed on everything could be the best of friends or even lovers despite, or even because, of their differing opinions. And it worked because even if the other person held a different opinion to yours, at the end of the day you both knew that the other person truly wanted what was best for the country, just had a different opinion on how to achieve that.