Why label people liberal, conservative?

[Jovial]

Why label people liberal or conservative? What's to be gained? Why not just evaluate someone's views on each issue separately? It makes me think that people that use these labels are too stupid or lazy to debate each issue separately.

Why do people identify themselves as liberal or conservative? It makes me think they can't come up with their own views on different issues, so they have to go along with whatever a group thinks.

It seems like it's good to be both liberal and conservative. Times change, so it seems like a good idea to consider new ideas. And it doesn't seem to hurt to question your current opinions. So being liberal in this way seems good. Conversely, traditional views and values got us to where we are now, so if you like the way things are, then it seems like a good idea to give some weight to them and require good reasons to change them.

Liberal:

• Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry.
• Favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded.

Conservative:

• Favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change.

 

[Tattooed Goddess]

I have more conservative views than liberal ones, thus i'm labeled as a republican conservative religious zealot because i happened to have any viewpoint that is conservative.

 

[invisibleman]

I like being liberal.

 

[B_Hickboy]

Why label anyone? The short answer is that it's the quickest way to put somebody you don't like in a bad light without actually saying anything. It's a facile, yet socially acceptable, way of demeaning others. We live in a culture that allows, and indeed in some situations condones, labeling. Slick, eh?

 

[invisibleman]

Why label anyone? The short answer is that it's the quickest way to put somebody you don't like in a bad light without actually saying anything. It's a facile, yet socially acceptable, way of demeaning others. We live in a culture that allows, and indeed in some situations condones, labeling. Slick, eh?

But labels truly do not define someone totally. You never know how any person feels at a given moment. I like the liberal term. I like new and fresh ideas. I like new, progressive solutions to our problems.

 

[Tattooed Goddess]

I have a lot of liberal friends. They dont care what i think and i dont care what they think when we get to the ballot box. I see nothing crude or hateful about being liberal or conservative. None of those terms equates being inhuman or incapable.

 

[B_Hickboy]

But labels truly do not define someone totally. You never know how any person feels at a given moment. I like the liberal term. I like new and fresh ideas. I like new, progressive solutions to our problems.

That's fine, if you apply it to yourself and are comfortable with it. But if somebody else does it to you, it means that they've mentally shoved you in a box. It means they've drawn a line in their own minds that you'll have a hard time rising above in their eyes. It's a form of stereotyping, which is a truly slimy type of dishonesty, but people in our culture rarely call each other on it.

 

[Tattooed Goddess]

That's fine, if you apply it to yourself and are comfortable with it. But if somebody else does it to you, it means that they've mentally shoved you in a box. It means they've drawn a line in their own minds that you'll have a hard time rising above in their eyes. It's a form of stereotyping, which is a truly slimy type of dishonesty, but people in our culture rarely call each other on it.

Ok so this is the first time Hickboy has made any sense since i've registered at LPSG.

 

[B_Hickboy]

Ok so this is the first time Hickboy has made any sense since i've registered at LPSG.

I'll try not to let it happen again.

 

[B_Italian1]

Why label people liberal or conservative? What's to be gained? Why not just evaluate someone's views on each issue separately? It makes me think that people that use these labels are too stupid or lazy to debate each issue separately.

I don't think any one person is 100% liberal or 100% conservative 100% of the time. They'd be some kind of freak or clone. It does have to do with various issues. I've been surprised at the views of some liberals I know; so not what I thought, and the same is true for some conservatives.

Why do people identify themselves as liberal or conservative? It makes me think they can't come up with their own views on different issues, so they have to go along with whatever a group thinks.

It's how they identify themselves for the most part, but it's not their true self. It's like you saying you're an American--you are. But you're also a man, someone's son, maybe a brother, a friend, a co-worker, and many, many other things. Some people are so stuck with their so called "group" that they never think outside of the box, and have to do and think like their group 24/7, obviously when they're not even around them.


This is interesting:

Liberal Vs Conservative

 

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

If we label others, it's easier for us to pigeonhole them and categorically dismiss all of their ideas or beliefs, particularly those that are contrary to our own. Then we don't have to feel like what we want to believe is threatened or challenged in any meaningful way. It's also an easy way to sort through all of life's intricacies, by slapping labels on everything it frees us from the obligation of having to do the hard work of evaluating ideas, concepts and things on a case-by-case basis like you suggest. The crutch of labels is a tool for the lazy and the intellectually cowardly.

When labels like "conservative" and "liberal" become so deeply ingrained in our social conscious; in this case because of certain individuals and entities that seek to do so for their own personal political or financial gain- in spite of what dire consequences this may have for the country as a whole; then it becomes very difficult for some to think about things in a way that is detached from those labels.

We start self-identifying and self-labeling to belong to one group of the other, because of the constant pressure by the small-minded to view everything in a binary way. Binary thinking like this makes it easier to fall into an "us and them" mentality, something some people find comfortable. It gives them a sense of belonging. It gives them an "other" to hate or feel better than or unite against or blame for their troubles. This sort of thinking leads to gang violence, war, ethnic cleansing/genocide, the holocaust, and systemic racism and other forms of bigotry. This sort of thinking leads to the complete fucking mess that is the United States two party political system. It's not smart, but it is easy.

 

[Calboner]

When all night long a chap remains
On sentry-go, to chase monotony,
He exercises of his brains,
That is, assuming that he's got any.
Though never nurtured in the lap
Of luxury, yet I admonish you:
I am an intellectual chap,
And think of things that would astonish you.

I often think it's comical – Fal, lal, la!
How Nature always does contrive – Fal, lal, la!
That every boy and every gal
That’s born into the world alive
Is either a little Liberal
Or else a little Conservative!
Fal, lal, la!

—W. S. Gilbert, Iolanthe

 

[D_Fiona_Farvel]

If we label others, it's easier for us to pigeonhole them and categorically dismiss all of their ideas or beliefs, particularly those that are contrary to our own. Then we don't have to feel like what we want to believe is threatened or challenged in any meaningful way. It's also an easy way to sort through all of life's intricacies, by slapping labels on everything it frees us from the obligation of having to do the hard work of evaluating ideas, concepts and things on a case-by-case basis like you suggest. The crutch of labels is a tool for the lazy and the intellectually cowardly.

When labels like "conservative" and "liberal" become so deeply ingrained in our social conscious; in this case because of certain individuals and entities that seek to do so for their own personal political or financial gain- in spite of what dire consequences this may have for the country as a whole; then it becomes very difficult for some to think about things in a way that is detached from those labels.

We start self-identifying and self-labeling to belong to one group of the other, because of the constant pressure by the small-minded to view everything in a binary way. Binary thinking like this makes it easier to fall into an "us and them" mentality, something some people find comfortable. It gives them a sense of belonging. It gives them an "other" to hate or feel better than or unite against or blame for their troubles. This sort of thinking leads to gang violence, war, ethnic cleansing/genocide, the holocaust, and systemic racism and other forms of bigotry. This sort of thinking leads to the complete fucking mess that is the United States two party political system. It's not smart, but it is easy.

^ Basically what he said. :grinning-smiley-003

I would express my views, but can't because it falls under the same subject of something I'm working on and this site is "googleable".:smile:

 

[frizzle]

Because it's easier to politcally asses their views on particular policies. Of course no label is definite and some people can have a mixture of liberal and conservative values, the same as left-wing and right-wing politics. Alot of people use liberal or conservative labels to insult or demean people's views but it's easier to ignore the politcally ignorant.