To LUGNET HomepageTo LUGNET News HomepageTo LUGNET Guide Homepage
 Help on Searching
 
Post new message to lugnet.off-topic.debateOpen lugnet.off-topic.debate in your NNTP NewsreaderTo LUGNET News Traffic PageSign In (Members)
 Off-Topic / Debate / 22905
22904  |  22906
Subject: 
Re: Remember the Axis of Evil? [may offend]
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Tue, 9 Dec 2003 16:19:18 GMT
Viewed: 
678 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek wrote:

  
   To this end, I suggest that Conservatives are better at controlling public discourse than PETA.

Perhaps currently they are noisier yes and more annoying, but more controlling? Besides that runs counter to my argument, discourse apparent control doesn’t matter as much as results do. And the modern liberals have well nigh on to 100 years of success in the US with their message with only somewhat of a backswing lately.
Lately? It can be fairly said that, in many ways, the South and its Conservative (by today’s yardstick) agenda have won the Civil War. Quasi-covert institutionalized racism and rampant corporate cronyism are hardly the hallmarks of modern Liberalism, yet these are dominant factors in the US today.

  
   Another problem is that PETA, for example, is generally recognized as a self-caricaturing fringe group,
As is (at this point) Moral Majority... I tried to pick some serious and some not so serious for each of the sets but welcome substitutions as long as they fit the “traditional” definitions of L and C
Oh, okay. Now I see what you were after. Still, though—the far-Right elements hold greater sway over the Republican party hold greater sway than the far-Left elements hold over the Democratic party. Who wields greater, power (with longer-term implications), Bill Frist or Dennis Kucinich?

   (which we both know are false definitions)
I’ll get back to this assertion in a moment.

  
   The differences between the two main parties are not as small as I understand you to believe.
Small enough to be worrisome though, ne?
It all depends which small differences we’re discussing. Also, it must be recognized that politicians will invariably work to the benefit of their own re-election, so on hot-button issues like gay marriage, it’s natural that legislators from both sides of the aisle will beat the same drum . I submit that, if a Libertarian candidate were elected to Congress (as a Libertarian), then he or she would likewise play to his or her own re-election bid. In general, a party is only as “principled” as it is forced to be.

  
   Interesting again, but it’s a chicken-and-egg conundrum. You’re assuming that “the socialist message” has pervaded American thought due to the efforts of pro-socialist forces. One could likewise argue that “the socialist message” has become so widespread because it resonates with the true desires of the population.

Go ahead and make that argument... I think you’ll have a tough time of it.
Before I do so, I would ask to hear an elaboration the argument that this over-reaching Socialist agenda has so totally permeated the background noise of American culture. To that end, I would like to see it demonstrated that this agenda has driven itself into the culture, rather than being embraced or sought willingly by that culture.

  
   I also contest the term “socialist” in this context, specifically because it is a term intended to shape this discussion. The Liberalism that I favor is not Socialism.
The Liberalism *I* favor is *also* not Socialism... The term has been usurped. And not in a “new” or “improved” way.
Much like retroactively gathering dead people under the Libertarian umbrella, is it not? Well, that’s how language works. I’m not thrilled that “proactive” wormed its way into the lexicon, and I become physically ill everytime I hear something described as “impactful,” but that’s too bad for me.

Nothing is served by merely clinging to outdated word usage, and I would suggest that such adherence can lessen the relevance of one’s argument. That’s why, for example, we shouldn’t base our international policy on 18th-century usages of “entangling,” “foreign,” and “alliances.”

However, if we’re going to cling to word usage, I would point out that the Libertarian Party, which nominated Harry Browne, can hardly claim itself to be the Party of Principle.

Dave!



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Remember the Axis of Evil? [may offend]
 
(...) c /mine/Lar's/ and we're in agreement. (...) That's precisely what I'm driving at! (...) Perhaps currently they are noisier yes and more annoying, but more controlling? Besides that runs counter to my argument, discourse apparent control (...) (21 years ago, 9-Dec-03, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)

24 Messages in This Thread:









Entire Thread on One Page:
Nested:  All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:  All | Brief | Compact
    

Custom Search

©2005 LUGNET. All rights reserved. - hosted by steinbruch.info GbR