Friday, October 14, 2011

Why Conservatives are Assholes

There is a reason that we have a clear geographic distinction between liberals and conservatives. Generally speaking, the blue states in the northeast, west coast, and great lakes are all centered around port cities. Historically, people in and around port cities were constantly exposed to different kinds of people and new ideas, whereas those in the red states of Middle America have historically been culturally stagnant. This has created a strong sense of traditionalism in these areas that keeps the people clinging to the moral values of the past. Now, there are some who would say newer is not always better, but if we look at our nation's history, look at the women's movement, the civil rights movement, these things that were new ideas that met with the nearly insurmountable force of traditionalist backlash, we can recognize the pattern of people coming to the realization that those archaic beliefs were simply wrong. Oppression of women and people of color has been the norm for millennia, but more and more every day, we see the rights of blacks and women as inalienable. Our children are no longer taught to believe that bigotry against these groups are okay, yet we still largely accept the same sort of bigotry against homosexuals. If a woman or an African American were denied benefits for their family from their employer simply due to their gender or the color of their skin, we would be outraged, yet this happens every day to the homosexual citizens of our nation.

The largest opposition to homosexuals is made on religious grounds. Thousands of years ago, in the time before Jesus of Nazareth brought his beliefs of love and peace to the masses, religion was a necessary form of government. The ten commandments were laws that kept the Jewish people alive and functioning as a burgeoning society. The commandment against killing and stealing kept the people from turning on each other. The encouragement of fidelity in marriage served as population control. The Jews ate Kosher because pork and shellfish, in those days, could not be preserved and prepared properly to keep them from getting sick. Education as we know it did not exist; hardly anybody could read; organized religion was an essential tool in teaching the people how to live together and prosper. Modern society has rendered religion as unnecessary.

Nobody knows the truth of where we came from and how a world in such perfect harmony came to be, but we do know that the Bible was written and compiled by men. It was the Nicene Council that established the Holy Trinity, creating the acceptance of Jesus as an incarnation of God. Their organizer, Constantine, chose which books made it into what we know as the Bible. This was over 300 years after the death of Christ; who can say if they got it right? The most diehard of Christians believe that Earth is only 6,000 years old, and that the dinosaurs never existed. Polls show that about half of the people in our country are creationists, but that number drops steeply with their length of education; what does that tell you? Religion has long outlived its usefulness to our culture, and the ignorance it promotes is dangerous to our advancement.

That's not to say that all conservatives are naive ruralites. The other side of the spectrum is your average capitalist fat-cat. These folks, through luck and opportunity, have acquired wealth and wish to hold onto it by any means possible. They pander to the ignorant, pretending to share their beliefs to retain their own power. They believe in "small government," because the big, liberal government interferes with them profiting from the sweat and labor of the poor. They believe in Capitalism because it gives them an excuse to be ruthless in hoarding all the wealth and power for themselves. They demonize anyone who don't share their beliefs as "communists," which, in itself, is an example of the way they use war as a PR campaign, through indoctrination and fear tactics, to persuade the ignorant to give them more power.

I'm not saying that every educated conservative is consciously evil or manipulative, but that, again, these beliefs are ingrained in them by a misguided belief in the
power of tradition. The sincere educated conservative is a patsy who, even in the face of rational argument, allows outdated social views to tint their perspective of the world. Whether they are verbose or not, they cannot help but judge others by their warped moral compass, and thus stand in the way of social progress.

That brings an end to my dissertation on why conservatives are assholes. Join me next time for "Why I Hate the Troops."


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