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From the Vox:
Many American pundits seem to firmly believe that the country stands at a precipice in which young, left-wing college students and recent graduates are the leading edge of a rising tide of illiberalism that comes in the form of “political correctness” and poses a clear and present danger to free speech and rational discourse.
[...] The alarm about student protesters, in other words, though not always mistaken about particular cases, is generally grounded in a completely mistaken view of the big-picture state of American society and public opinion, both on and off campus.
[...] Since the 1970s, the General Social Survey has posed a question about whether five hypothetical speakers should be allowed to give a speech in your community — a communist, a homosexual, an opponent of all religion, a racist, and a person who favors replacing the elected government with a military coup.
Justin Murphy of the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom aggregated trend data about all five kinds of speakers and found that public support for free expression has been generally rising
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday March 25 2018, @09:03PM (22 children)
n/t
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 25 2018, @09:46PM (20 children)
Even a broken clock is right twice a day. You are correct. They are very afraid. That is why the left which was in power for eight years is having hysterical fits over Trump. They went from smug straight to hysterical in less than 24 hours on election day.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday March 25 2018, @10:26PM (1 child)
Part of me wanted to say "touche'" in response to your post. But honesty forces me to point out that Trump didn't usurp half of the ruling class. He usurped the Republicans first, then usurped the other half of the Demopublican ruling class.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @10:23AM
Pro-tip. If you ever find yourself in a situation where Runaway is wanting to say "Touch me", Run, run hard and run fast, and don't look back until you can run no longer. Just runaway.
(Score: 5, Informative) by PartTimeZombie on Monday March 26 2018, @01:17AM (7 children)
Pretending that there is any left wing in US Federal politics is your mistake. Your Mr. Obama was no more left wing than any president in living memory.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday March 26 2018, @02:30AM (6 children)
Pretending that there is any left wing in US Federal politics is your mistake. Your Mr. Obama was no more left wing than any president in living memory.
Depends on your definition. If you try to compare on a global scale, you're correct, but left/right is also relative, and within modern American politics, Obama is indeed left-wing, even though he looks pretty center-right from a European perspective.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @04:10AM
That's insane, I mean like, totally absurd. There is nothing 'left wing' about our government. Nixon was more 'left wing' than Obama. I know, I was there. Obama should be known for appeasement, because that's all he did, appease the other faction of the party. Like Carter, he was a chair warmer, to get this whole 'black president' thing out of our system, and now we're back to the good old days. Aren't you happy?? Now, if you want a woman president, find one with some class... We're trying to drain the swamp, remember?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday March 26 2018, @04:05PM (3 children)
Like Asia or Africa, for example? Europe is not the world and there are plenty of places that are less liberal than the US.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday March 26 2018, @07:32PM (2 children)
Are those the places you want to compare the US to? Really?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday March 26 2018, @10:07PM (1 child)
"If you're trying to compare on a global scale".
There's a fair bit of good stuff happening elsewhere in the world. Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan all are doing pretty well, but they aren't particularly liberal. They account for 200 million people. China and India both are making democratic progress (with India being much further along). Again, not very liberal. Toss in the US and we're up to half the world's population, much larger than the European portion.
Meanwhile there are large components of Europe that we don't want to compare the US to. The financial disaster of the PIGS, the nanny states which, among other things, forbid "hate speech" precisely because laws against hate speech failed so badly (the Nazis and their regalia wouldn't be banned today, if they hadn't been so effective back in the 1930s at exploiting hate speech law of the day) when it mattered, and of course, the growing cancer of the EU bureaucracy.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday March 26 2018, @10:21PM
Oh.
OK then.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday March 26 2018, @07:23PM
No, he looks extreme right wing from any European perspective except Hungary maybe. It's the constant propaganda fooling you.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday March 26 2018, @02:15AM (9 children)
There has never been a powerful left wing in the US, and there has barely ever been a left wing at all. The Overton Window is so far to the right now that if Reagan were running on his original platform even the Dems wouldn't want him. Or are you too young to remember presidents of the late 60s through late 70s and early 80s calling for universal healthcare? There is video of Nixon saying that, IIRC.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday March 26 2018, @12:18PM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday March 26 2018, @07:16PM
That sounds solidly centrist to me, and also like excellent domestic statecraft :)
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by mobydisk on Monday March 26 2018, @05:12PM (6 children)
What Nixon meant by "universal heathcare" was completely different from what people think of today. Nixon meant that employers should offer healthcare coverage and employees should pay a portion of it. Today "universal heathcare" means the government pays 100% of it.
(Score: 3, Flamebait) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday March 26 2018, @07:15PM (5 children)
No, you illiterate moron, universal healthcare means the government is the single *insurer.* *We* would pay for it, via taxes.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Redundant) by mobydisk on Monday March 26 2018, @07:34PM (2 children)
I'm unsure how a post starting with "No, you illiterate moron" as the first sentence got modded up. But either way, you confirmed my point, which is that the definition of universal healthcare has changed since the Nixon era.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday March 26 2018, @07:53PM (1 child)
Whatever he meant by it, he still called for it. Can you imagine the utter shrieking rightwing shitstorm there would be if a modern President suggested that?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by toddestan on Tuesday March 27 2018, @02:35AM
A lot depends on who says it. Remember that Obamacare in many ways is just a nation-wide implementation of Romneycare. Which is one of those facts that doesn't fit into the Republican narrative so it tends to get ignored.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @08:17PM (1 child)
Your immature insults immediate discredit anything you might have said after. Someone disagreed with you. That is the beginning and end of it. You don't need to insult people to convey any points you have. Stating your rebuttal is plenty.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday March 26 2018, @09:03PM
Tone trolling has replaced patriotism as the last refuge of the scoundrel. Ponder that a moment; tone does not make the content any more or less true.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 25 2018, @11:22PM
n/t