I was a feminazi-hating, liberal-bashing loudmouth who tried to befriend Bill O'Reilly. Man, I was such a douche.
Every day I wake up with the same thought: "I used to be such a goddamned idiot."
I am a former Republican. And I wasn't merely the libertarian, live-and-let-live, fun-at-parties kind of conservative whose primary concern is balancing the budget; I was a spiteful, narrow-minded, fire-breathing paranoid lunatic who questioned the patriotism and morality of my liberal fellow citizens. Recognizing the error of my ways has done wonders for my mental health but left me with constant, unremitting remorse; I really want to go back in time and kick my own ass.
Hmmm. That's good.
Much like our previous chief executive, I should have seen the danger of sealing myself in an echo chamber to prevent contamination from outside viewpoints; I began only hanging out with conservative true believers, only reading conservative books, only getting my news from conservative media outlets. In order to avoid journalistic "left-wing bias," I embraced right-wing bias, foolishly confusing sensationalist entertainment with debate and truth-telling. Outrage became my drug of choice.
Well, no chance for me to be in an echo chamber because of where I live. I hear the Republican side of the argument often enough from folks who, for the most part, don't have the basic facts straight. However, I'm guilty of screening out the right wing gas bags as my news source.
Strangest of all, I developed a finger-wagging puritan bent, which made absolutely no sense for a 20-year-old guy who was getting laid and intoxicated on a steady basis. I blamed "the anti-family Left" for encouraging couples to divorce and youngsters to fornicate, as if liberals were all conspiring together to destroy the traditional family, as if liberal states do not have lower rates of divorce and teen pregnancy than their conservative counterparts. My hypocrisy is mystifying in retrospect -- why would I bash sexual liberation while having sloppy drunken unmarried sex whenever possible? -- but perhaps conservative politicians such as John Ensign, Mark Sanford, David Vitter, Larry Craig and Newt Gingrich can explain.
It gets better and better. Read the entire article on Marty's recovery. He opens a window into how seemingly intelligent people can get caught up in wrong-headed and harmful idealogy.
From Salon.
Thanks to Mark for sending the link.
"A handful of my professors injected their utopian and hypersensitive politics into the classroom, calling for a "socialist revolution" and grading me poorly for using "heteronormative" language. Rebelling against their authority, as they had rebelled against conservative professorial authority in their student days, felt as natural as doing a keg stand at a fraternity party."
ReplyDeleteI've always heard stories about these professors, but I've never met one. All of my colleagues past and present are always careful about NOT proselytizing their biases in class. We all editorialize in class, but we usually tell our students when we are editorializing and that they are free to take or leave those views as they see fit (I had one old prof who regularly flunked students who parroted his opinions back to him on tests).
"Very few people in their late teens and early twenties seek justice in moderation. The hormone-soaked college years are a time of extremes, our changing identities often defined by dissent-quashing affiliations, leaving us to later cringe at our frenzied "Goldfish Liberation phase," "Castrate the Phallusocracy phase," "Noam Chomsky phase" or "Ayn Rand phase." (Yes, I spent a summer vacation trying to finish reading "Atlas Shrugged," ultimately throwing in the towel around page 75,000.)"
ReplyDeleteA very true statement, and one that's true for most people at a certain age, including me.
(I had one old prof who regularly flunked students who parroted his opinions back to him on tests).
ReplyDeleteCounterlight, bravo for that professor. He wanted the students to - gasp! - think for themselves. I'm afraid that the great majority of my professors wanted their words parroted back to them in the tests and papers.
I remember one classmate of mine in graduate school. He was a veteran and quite serious about his studies, while I and my roommate were less than serious, but we wanted good grades. The young man was thinking for himself and writing original thoughts in his papers. We were making A's, and he was making B's. He could not figure that out, because he knew that we were frivolous and unserious. We explained to him that if he wanted A's, he'd have to stop thinking and start memorizing and give the professor back what he had given us. When I think of this now, it makes me quite sad.
Counterlight, I read Atlas Shrugged three times; yet I got over it. Reading biographies of Rand helps (Barbara Brandon's book is WELL WORTH READING for those who are interested, and I'm sure she could use the royalties).
ReplyDeleteAs for me, I'm still a Republican and still looking for the party I'm not invited to.
Paul(A.), say it isn't so! You are NOT invited to that party.
ReplyDelete