Mp- What brought this to mind is an set of exchanges I've had with some one who is keenly interested in her position being tolerated, and no one else's. I moderate a discussion board where this person was a member and I and the rest of the team removed her due to her insistence on speaking for the community and applying her tests for membership. When it was gently pointed out to her (by another member of the team) that she wasn't in a position to apply the rules herself, and certainly did not speak for the entire group she flipped out. She proceeded to act out in just as narrow minded and dogmatic a fashion as she was accusing others. Her very narrow definitions were all that mattered and she started slinging post-modernist thoughts around like they were a standard for an orthodoxy the rest of us were unclear on. She began denouncing any and all who disagreed with her and demanding that her views of the community guidelines be applied and hers only.
What I was trying to say is that there is such a lack of mutual charity and understanding on the left it is no wonder that it is so fractured. This is even worse in the Church where a peculiar form of doctrinaire thought has grown up in order to guard against being ... well .. doctrinaire.
I'm also sort of amazed Lefties can be just as quick to mimic the narrow dogmatism that they deride so quickly on the Right.
It is a constant problem at my blog. I am happy to discuss most things but if I try to talk about certain subjects the knee-jerk reactions of my liberal readers are really frightening.
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Or is it that the illiberal insist on categorising all people who don't agree with them as liberal including illiberal left-wingers like myself?
Preach brother! Tell the story.
Mp- What brought this to mind is an set of exchanges I've had with some one who is keenly interested in her position being tolerated, and no one else's. I moderate a discussion board where this person was a member and I and the rest of the team removed her due to her insistence on speaking for the community and applying her tests for membership. When it was gently pointed out to her (by another member of the team) that she wasn't in a position to apply the rules herself, and certainly did not speak for the entire group she flipped out. She proceeded to act out in just as narrow minded and dogmatic a fashion as she was accusing others. Her very narrow definitions were all that mattered and she started slinging post-modernist thoughts around like they were a standard for an orthodoxy the rest of us were unclear on. She began denouncing any and all who disagreed with her and demanding that her views of the community guidelines be applied and hers only.
What I was trying to say is that there is such a lack of mutual charity and understanding on the left it is no wonder that it is so fractured. This is even worse in the Church where a peculiar form of doctrinaire thought has grown up in order to guard against being ... well .. doctrinaire.
I'm also sort of amazed Lefties can be just as quick to mimic the narrow dogmatism that they deride so quickly on the Right.
Or, maybe to shorten it up a bit:
There is a deep irony in the line "I'm open minded and interested in open and frank discourse. But you're not if you let THAT person speak."
I agree with your entirely, John.
It is a constant problem at my blog. I am happy to discuss most things but if I try to talk about certain subjects the knee-jerk reactions of my liberal readers are really frightening.
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