Have you ever noticed that conservatives tend to be much more reserved and guarded in sharing their political views than liberals?
I have observed that, with the obvious exception of moi and a few others, trying to get a conservative to discuss politics is like pulling teeth. Typically, a conservative’s opinions are likely to be relatively neutral and carefully worded, if they are willing to offer an opinion at all. But a liberal will usually just chatter on at length in a free-associational rant about Trump, the religious, cops, corporations, red state people, the rich, Republicans, and any other group which has incurred their displeasure. You can count on hearing the talking points from the Sunday news shows, Rachel Maddow, and Trevor Noah cited as indisputable “truths.”
Pollsters report that conservatives are reluctant to answer their questions or to even talk to them, and that conservative opinions tend to be undercounted.
The conservative reticence is especially pronounced in cops and in academia. On campus, woe to the person who admits to even centrist views. I imagine that Cuesta College Trustee Pete Sysak regretted expressing his moderately conservative views on Facebook after mobs of the pathologically woke demanded his head. The personal Facebook accounts of cops are constantly screened by the ever-vigilant Leftist Thought Police for anything critical of BLM, a group that routinely attacks all cops as murderous racists.
I first noticed this phenomena few years ago while on an exercycle watching the evening news on the gym television. Raising her voice above my tortured wheezing, a woman on the bike next to me began commenting on some political news piece, angrily assailing the Republicans. By her tone, it was obvious that she assumed that I must have been in complete agreement with her. This sort of encounter, with both strangers and casual acquaintances alike, has occurred a number of times. Yet I can’t recall a single instance of a stranger with conservative views ever initiating a political discussion or assuming that I was a like-minded believer, despite the fact that conservatives make up roughly the same proportion of the population as liberals. Why is this?
Predictably, you liberals will reply that we conservatives are just properly ashamed of our views and too embarrassed to admit them. But the reality requires that you to look into yourselves and your “cancel culture.”
The liberal worldview is an angry, starkly contrasted place divided into polarized sides or tribes, of “them” and “us,” and every position in the political spectrum viewed according to whether “my tribe” supports or opposes it. You dare not go against the liberal herd. On matters of race, any position is either “woke” or “racist,” and no middle ground or nuance is accepted, nor contradictions recognized. Defunding the police is woke, while opposing it is racist. For some liberals, the primary objective is to purge their sense of white guilt, rather than benefit the Black community going forward. How else can you explain neurotic white liberals actually paying to attend trainings in which they will be harangued over their privilege and inherent racism?
In a sense, I suppose it is flattering to have them assume I am another liberal. The good-hearted, oblivious liberal just assumes the best about everyone they meet, and since no decent, moral person could possibly see things differently than they do, those who they meet must also be liberal. Strangers are presumptive members of the liberal tribe, at least if they don’t have a MAGA hat or a NRA pin.
It is easy to understand how a liberal might get this perspective. If you get your world view from the sleek, hip, charismatic folks in entertainment, athletics, and the media establishment, you assume that all the “cool kids” buy into this sort of thinking. Of course, to conservatives, this sounds like bragging that you sit at the “cool” table in the mental hospital.
Conversely, we conservatives are long accustomed to being ideological lepers exiled into the wilderness of unpopular thought. We’ve been outliers since the 1960s and frequently pressed into service as targets for the mirth and mocking of the fashionably hip cognoscenti and their worshipful acolytes.
Sometimes, we conservatives find ourselves viewed as some sort of incomprehensible exotic by our liberal friends, much like a pal who is a headhunter, or an uncle who just won’t stop talking about his alien abductions and probes. You might hear yourself explained away as, “Well, he is a nice guy but … .”
Many of you liberals have unsuspected closeted conservative friends who you just assume are apolitical or disinterested in the issues of the day. We’re not. It is just that the professional and social penalties for forbidden thoughts are so onerous that many of us just prefer to keep our heads down and stay quiet. But, as you discovered in 2016, we vote. Δ
John Donegan is a retired attorney in Pismo Beach who, because he is retired, can rant with impunity and just won’t shut up. Send a response to his rants with a letter to the editor emailed to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Aug 26 – Sep 2, 2021.
Mr. Donegan uses hundreds of wasted words to spew his simple credo: conservatives good, liberals bad. For Donegan, like most conservatives, the world is an easy place to figure, sans gray area or nuance.
I had to just laugh at this! I get conservatives shoving their political agendas down everyone’s throat almost every day. And this is just one more example of that!!!
Perhaps the nature of what “conservatives” are now espousing is the cause of their isolation. My red lines: Neonazis are not fine people; collective public health is in the Constitution and is not Communism, insurgents attacking our democratic institutions are not patriots.
The term, “closeted conservative,” is an oxymoron. Look no further than recent events – anti-mask bullies showing up at school board meetings , armed men atop businesses to fend off BLM protesters, vicious and racist attacks against Tommy Gong. All of this and what others here have posted sums up the conservative of today.
As an outspoken liberal, I appreciate your observations. I love a good debate with my conservative friends and I don’t shame them for their views (except if they support Trump. That deserves ridicule)… but I generally try to understand them, find common ground and respect differences.
I’m even trying hard to push back on my illiberal liberal friends who want to shut down opposing viewpoints, cancel them or use the woke mob to have their way. This isn’t the path to the progressive future I want to see.
Both extremes of the political moment are… well pretty extreme. I’d prefer we not paint “liberals” or “conservatives” with a broad brush they don’t deserve. Talk to each other. LISTEN. You may learn something.
Should be “phenomenon” (singular).
A man who isn’t liberal when he is young doesn’t have a heart, a man who isn’t conservative when he is old doesn’t have a brain. 🙂
Dear John. I think you’re confusing Radicalized Republican with “Conservative” because there aren’t any real political conservatives left in the GOP.
All that’s left is the selfish, entitled, self-righteous, angry mob that stormed the Capitol to commit treason with the help of their cowardly Anti-American supporters like John D and Al F.
Because to them, sedition is okay…
@E.Huber: It is amusing to hear a group who looted and burned our cities last summer, killed innocent people, and applauded as a portion of Seattle was surrendered to a murderous mob, complain about “sedition”.
John, a conservative who regularly posts his own opinion to the New Times and can’t resist voicing his political opinions in the comments, would like you to know that conservatives are reserved about their political opinions.
The Trump flags, hats, and blue lives branded lifestyle apparel are only there to show how reserved conservatives are about their opinions.
The histrionic discussions about masks in schools and critical race theory at school board meetings recently really underscore the reservation that conservatives have about sharing their opinions.
John, nobody describes themselves as “woke”. That’s a term you’ve adopted to label anything and anyone who might have some interest in discussing some problems that we’ve been noticing.
Me telling you that your opinions are bad, dumb, uninformed, misinformed, and usually kinda racist is not cancel culture. That’s just the table stakes for participating in society, where you don’t get a platform to push for harmful policies without criticism or people telling you that you’re no longer welcome.
You feel like a “leper” while the Republican party hasn’t won the popular vote in the presidential election in 20 years yet still holds the majority of the Supreme Court and Senate. I don’t know what to tell you. Sorry about your feelings, I guess.
And since you actually care so much about people’s closeted political opinions, then maybe fix the part where the minority party (yours) holds more political power than the majority of voters. Maybe that’s too “woke”. Or is it “cancel culture”? I don’t know. You don’t have any ideas other than this weird culture war grift so I don’t really care.
Again, sorry if this isn’t sensitive enough to your needs as a closeted conservative posting your opinions to a public news website on the internet.
John Donegan neglects to mention that the modern American conservatives, if they told the truth about their beliefs to the pollsters and other people of different views, these conservatives would have to admit that they are Fascists. The GQP have become the new American Fascist party. The GQP conservatives are against Democracy and for an Authoritarian Dictatorship.
@Scott Jenkins: Who really are the authoritarian fascists? After all, it has been the so-called “liberals” who have used cancel culture to drive people off campus, and to crush business, for refusing to endorse leftist dogma. Which side sought to jail a Christian baker for refusing to bake a cake for a same sex wedding? Which party seeks to impose more and more government control over every aspect of our lives? Which side do the violent thugs of antifa identify with as they attack properly-permitted demonstrations by conservatives? It is the Brown Shirt leftist thugs who most threaten democratic society.
Satchmo Kelvinator doesn’t understand what fascism is. It is not, in fact, when the government does stuff that I don’t like. Nor is is when universities and schools no longer associate with those who propagate beliefs that run counter to the goal of providing education about how the world works. Nor is it public health. Nor was the baker ever threatened with jail time. This one seems obvious, though if your basic mental model for fascism is “stuff that looks violent” it might be confusing, but nor is anti-fascism actually fascism.
@Neighborhood: You can engage in all of the Orwellian semantic contortions you want, but only your fellow leftists will be convinced. Driving someone from their job or business over their opinion, is fascist no matter how you try and explain it away. The baker was the subject of a criminal prosecution, which always contains the threat of jail. Using the vast power of government to enforce the “Approved Thinking” is always authoritarian. Attacking the political opposition is always fascist, no matter how “righteous” you might think yourself. The woke would be right at home in a 1930’s Munich beer hall, at least if they owned any lederhosen to go with their brown shirts.
“Attacking the political opposition is always fascist.”
Yeah. Totally. That’s definitely what fascism is.
Fascists were/are fascist but also attacking them was/is fascism. Very good point.
Fascism always uses the Big Lies to create their alternate reality (fiction) that feeds the fears of their lemming (death) cult members. remember Joseph Goebbels and the Third Reich.
Nationally and Locally, the right wing have become the Qanon Death Cult of Delusional Fascists intent on overthrowing American Democracy, and create their white supremacist confederate authoritarian dictatorship.
They say they are patriots. No, they are seditionist traitors.
There are too many local elected officials that adhere to the “Big Lies” of the “previous guy”, the right wing’s pathetic fuhrer.
Remember, these are fascist, conduction a continuing Coup on Our American Democracy. Once again, Traitors.
Let’s not forget how many cities were boarding up their businesses…all over this country before the 2020 election….this was because if trump won…the losing left was going to burn down this country…funny how no one brings this up!!!
The real traitor is you…scott jenkins
Hey Scott…you want to spare killers..but destroy a heart in the womb…your’re the evil ones!