Another great piece from Robin over at American Thinker:------------
One of the things I like so much about writing for American Thinker is the comments page. Readers offer so much: tips for books to read, quotes to ponder, spiritual inspiration. And then there are times when the comments absolutely floor me.
I was shocked that readers were shocked about my previously viewing Marxism as sublime. I was astonished that readers were astonished about my young client's freak out about styrofoam.
I realized that liberals really do live on another planet. Sometimes I feel like I'm having a Close Encounter of the Political Kind.
Conservatives can mistakenly assume that liberals think like they do, in a learned and rational way. This is an exercise in futility since liberalism is not based on logic.
To become a conservative, I've had to learn a whole new language, one based on reason. If conservatives want to understand the liberal mind, they should consider becoming bilingual too.
Liberals live in a stratosphere centered on emotions and magical thinking. If you've tried to reason with your daughter and she looks at you blankly; if your neighbor changes the subject during your compelling arguments; if your cousin says this about Obama, "I don't know why. I just like the guy." . . . that's why....
I'm not going to disagree with this. There are innumerable examples from both the famous and the anonymous:
-- The most illustrious of all leftists, Noam Chomsky, still maintains that the Khmer Rouge did not slaughter millions of Cambodians.
-- Liberal luminaries, Annette Bening and Naomi Wolf, defend Radical Islam, including the dreaded burqua.
-- After journeying to Cuba, members of the Congressional Black Caucus bragged about the stellar conditions there.
-- Michael Moore thinks that the Cuban health system is to die for.
-- Anita Dunn, a former special assistant to Obama, stated that Mao was one of the people she admired the most.
If these are the more informed liberals, what about Jane and Joe in the street?
-- During the primary, I asked my friend Gail why she was voting for Obama. Did she know anything about his voting record or background? She responded, "No, I don't." When I asked her why she was voting for him, she said, "I just am."
-- Last week, I chatted with Shelley, a liberal pal who voted for Obama. I asked her what she thought of him now. She said that she thought he was doing fine, but she confessed that she wasn't following the news.
-- During the election, I told a friend, George, that I thought Obama was a socialist. George responded, "Well capitalism doesn't work. Why not try socialism?" Dr. George has a Ph.D....
That's the biggest problem -- not questioning the party line even though there are obvious gaps and gaffes. A big reason for this is fear.
I had a telling email exchange with a liberal friend. When I wrote that I thought Obama was a Marxist, she responded, "Don't say that! You're scaring me!" Aside from intellectual laziness, the Fear Factor makes otherwise intelligent liberals stupidly fall into line. Liberals can scare easily....
Many conservative women -- like the intrepid Sarah Palin -- are more capable, more powerful, yes, more a "man" than some of the liberal XY specimens. And the utter shame of this makes them despise you -- and want to render you helpless too.
That's the universe I grew up in, that I lived in my whole life, until the mysterious winds of Fate swept me up and turned my life upside down. For most of my life, I was a secular ignoramus, living in and for the self. I navigated the world with the Braille of feelings; and I blindly followed the leaders.
I've now spent 2 years exploring a different planet entirely, the more formidable and logical and spiritual one where conservatives work and play. I've parked myself firmly in your world, while I write about the other one.
Frankly, I like your hemisphere better, and have settled in for good. I feel more safely ensconced with the earth beneath me and the heavens above me than I ever did in Outer Space.
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