And Liberals are self-loathing, whiny, pessimist, paranoid, humorless hacks… according to Team Red.
This myth created around liberals only began when Bush took office and became increasingly a popular rumor in the last 4 years of his presidency.
The far Right have a tendency to think all-things-one-dimension. Complex subjects and complex things confuse them. They give up frustrated and wave the white flag of surrender. So, leave it up to the far stretched-out Right to come up with something so bizarre, although could very well be true. Let’s take a look.
Here’s what’s happening:
Let’s start with humor. Do any of you not realize that Comedy Central and most comedians are liberal? Yes, those people that make us laugh in the movies and on TV screens all the time, are LIBERALS. We rule the entertainment and comedy industry. So, there goes your theory that Liberals hate to make jokes and laugh. Interestingly enough, it can’t be a coincidence that those who don’t get my sense of humor are often hardcore conservatives.
Liberals and conservatives have been polled. When asked if they are happy, generally the conservatives say that they are happy, and the liberals respond saying that they are not happy.
We first have to define “happy”. Maybe we see happiness differently? Have you ever thought of that? For example, it may just be that “happy” to conservatives is defined on more of a superficial level whereas Liberals define happiness on a deeper level seeing the big picture instead of focusing on one thing? Saying that you’re not happy doesn’t necessarily mean that you hate yourself, your world, your life, and all people.
Another perspective from a Liberal:
So I hate that conservatives “don’t care” but I think they may be closer to living in their moment than I in mine. I’m always stuck in the “as soon as this problem is solved or over, then, I can get on with my life.” Trouble is another one just pops up to replace the old one anyhow. So perhaps I don’t spend enough time on the wonder of today, and the blessings I actually have. And then again, that gets me to thinking. . . .
Staunch Conservatives have a tendency to repress emotion, be stoics, live in denial, and see the world through rose-colored glasses. The poster-boy of this type is the far Right Republican talk show host, Michael Medved. He is a pollyanna and so are the same people that feel all liberals walk around with scars on their wrists. Sharp people see right through pollyannas. And if you ask me, they are just miserable people with a mask. The thing is that they become pollyannas as a coping mechanism to deal with life’s stresses. But their pain is easily seen and comes out via passive aggression.
When you take a lemon and make lemonade out of it, it can prove to be worthwhile. But not all of the time. Some kind of balance is necessary and should depend on the situation. You people take that principle way too far. The Right who portrays themselves as the party of “straight talkers” and “politically incorrect shooters” seems odd to me when it is really the Left that expresses themselves more honestly taking the risk that they just might add to the “stereotype” or the “statistics” of a depressed and unhappy “Libbie”. We care less about what people think of us.
Speaking of learning how to survive stress. The Righteous Right believe in God and organized religion. That is their crutch. That is how they get through from day to day. And I respect that. And understandably, I can see how this would aid one who is going through rough spots in their life. I think that we all need a crutch. But perhaps it is more common for Liberals to not lean on shoulders to get through life? Maybe we do it on our own? Not saying this is good or bad. This is not an issue of who’s right or wrong. It’s an issue of which party has the most reliable survival mechanisms.
It appears to me that the Right have many coping techniques to get through life’s most rigid edges. When they feel powerlessness, they take control over others whereas a Liberal may see a psychiatrist for their depression or anxiety instead. The Right pulls out the bible, and the Left seeks science to feel better by attending therapy and becoming more aware of themselves. When one is aware of himself, he is also aware of his weaknesses as well as his strengths. The Right may only be aware of their strengths and tend to be over-confident when it comes to seeing themselves and their life realistically – hence the “happiness”.
Conservatives only think of themselves.
And naturally, if you only think of yourselves and ignore the problems on our own turf and throughout the world, surely you’ll be happier. One man for himself. The charity that the Neo-conservatives are so famous for is, for the most part, only within their churches. The church-goers only protect their own. Outsiders can go fend for themselves.
The Right also tend to have a religious patriotism toward not only their country, but their own family as well. Even if they spent years being sexually abused by their own father and was brutally beaten by their mothers, they will faithfully back them and love them until their death.
Liberals don’t work that way. We feel that respect in the family AND in the government is EARNED. We don’t automatically accept everything as perfect and as truth without inspecting it first. If anything at all, we work to make things better. So, perhaps that is why you sometimes find us in a stupor?
You see, both Liberals and Conservatives are unhappy (rhetorically speaking).
What’s happening here is that Liberals are honest about how they feel. They are more in touch with themselves. They don’t wear the blinders. So, they respond to those Right-winged orchestrated polls with the truth.
Secondly, Neo-Conservatives are insecure with who they are and are always looking to find fault with those whom were unhappy with Bush and co. So, they go out and about to run these polls to PROVE that Liberals hate themselves and everybody to make the right-wingnutters feel vindicated about supporting Bush. Conservatives literally go out of their way with these childish tests to prove their superiority over the wrist-slashing-neo-pagan hacks.
Liberals are cynics and can be very skeptical, and that is often misconstrued with being “unhappy”. We are self-critical. We ask questions, we challenge authority, we challenge our own parents, sisters, and brothers, we may disagree with the “moral majority”, and THAT is thought of as being “clinically depressed” and/or “hate-mongering” by the Right.
Dumb people are happier. Ignorance IS bliss. There is no scientific evidence to prove this, but I have found that the dumbest people I know are the most ill-informed and self-contradictory. When you’re not living in reality in the REAL WORLD, you are bound to be happy. The more intelligent that you are, the more you realize the cruel world that we live in. It’s no excuse to not make the best of it, of course. But full awareness, by its very own nature is depressing. Some trivia: There are just as many sites on the internet that talk about dumb people being happier as there are Neo-Conservatives being happier. Some food for thought?
Speaking of Happy being connected to Dumb: Based on this article, you’d think that Liberals would be happy as it is “proof” that we are clearly the most uninformed out there!
And finally, I have a feeling that this “test” of “positivity levels” was done perhaps unfairly? They, more than likely, suppressed the mainstream liberal answers and only took notice of the FAR LEFT answers. They probably suppressed the answers from the often angry FAR RIGHT and just used the votes of the mainstream conservatives to compare with. If that is the case, Team Red has an excellent argument. The lunatic fringe on both sides of the fence are the scariest people I have ever met.
So, yeah, when you test mainstream conservatives with the looney Left, you’re going to get the results that you hoped for. 
This lambasting of Liberals for their negativity about the world lasted throughout the entire eight years of GWB’s “flawless presidency”. To be fair, back in the 60’s hippie movement, the Left suppressed their frustrations about the world and the current state of affairs by getting stoned all the time. They didn’t want to see reality for what it was and used several things as crutches to get by.
Anywhooo……….
—>Fast forward to Nov. 4th, 2008<—
Some noteworthy things have changed.
Liberals have literally changed places with the Conservatives. Team Red has just honorably earned this sticker:
Liberals all over have smiles on their faces, yet simultaneously keeping their cynical nature about President-elect Barack Obama. I have read you people, and I see most of you are aware that Obama is a politician and won’t carry out all that he promises. We Liberals are also aware that all presidents screw up, and we aren’t painting an unrealistic picture as all the Neocons are misguidedly thinking us to be guilty of.
Team Red, on the other hand, are walking around with their heads between their knees, whining, making threats, whining, hoping for assassinations, whining, creating wild conspiracies, whining, hating, whining, making racist comments on youtube because they know they’re anonymous, whining, thinking the absolute worst of Obama, whining, crying, whining, having temper tantrums, whining, and hating Americans and America. They are probably taking that belt out whooping their kid’s ass and kicking their dog more than ever now. You thought that you knew the Righteous Right before, you should see them now. They are all knotted in bunches.
Oh. Did I forget to mention whining?
Damn. It feels so good to be on the other side for a change. Now, you still can cling bitterly to your guns-n-religion, ya hear? Or you could always do the liberal thing and pop a Prozac and start cutting yourself emo-style.
Or…?
America: love it or leave it?
(Note: The only reason I write this is to show that these poll results are not as simple as thought to be. Many factors weigh in rather than the black and white happy vs sad comparison – although the conservatives just may be right about this one.)
