I don't know what I was thinking; I visited the far-left blogsite, thinkprogress.org. I do know what I was thinking actually, I wanted to see what the other side was saying and how they were feeling about issues. I truly believe that in order to continue to expand my ideas and values, I need to understand where someone else is coming from.
The issues they were addressing had to do with how much the abhor Bill O'Reilly, Bill Kristol, John McCain, Joe the Plumber and Glenn Beck but no real issues (ie. the budget, the stimulus, the military, abortion, etc.). There didn't seem to be too much of substance in the articles presented and the comments posted.
So, I started to comment and was trying to be nice and open minded and I immediately was attacked and demeaned. I was called idiotic, a moron, self-loathing, stupid troll, and an array of other not-so-nice terms. I was repeatedly flagged for "spewing nonsense" and "drivel". I was asked to leave because thinkprogress.org was a place for liberals to talk amongst themselves and outsiders weren't welcome. I was under the impression that the liberals were supposed to be about tolerance and acceptance. Apparently, not.
I politely asked why they hated Glenn Beck. I was told that he was clearly mentally ill, spoke nonsense, must still be an alcoholic and was a blubbering idiot because he cried all the time. I didn't quite understand how any of that made someone mentally ill and I never really got a solid answer to my question of "why do you think he's mentally ill?" They said because he called President Obama the Manchurian Candidate, he was clearly mentally ill.
It was quite interesting to me that anytime I used facts about conservatives/Bush, whatever, I was told I was just spinning and using talking points but whenever they used "facts" they were facts and not talking points yet the "facts" they used were simply things heard on MSNBC or read in the NYT. It seems a bit hypocritical to me and quite self-serving.
We were talking about what a big deal the conservatives are making of President Obama using the teleprompter so much. I find it entertaining and funny but not a real issue. They asked me why the conservatives would make it an issue and I replied with "for the same reason the liberals made an issue out of the money spent on Sarah Palin's wardrobe during the campaign". Well, that did it...they called me an idiot for making that comparison and told me there was clearly a difference. Is there? Really? When they complained about Amanda Terkel being "stalked" by O'Reilly's producer I asked "how is that any different that a network news show sending people to Alaska to bombard Levi Johnston with questions about his relationship with Bristol Palin and about his child?" Again, I was called a moron and told I didn't have any facts and these were not the same things.
I began to wonder, how are we ever going to come together as a country when there is this much hatred. I visited a popular blog site, that of Michelle Malkin who is really despised by the left. I wanted to see if the treatment of liberals on a conservative website was the same as the treatment I received as a conservative on a liberal website. Turns out, it is quite similar. Now, I am biased but the conservatives weren't quite as mean to the liberals as I was treated on thinkprogress.org. But, the conservatives did tell liberals to go away and that they were being flagged on the site.
We talk so much about bipartisanship but is there really such a thing? I'm not sure we can get past our own philosophies and ideals to really work together. I did learn one thing though, I won't treat anyone the same way I was treated by the people on thinkprogress.org...it was unbelievably disrespectful, hateful, mean and foolish.
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