There are a variety of data points about me that might cause you to suspect that I am a liberal, which I am. They include:
* I grew up as a child of academics in a college town.
* I grew up as a child of academics in a college town.
* My spouse is not white and neither are my children.
* I hyphenated my name with my wife when I got married.
* I hyphenated my name with my wife when I got married.
* I am an atheist and have raised my children in a secular manner.
* I am a member of the American Humanists Association and have a bumper sticker from it on my car.
* I am a New York Times subscriber.
* I practice law as a sole proprietor.
* I am a member of the American Humanists Association and have a bumper sticker from it on my car.
* I am a New York Times subscriber.
* I practice law as a sole proprietor.
* I have been registered to vote as a Democrat since I could first vote. So were my parents. I have never voted for a Republican in my entire life.
* I have been an officer in the Democratic Party of Denver and I have attended more than one state convention of the Democratic Party.
* I have never served in the military.
* I have never owned a gun and I have never gone hunting.
* I have never owned a gun and I have never gone hunting.
* I have never been a country club member.
* I have lived abroad.
* I know what life is like in Finland (a Democratic Socialist country) from a relative who lives there and lived with my family for while, while I was in college.
* About half of the entertainment media that I consume (i.e. TV, movies, music) is not in English.
* I know what life is like in Finland (a Democratic Socialist country) from a relative who lives there and lived with my family for while, while I was in college.
* About half of the entertainment media that I consume (i.e. TV, movies, music) is not in English.
* I attended one of the most liberal colleges in the United States as an undergraduate.
* I used to listen to National Public Radio news on a regular basis.
* I used to listen to National Public Radio news on a regular basis.
* I was a radio journalist in college and have been a member of the Society of Professional Journalists while I was an adult.
* I live in the central city of a major metropolitan area and sent my children to school, early childhood education and kindergarten through twelfth grade, to the Denver Public Schools.
* I have many political allies, clients and friends who are LGBTQ, and have marketed for clients at PrideFest and a lesbian bar and in LGBTQ directories. My son's violin teacher of many years was gay, as are many of my children's close friends.
* I was president of the ACLU in college and have been involved in it off and on before and after college.
* I have a graduate degree.
* I have clients who are poor and working class as well as affluent.
* I have a left leaning blog (this one) and lean left on most political issues.
* I drive a subcompact Japanese car and have never bought an American car, although I have received a couple of GM cars as gifts when I was younger and used them.
* I like cats.
* I am a fan of science fiction, fantasy and comics.
* I like cats.
* I am a fan of science fiction, fantasy and comics.
what do you think of harrison ford talking about saving the world and climate change and being a liberal like you while owning many private jets and traveling in them.
ReplyDeleteother liberals like barbara streisand to mark zuckerberg engage in similar practices
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/harrison-ford-called-out-for-using-private-jets-after-speech-at-un-climate-action-summit-001129311.html
do as i say not as i do.
* I am a fan of science fiction, fantasy and comics.
ReplyDeletewhich ones? star wars trek predator aliens xmen superman LOTR?
* Star Wars
ReplyDelete* Star Trek
* Game of Thrones
* Spiderman
* X-Men
* Many other major comics (mostly Marvel and indie titles, and handful of D.C.)
* Lots and lots of novels: Kelley Armstrong, Piers Anthony, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, LOTR, Vampire Academy, etc.
* Lots of webcomics (several dozen)
* Magical realism
* Anime series and manga series (many) e.g. Red River, Darling in the Franxx, Goong, etc.
* TV series including Carnival Row, Dead Like Me, Heroes, Sensate, Vampire Diaries, Daredevil, Charmed (both versions), Pushing Daisies, etc.,
* Art films sci fi/fantasy.
* Occult and some horror.
A full list would run to several pages and would still be incomplete. Not just English language. Also (with subtitles and/or translations) Japanese, Korean, Turkish, Russian, Malaysian, Australian, British and Irish, French ...
"what do you think of harrison ford talking about saving the world and climate change and being a liberal like you while owning many private jets and traveling in them"
ReplyDeletePolitical identification is deeply intertwined with and mostly a matter of cultural identification. And, liberalism is not a vow of poverty. In as few words as possible the Google motto "Don't be evil" pretty much sums it up.
I list many favorites in various media at Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ohwilleke/about?lst=633847937%3A633847937%3A1569363352
ReplyDeletei'm kinda impressed you are married and work as a lawyer and you find to watch all that stuff.
ReplyDeletei watch star wars and star trek discovery and the clone wars. i don't what to make of fungal networks and tardigrade dna
i've also watch reality tv show survivor
ReplyDeletePolitical identification is deeply intertwined with and mostly a matter of cultural identification. And, liberalism is not a vow of poverty. In as few words as possible the Google motto "Don't be evil" pretty much sums it up."
so you don't have any issues with super rich liberals telling us to make sacrifices to save the world and reduce our carbon footprint while they themselves indulge in private jets and helicopters and huge boats and fast cars.
sounds like hypocrisy to me.
First of all, the "super rich" are overwhelmingly conservatives. Maybe 90-10?
ReplyDeleteAnd, celebrities are rarely the most rich. They have high consumption lifestyles relative to what they earn, but hardly rivaling that of the billionaires. A fast car isn't that much more damage to climate than a $45,000 nicely trimmed upper middle class car. A Tesla is fast but has zero emissions and is increasingly cleanly powered as the grid steadily becomes cleaner with more renewables and less coal. The number of people who own private jets and helicopters is pretty darn modest. Boats aren't terribly inefficient fuel-wise.
Mostly climate change isn't about individual sacrifices period. It is about factories and utilities and core energy utilization technologies, not turning the light off when you leave a room, or taking lukewarm showers, or using reusable bags, etc. Not that it doesn't help a little, but no amount of that kind of thing can make that much of a difference. It is certainly superior to the utter denial of conservatives who want to maximize fossil fuel production and use and undermine environmental regulations of all kinds.
Certainly, you don't have to be anti-capitalist to be liberal. Markets work. The main problem is not that they don't work, but that they work too well and also are insufficiently regulated to prevent externalities from arising.
A post made when this blog was only four weeks old, on July 31, 2005 addresses some of these issues:
ReplyDeletehttp://washparkprophet.blogspot.com/2005/07/your-virtue-wont-save-planet.html
"
ReplyDeleteMostly climate change isn't about individual sacrifices period. It is about factories and utilities and core energy utilization technologies, not turning the light off when you leave a room, or taking lukewarm showers, or using reusable bags, etc. Not that it doesn't help a little, but no amount of that kind of thing can make that much of a difference. It is certainly superior to the utter denial of conservatives who want to maximize fossil fuel production and use and undermine environmental regulations of all kinds."
there's this speech by the current media darling Greta Thunberg age 15 or 16
“My name is Greta Thunberg. I am 15 years old. I am from Sweden. I speak on behalf of Climate Justice Now. Many people say that Sweden is just a small country and it doesn’t matter what we do. But I’ve learned you are never too small to make a difference. And if a few children can get headlines all over the world just by not going to school, then imagine what we could all do together if we really wanted to.
But to do that, we have to speak clearly, no matter how uncomfortable that may be. You only speak of green eternal economic growth because you are too scared of being unpopular. You only talk about moving forward with the same bad ideas that got us into this mess, even when the only sensible thing to do is pull the emergency brake. You are not mature enough to tell it like is. Even that burden you leave to us children. But I don’t care about being popular. I care about climate justice and the living planet. Our civilization is being sacrificed for the opportunity of a very small number of people to continue making enormous amounts of money. Our biosphere is being sacrificed so that rich people in countries like mine can live in luxury. It is the sufferings of the many which pay for the luxuries of the few.
The year 2078, I will celebrate my 75th birthday. If I have children maybe they will spend that day with me. Maybe they will ask me about you. Maybe they will ask why you didn’t do anything while there still was time to act. You say you love your children above all else, and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes.
Until you start focusing on what needs to be done rather than what is politically possible, there is no hope. We can’t solve a crisis without treating it as a crisis. We need to keep the fossil fuels in the ground, and we need to focus on equity. And if solutions within the system are so impossible to find, maybe we should change the system itself. We have not come here to beg world leaders to care. You have ignored us in the past and you will ignore us again. We have run out of excuses and we are running out of time. We have come here to let you know that change is coming, whether you like it or not. The real power belongs to the people. Thank you”.
ref https://www.lifegate.com/people/news/greta-thunberg-speech-cop24
she stared trump down.
She clearly is against the rich destroying our future with their carbon CO2 lifestyle.
it appears when it comes to abortion, it's a private matter which i agree, but when it comes to burning CO2 you're destroying the future.
i don't know how environmentalists can have their way without draconian measures that interfere with personal liberties, such as driving cars which dump co2
as far as factories are concerned, factories also produce CPU's that our smartphones need and the internet and social media.
i agree with you that conservatives can be anti-science on issues like evolution and even climate change, but let's not kid ourselves about liberals, when science goes against their own agenda.
personally i favor breeder nuclear reactors for base load. i know liberals are anti-nukes due to Chernobyl, three mile island and Fukushima but that's the price to pay for energy
Liberals trust science more than conservatives. Many in both camps don't trust some kinds of science. I'm not one of them. Many others aren't either. And, the fact that many people think that small individual efforts make a big difference doesn't mean that this is correct.
ReplyDeleteGreta Thunberg who is saying something along the lines of "And, the fact that many people think that small individual efforts make a big difference doesn't mean that this is correct."
ReplyDeleteis on the left. by 2075 the world population is projected to be 10 billion
https://www.mercatornet.com/demography/view/united_nations_releases_population_projections_to_2100/9134
you don't think say 4 billion Harrison Fords with private jets and helicopters and boats and fast cars and lavish lifestyles requiring factories to burn CO2 to produce these luxuries won't have an impact on CO2?
as a liberal, how do you see liberalism combating global warming while allowing individuals freedom to say drive a car or buy a CO2 produced and shipped smart phone and use fb?
@neo Not reality, but I'm sure this bit of satire will resonate with you: https://thebelladonnacomedy.com/martha-stewarts-guide-to-a-perfect-impeachment-party-b23882b814b7?fbclid=IwAR2_7ApzY3tWXJl-cRfmfz8yjPgu2plhTLE_JjdIpY6-yDY0pCwmWyPlV-M&gi=76e67f9d3da1
ReplyDelete