Bleeding-hearted liberals

[redeye]

Many conservatives accuse people on the left as bleeding-hearted liberals, presumably in order to smear people who actually care for human life. Who are those bleeding-hearted liberals, though - those who really deserve the title? I for one am. I also know that there are several things common to all bleeding-hearted liberals.

A bleeding-hearted liberal opposes all murder, regardless of whether it's done by individuals (murder), the state (death penalty), violent resistance movements (terrorism), the army (war), or anyone else.

A bleeding-hearted liberal condemns all acts of murder and war, regardless of who commits them, instead of shouting "America brought it on itself," "Saddam is the one who's really responsible for all that," etc.

A bleeding-hearted liberal cares for human life and dignity instead of any social construct (e.g. nation) or ideology. Even humanism and its derivative bleeding-hearted liberalism are mere tools meant to advance and protect human beings. Consequently, bleeding-hearted liberals are never patriots, because patriotism actively supports a nation as a principle rather than as a tool.

A bleeding-hearted liberal looks for the solution for a problem rather than for blaming other people. When s/he faces a problem (e.g. poverty), s/he analyzes it in order to solve it; and while finding out what is the cause of the problem is part of analyzing it, it is by no means the only part of the analysis.

A bleeding-hearted liberal separates problems from one another instead of forcing them all into an ideological box, whether communistic, patriotic, conservative, or religious.

A bleeding-hearted liberal doesn't run away from labels, but rather defends them if they fit him/her or explains why they do not, if they don't.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. That's me!!!

Yepper! I am a proud Bleeding-Heart Liberal, but with a twist: I have an advanced degree in personal conflict and mayhem, so I WON'T be anyone's shrinking victim. Especially repukes, neo-cons and freepers.

I may bleed, but I do not shrink, turn tail and run.

[redeye]

2. Exactly...

...caring for human life doesn't mean sitting there and not doing anything. I will go as far as saying that it doesn't necessarily mean not killing someone who's posing an immediate threat to you, although it does mean not killing anyone who isn't threatening you anymore.

[unfrigginreal]

3. I guess I'm just a Liberal

You can have my bleeding heart...there's too many things there that I just can't wrap my arms around.

[Terwilliger]

8. such as?

[unfrigginreal]

18. Well here's one

I am not necessarily against all wars. After rereading the post there's not much else that I disagree with but I definitely would support a war that I felt was just.

[silverweb]

4. Well said!

I'm very happy to be another tree-hugging, bleeding-heart liberal and proud to be associated with you!

It makes me laugh when right-wingers try to use these terms as slurs, when to me they're quite complementary. :D

:hippie:

[DarkPhenyx]

5. I have enjoyed...

...taking these conservatie who say that they hate the line "do it for the children" and now that all the justifications for the war are falling apart they are resorting to the "loook at those children we liberated from those jails. I am so glad we invaded if only for those children".

I really hate hypocrasy.

*proudly not a bleeding heart, but not at all derisive of those that are*

[redeye]

12. That, too...

...I haven't figured out how bombing people liberates them, but I guess that it's just me and my bleeding heart.

[number9]

6. interesting post

"patriotism actively supports a nation as a principle rather than as a tool."

doesn't it do both?

[DarkPhenyx]

7. I don't think that...

...patriotism should ever be a tool, or even a means to an end. That road leads to abuse of patriotism, which is what we have been seeing recently. Eventually you get nationalism and fascism.

[redeye]

11. The former kinda includes the latter

If you support something as a principle (e.g. humanism) then you also support it as a means to achieve itself, methinks.

[DarkPhenyx]

15. But you run the risk of...

...your belief in Humanism blinding you to the flaws of your philosophy, and you fail to grow not only in your philosophy but also allowing your philosophy to grow by accepting those things outside of it that strengthen it.

Patriotism used as a tool, and becoming a means to an end, blinds you to teh flaws in that State to which you are patriotic.

[redeye]

17. Patriotism and humanism

As for humanism, the version I believe in is simply the idea that whatever system devised should help all human beings, and nothing remotely close to the Humanist Manifesto (I do think that many of the things in the HM can be logically deduced from that "weak" version of humanism, though).

What I mean about patriotism as a means is that I support a nation if and only if it behaves well, if you excuse the expression. If the USA becomes what it says it is - the land of the free, the home of the brave, the land of opportunity, etc. - then I'll support it, but until then, I see no reason why I should. Patriotism as an end is support of a nation, right or wrong, and is thus different from using a nation as a means to an end.

[DarkPhenyx]

21. Having said that...

...tehn I don't see you having patriotism as a means but as a reaction to your country doing the right thing. Being a State you can feel patriotic about.

Using patriotism as a means, to me anyway, is more like what Bush and company seem to be doing where they are pulling that string to get us to fall in line and support them. If you aren't with us you are with the terrorists...that sort of thing.

Herman Goering said during his trials after the war something about "question the patriotism of those standing agasint you. make them appear disloyal". It isn't a direct quote, but at 1:00 am I am not going to go looking for it. It's clsoe enough.

To my mind that is using patrotism as a tool and a means.

[OrdinaryTa]

9. I Was Impressed

I was impressed by the compassion shown in a discussion in the Lounge about a skunk that had a broken foot. The poster was worried about the skunk and sought advice how to trap the animal and get proper medical treatment for it. The skunk was not somebody's pet, it was a wild animal under the house.

Everybody responded with great concern both for the skunk and for the poster. I was touched by the genuine compassion of the participants in the discussion. I wouldn't want to approach a skunk, especially one that might be in pain and have a short fuse. I saw virtues in DU'ers that, candidly, I don't see in myself. I admire these generous souls who help their fellow creatures ... even ones that might spray them with skunk stink! To me, that's the real thing.

[RandomKoolzip]

10. Better a bleeding heart than no heart at all.

Fuck fascism.

[DarkPhenyx]

14. So long as...

...having a bleeding heart dosen't blind you from the consequences to decisions you make. Better to have simply a heart than to be so emotional that you can't think and be logical.

[Clete]

13. Hitler called liberals

"Schwabing decadents", referring to the bohemian section of Munich where a lot of the arty liberal types of people lived, like it was a dirty word in "Mein Kampf". Neo-cons like conservative commentator harpy, Ann Coulter, also tries to wrap the word liberal in perjorative adjectives to make it sound dirty too. Next time someone calls me a bleeding heart liberal or any other words putting liberals down, I will call them jackbooted Nazis without hesitation.

[DarkPhenyx]

16. Why not instead...

...smile plesantly and say "why thank you!"

[Clete]

19. I could do that...

...I have done that, but those idiots don't comprehend the subtlety. I am in war mode these days. These people need to know what their part has been in creating the mess our country is in these days and turning the other cheek is not an appropriate defense anymore.

[DarkPhenyx]

20. Ah, but you said it yourself.

do you honestly think thet'd get the "responsibility" part if they can't grasp subtelty?