Info
Joined:
April 9, 2016
About
What's the deal with your nickname? How did you get it? If your nickname is self-explanatory, then tell everyone when you first started using the internet, and what was the first thing that made you say "wow, this isn't just a place for freaks after all?" Was it a website? Was it an email from a long-lost friend? Go on, spill it.
"There is nothing stronger than a broken woman who has rebuilt herself." - Hannah Gadsby
I am not a label nor an ideology. My mind is not for rent. I stand alone and I stand with everyone. I believe in the core values of love (self-love before all else), dignity, graciousness, peace, honesty, connection, coexistence and respect. Alongside a crap ton of good ol' can't-catch-my-breath belly laughter. Mostly at myself and my dumbass cat.
I am proud to live in Winston-Salem, NC, where my neighbors, friends, family and colleagues are as diverse as the day is long. And what I've learned while engaging with all viewpoints with civility and opened ears is that humankind is a force of good and a collective of love. Dreamer, you say? You betcha.
My previous self, at whom I look back very fondly, rollin' around in life's mud pit with quite a bit of pain and self-loathing.
______________________________________________________________________________
Dave Rubin sums up my viewpoints eloquently in "The Left is No Longer Liberal" (08:23):
"The portion of the left which is no longer progressive, meaning for progress, but regressive, meaning going backwards, has been identified.
[...]
Finally, for the first time in a long time, those of us who are liberal and open to new ideas are coming together and being heard.
Whether or not you like Trump, his win was a huge rejection of the identity politics of the left. But don't take my word for that, Bernie Sanders said it himself.
The only thing which can replace the regressive dissent of the left is a return to true liberalism. A liberalism which defends free speech and expression. A liberalism that is for liberty and rights of the individual, and, most importantly, a liberalism that is one for human liberty.
I now believe that this regressive ideology is the biggest threat to freedom in Western civilization that exists today. With the rise of Trump and the constant comparisons they make of him to Hitler, the left now has the perfect bogeyman to use to excuse anything. If your opponent is a vile racist then you can use violence and any means necessary to stop him.
The regressive left has already begun using violence as a tactic, and I fear that that's just getting started.
[...]
The regressive, control, the liberal left--whatever you want to call it--is a group of people who place identity, usually based on immutable characteristics, in a pecking order of social importance, such as race, gender and religion, where victimhood is the highest virtue to be had.
This Oppression Olympics allows groups to compete for who is the most oppressed, thus the most virtuous. And if someone isn't as oppressed as you, then you have full authority to oppress them accordingly. So Black Lives Matter can protest a gay rights march in Toronto. White gay men can be banned from leading LGBT organizations on college campuses. Pro-life women can be kicked out of Women's Rights marches and so on.
This backwards ideology, which demands we judge each other not on the content of our character but on the color of our skin or some other baked-in trait puts the collective ahead of the individual. It loves all of its minority groups to behave as monoliths, so if you're a true individual, meaning you don't subscribe to the ideas that the groupthink has attributed to you based on those immutable characteristics, you must be cast out.
[...]
This is the absolute height of absurdity, but it all makes sense when you value groups over individuals. The individual must be sacrificed at the altar of the collective. So when any of these people dare speak out and call for true tolerance, they find their tolerance met with intolerance. The left loves diversity in skin color, just not diversity in thought.
[...]
This is where I feel there might be nothing left for me on the modern American left ... I'm for free speech, even for white supremacist Richard Spencer to speak and not get punched in the face, as happened just a couple of days ago.
And I'm still a card-carrying liberal, by the way. I'm for gay marriage, I'm pro-choice, I'm pro legalization of marijuana, I'm against the death penalty and the list goes on.
At the same time, though, I'm against this Oppression Olympics. I'm against safe spaces and trigger warnings. I'm against labeling all my opponents bigots and racists, and I'm against de-platforming speakers, especially at colleges where ideas are meant to be challenged and debated.
I'm also for states' rights, for following the Constitution, and most importantly for having a limited government that gets out of the way so that you can live your life to the fullest.
[...]
I've said a few times on the show that defending my liberal principles has become a conservative position.
[...]
The issues I care about the most--free speech, rights of the individual and limited government designed to maximize liberty--now have almost nothing to do with the modern left. My positions basically haven't changed, but I've watched as my team has gone off the deep end.
The battle of ideas always gets to a tipping point, and I sense that we're closing in on one right now. If we can't reign in this madness on the left then Donald Trump will be all too happy to show them his authoritarian side. Both sides are ramping up for a showdown; that seems incredibly obvious to me.
So, while I absolutely believe that the new center filled with liberals, conservatives and libertarians and others is rapidly growing, maybe I've lost the left and maybe that's okay. But to end this direct message, I now kick this back to you guys: If you're liberal, is there anything left for you on the left, or are you left out? Is it now the conservative position to truly be liberal?"
"There is nothing stronger than a broken woman who has rebuilt herself." - Hannah Gadsby
I am not a label nor an ideology. My mind is not for rent. I stand alone and I stand with everyone. I believe in the core values of love (self-love before all else), dignity, graciousness, peace, honesty, connection, coexistence and respect. Alongside a crap ton of good ol' can't-catch-my-breath belly laughter. Mostly at myself and my dumbass cat.
I am proud to live in Winston-Salem, NC, where my neighbors, friends, family and colleagues are as diverse as the day is long. And what I've learned while engaging with all viewpoints with civility and opened ears is that humankind is a force of good and a collective of love. Dreamer, you say? You betcha.
My previous self, at whom I look back very fondly, rollin' around in life's mud pit with quite a bit of pain and self-loathing.
______________________________________________________________________________
Dave Rubin sums up my viewpoints eloquently in "The Left is No Longer Liberal" (08:23):
"The portion of the left which is no longer progressive, meaning for progress, but regressive, meaning going backwards, has been identified.
[...]
Finally, for the first time in a long time, those of us who are liberal and open to new ideas are coming together and being heard.
Whether or not you like Trump, his win was a huge rejection of the identity politics of the left. But don't take my word for that, Bernie Sanders said it himself.
The only thing which can replace the regressive dissent of the left is a return to true liberalism. A liberalism which defends free speech and expression. A liberalism that is for liberty and rights of the individual, and, most importantly, a liberalism that is one for human liberty.
I now believe that this regressive ideology is the biggest threat to freedom in Western civilization that exists today. With the rise of Trump and the constant comparisons they make of him to Hitler, the left now has the perfect bogeyman to use to excuse anything. If your opponent is a vile racist then you can use violence and any means necessary to stop him.
The regressive left has already begun using violence as a tactic, and I fear that that's just getting started.
[...]
The regressive, control, the liberal left--whatever you want to call it--is a group of people who place identity, usually based on immutable characteristics, in a pecking order of social importance, such as race, gender and religion, where victimhood is the highest virtue to be had.
This Oppression Olympics allows groups to compete for who is the most oppressed, thus the most virtuous. And if someone isn't as oppressed as you, then you have full authority to oppress them accordingly. So Black Lives Matter can protest a gay rights march in Toronto. White gay men can be banned from leading LGBT organizations on college campuses. Pro-life women can be kicked out of Women's Rights marches and so on.
This backwards ideology, which demands we judge each other not on the content of our character but on the color of our skin or some other baked-in trait puts the collective ahead of the individual. It loves all of its minority groups to behave as monoliths, so if you're a true individual, meaning you don't subscribe to the ideas that the groupthink has attributed to you based on those immutable characteristics, you must be cast out.
[...]
This is the absolute height of absurdity, but it all makes sense when you value groups over individuals. The individual must be sacrificed at the altar of the collective. So when any of these people dare speak out and call for true tolerance, they find their tolerance met with intolerance. The left loves diversity in skin color, just not diversity in thought.
[...]
This is where I feel there might be nothing left for me on the modern American left ... I'm for free speech, even for white supremacist Richard Spencer to speak and not get punched in the face, as happened just a couple of days ago.
And I'm still a card-carrying liberal, by the way. I'm for gay marriage, I'm pro-choice, I'm pro legalization of marijuana, I'm against the death penalty and the list goes on.
At the same time, though, I'm against this Oppression Olympics. I'm against safe spaces and trigger warnings. I'm against labeling all my opponents bigots and racists, and I'm against de-platforming speakers, especially at colleges where ideas are meant to be challenged and debated.
I'm also for states' rights, for following the Constitution, and most importantly for having a limited government that gets out of the way so that you can live your life to the fullest.
[...]
I've said a few times on the show that defending my liberal principles has become a conservative position.
[...]
The issues I care about the most--free speech, rights of the individual and limited government designed to maximize liberty--now have almost nothing to do with the modern left. My positions basically haven't changed, but I've watched as my team has gone off the deep end.
The battle of ideas always gets to a tipping point, and I sense that we're closing in on one right now. If we can't reign in this madness on the left then Donald Trump will be all too happy to show them his authoritarian side. Both sides are ramping up for a showdown; that seems incredibly obvious to me.
So, while I absolutely believe that the new center filled with liberals, conservatives and libertarians and others is rapidly growing, maybe I've lost the left and maybe that's okay. But to end this direct message, I now kick this back to you guys: If you're liberal, is there anything left for you on the left, or are you left out? Is it now the conservative position to truly be liberal?"