Attack their personality, not the merits of their argument!
According to Conservative Party research:
Conservatives - work harder, feel happier, have closer families, take fewer drugs, give more generously, value honesty more, are less materialistic and envious, whine less, and hug their children more.
Liberals - are less interested in caring for a physically ill or elderly family member, and more concerned with ensuring their own needs are being met. They are much more likely to be depressed or chronically angry, suffer from nervous breakdown or attempt suicide. They are also more likely to "seek revenge" or "throw or break things in a temper".
Research has been that works in the other direction. A Berkeley professor claims that conservatives tend to make harsh, abusive parents, and quotes a fundamentalist Christian book called "How to Rear Children" written by a conservative evangelical: "Little children are born in sin... Sometimes spanking should leave stripes on the child... the ritual should be deliberate and last 10 or 15 minutes... It should be a ritual dreaded by the child... It should be painful and it should last until the child's will is broken. It should last until the child is crying not tears of anger, but tears of a broken will".
Because we all want to break our kids, right?
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I don't want to attack these points cheaply; I'll see if I can rebut these statements effectively. Here's what I'm thinking: When I think of conservatives, I think of people who are generally well off. People who's lives are low enough in stress that they have the gusto to get up and go to church on Sunday mornings. I definitely don't think of starving artists or inner-city folk. It might just be me, but I think that if someone who is (at least somewhat) struggling to get by in life, and said that they were a conservative, I would probably give them an odd look.
This being said, I think that people who are more comfortable in this sort of society would fit the bill of being happier, more generous etc., and especially less likely to be depressed or attempt suicide. A popular reason for teenage attempted suicide is not being accepted by their family/friends for their sexuality (they have hotlines specifically for young gays who are having suicidal thoughts). At the risk of sounding too radical, I think that the oppressive nature of conservative attitudes may be a significant contributer to these allegedly "liberal" instabilities.
And of course, the moral of the story is: Don't actually debate the issues, just attack each other's personal lives.
I'm glad I don't identify with either of these groups
(The stuff that wasn't my ideas/opinions was quoted from an article in the IDEAS section of the Toronto Star from July 5)
Conservatives - work harder, feel happier, have closer families, take fewer drugs, give more generously, value honesty more, are less materialistic and envious, whine less, and hug their children more.
Liberals - are less interested in caring for a physically ill or elderly family member, and more concerned with ensuring their own needs are being met. They are much more likely to be depressed or chronically angry, suffer from nervous breakdown or attempt suicide. They are also more likely to "seek revenge" or "throw or break things in a temper".
Research has been that works in the other direction. A Berkeley professor claims that conservatives tend to make harsh, abusive parents, and quotes a fundamentalist Christian book called "How to Rear Children" written by a conservative evangelical: "Little children are born in sin... Sometimes spanking should leave stripes on the child... the ritual should be deliberate and last 10 or 15 minutes... It should be a ritual dreaded by the child... It should be painful and it should last until the child's will is broken. It should last until the child is crying not tears of anger, but tears of a broken will".
Because we all want to break our kids, right?
--
I don't want to attack these points cheaply; I'll see if I can rebut these statements effectively. Here's what I'm thinking: When I think of conservatives, I think of people who are generally well off. People who's lives are low enough in stress that they have the gusto to get up and go to church on Sunday mornings. I definitely don't think of starving artists or inner-city folk. It might just be me, but I think that if someone who is (at least somewhat) struggling to get by in life, and said that they were a conservative, I would probably give them an odd look.
This being said, I think that people who are more comfortable in this sort of society would fit the bill of being happier, more generous etc., and especially less likely to be depressed or attempt suicide. A popular reason for teenage attempted suicide is not being accepted by their family/friends for their sexuality (they have hotlines specifically for young gays who are having suicidal thoughts). At the risk of sounding too radical, I think that the oppressive nature of conservative attitudes may be a significant contributer to these allegedly "liberal" instabilities.
And of course, the moral of the story is: Don't actually debate the issues, just attack each other's personal lives.
I'm glad I don't identify with either of these groups
(The stuff that wasn't my ideas/opinions was quoted from an article in the IDEAS section of the Toronto Star from July 5)