[links] Link salad for Boxing Day

[jaylake]

Queen Pardons Computer Pioneer Alan Turing - The UK’s treatment of Alan Turing was one of the great crimes of the 20th century. Of course, persecuting a war hero to death for being gay was the proper, moral thing to do at the time, consistent with conservative thought then and now. Which is why conservatives are always on the wrong side of history

Comments

[ericjamesstone]

> Which is why conservatives are always on the wrong side of history.
> Always.

Communism. Conservatives were on the right side of history.

[jaylake]

Well, okay, I'll give you that one.

But on the other side there's slavery, universal education, free public libraries, child labor, women's suffrage, the 40-hour work week, Social Security, Medicare, opposition to US entry into WWII against the Fascists, integration, interracial marriage, the Civil Rights struggle as a whole, immigration, contraception, abortion, women's health, reproductive freedom, gay rights, gay marriage, early childhood programs, dismantling the mental health system, Iran-Contra (selling arms to terrorists to fund fascists), the GOPAC memo, the Osama bin Laden PDB, entry into the second Iraq War under knowingly false pretenses, supply side economics, voter suppression and the alleged voter fraud problem, the "War on Christmas", current GOP policies on unemployment and early childhood assistance, and, well the list of things conservatives are or were on the wrong side of history on is broad and deep and touches every American.

[ulfhirtha]

Even there it appears they overdid it with the stain of McCarthyism, blacklists and informants. As well as arguably making communists were there weren't any before by opposing nationalistic movements

[daveon]

Communism? Or Communism as it was implemented by those that have tried it?

Like with it's mirror image little brother Libertarianism, I don't really see much wrong with the concept of Communism, I just think, to paraphrase Charlie Stross, it doesn't really work with the Human 1.0 operating system.

[bedii]

Churchill was a conservative, and he wasn't always on the wrong side. Unless you were Irish. Or Indian. Or a non-military member who thought that the National Health system was a good idea.

[daveon]

He was a conservative when he wasn't being a liberal of course :)