You know, interestingly, it seems that I have caught Loran in a lie. He now tells us that he lives in South Carolina, and yet when I was giving him a hard time back in February, he said this:
Coggins7 wrote:
I do have a pick up, but I don't have a Confederate flag (and have no reason to, since I am not a Southerner),
(emphasis added)
Maybe he meant to say that he is "not a Southerner" at heart, eh? After all, a faithful Latter-day Saint like Loran would never intentionally try to deceive any of us, right?
A lie eh? Uh huh. On and on the pose continues.
How sad.
I am not a Southerner. I was not born nor was I raised in the South, nor do I integrate well with some of the cultural attributes of Southern society. With others I do. I'm a westerner and, at heart, I always will be.
Well.... I have been giving him a hard time for a while about this, since he is so fond of this "evil Liberal" straw man. I suppose to a certain extent that he does fit the stereotype of the far-rightwing whack job, who owns multiple guns and a pickup truck with a Confederate flag on the back window.
Its really long past time that Scratch, who seems hell bent on fitting, based upon much of what he says, a very definite stereotype that exists in the minds of both Conservatives and Libertarians about leftists, unburdens himself of the liberal pop cultural cartoon stereotype of the typical conservative (a perennial problem among the cultural left as a group, it has been observed for quite some time by some of the best minds in the Conservative movement) that makes him feel intellectually and morally superior but only masks his educational and philosophical deficiencies regarding much of what he believes and most of what conservatives believe about the same issues and concerns.
I have no "evil liberal" straw man to knock down. Leftism, as a political and social philosophy, is fundamentally and irredeemable wrongheaded and many times evil, yes, but I have never claimed that all or any particular liberal is "evil" a priori. Many are. Some conservatives are bad people and live personal lives less than worthy. All well and good. Political philosophy is about ideas, not personalities, and even though real people who support real philosophies that become real policies and have real consequences (such as the utterly dire consequences stemming from the acceptance of the ideas of the economic and social philosopher Karl Marx) must be held to account both intellectually and morally, it's never been my intention to tar all "liberals" as evil. Their philosophy and world view, yes. They themselves on sight, no.
I do not own multiple guns (as if there was something wrong with that) and why Scratch thinks I would have a Confederate flag anywhere on my property or in my truck is anyones guess. I will not make the attempt. It is indeed Scratch who seems to fit a classic stereotype; the stereotype of the fragmentarily and shallowly educated yet verbally and literarily articulate liberal ideologue who is long on passion, emotion, and commitment to various fashionable causes and ideologies, but short on intellectual depth and philosophical rigor. This individual gets most of his news and opinion from CNN, ABC, CBS, the Sunday morning talk shows, news magazines like 60 Minutes, and major newspapers, but shys away from extensive deep reading and study, while assiduously refraining from reading anything not already in general harmony with what he already believes. Does Scratch, like myself, read periodicals like
National Review, Commentary,
American Spectator, and
Policy Review consistently, while also reading primary sources of leftist intellectual commentary including books, magazine articles, website essays, blogs, and the websites of leftist professors (Douglas Kellner's at UCLA, is one of my favorites)? Does he have
The Road To Serfdom,
Human Action,
Man Against the Welfare State, and
Losing Ground on his bookshelf or on his hard disk along with, as I do, numerous books and essays on Marxism, Cultural Marxism, Leftist social theory, environmentalism, Feminism, and Post Modernism? Is his
Communist Manifesto,
The Affluent Society and
Limits To Growth sitting on his bookshelf next to Thomas Sowell's
Basic Economics, Hazlitt's
Economics In One Lesson, and Heyek's
Constitution of Liberty? Does he read studies from Heritage, Cato, and AEI along with those from Brookings and the Institute for Policy Studies?
Does he read Frontpagemag.com on a daily basis along with visits to Moveon.org and the Daily Kos?
If not, and until he does, dare he label me as "Gomer"?
I have a number of interests, including traditional martial arts (especially the classical Chinese martial arts), astronomy and cosmology, paleontology and whatnot. As far as physical culture, I love again, the martial arts, dance (especially improvisational and jazz dance), gymnastics, Chinese acrobatics, Chines Opera (particularly Peking Opera), cliff diving, and other asorted oddities.
I cannot stand American contact sports,
especially football.
My musical tastes are varied, but are concentrated primarily in modern Jazz genres, including fusion, straight ahead, avant garde, and various combinations thereof. I also like some folk (especially Gordon Lightfoot), Scottish, Irish, and British folks music, Classical of all kinds, traditional Chinese and Japanese music, Celtic, Afto-Celtic, much modern African music, and etc.
What I don't listen to is pop music, almost of any kind. I love hard rock and classic heavy metal, but listen to very, very little of it, both for religious and aesthetic reasons. I got out of that when I was around nineteen. I do still like much of the 80s New Wave or New Music, and listen to that periodically. I love Lounge Vibe.
Yes, I'm your typical Confederate flag waving, gun toting, tobacco chewing, Elvis worshiping, cross burning, Nascar watching, good ol' boy red white and blue Gomer Pyle.
Get a life Scratch. Its later then you think.