Friday, December 02, 2005

Liberal Hypocrisy Contest

In honor of Peter Schweizer's new book, Do As I Say (Not As I Do) : Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy, I am sponsoring a contest to see who has the best story of liberal hypocrisy. The contest will start today and run until next Thursday (December 8) when I will pick the winner--the person with the best example of liberal hypocrisy. Please see the disclaimer below for full details on how the winner will be chosen and the prizes to be awarded.

I am always amazed by the contradictions between many liberals' words and their actions. Here is an example: I have a liberal friend who harps on helping the poor, instituting a state income tax in Tennessee to help with education, and the greed of corporate institutions. She is self-employed and recently bought an expensive couch for her home. I was admiring it one day and she said, "yes, I got a good discount on my taxes for it." Puzzled, I asked how one did that. "Oh," she said without batting an eye, "I just claim it as an office expense, I do that all the time, don't you?" Uhh---no, I thought, but said nothing. This woman had no idea of her hypocritical behavior. Sometimes now when she goes on about the plight of the poor, I tell her she should donate nice stuff like the couch to the Salvation Army. She usually shuts up.

Enter by reporting your stories in the comment section.

Disclaimer: The winner will be the entry that makes me laugh the hardest, or get the angriest. This contest void where prohibited by law, or by the absence of a sense of humor. The Judge's decisions are final.

Prizes: There will be one first place winner who will receive a DVD of my documentary, Six, and an autographed copy of my book, The Scarred Heart : Understanding and Identifying Kids Who Kill (If you don't think that's much of a prize, look to see what it's selling for used these days!) The winner's entry will also be posted on Thursday on my site for the world to see their wittiness.

Update: If you think we have problems with liberal hypocrisy in the US, try reading Evil Pundit and the Currency Lad to get an idea of what is going on in other countries. Apparently, people are afraid to speak up in Australia and New Zealand--and with good reason, given the politics and laws there. At least here in the US, we can stand up to some of this politically correct nonsense. I found it interesting that one of my commenters to a previous post on the Down Under airlines that demonized men pointed out that one does not argue with the authorites on Australian or New Zealand flights. "It just isn't done." This is shameful.

Update on Thursday: Contest is now closed. Thanks to everyone who participated.

46 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello Doctor Smith,

I discovered your site and Doctor Sanity's site about two weeks ago. I visit each one everyday.

I don't have a story to share you. however, your contest prompted me to share this with you. About ten years ago, I read the following:

"A liberal is a person who feels indebted to their fellow mankind, and who proposes to pay that debt with your money."

This summarizes them well.

Keep up the great blogs!

Best Wishes.

Regards,

Kurt R. Todoroff

10:26 AM, December 02, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mr. Todoroff,

your take on liberals is more eloquent and less tart than my wife's. She defines a liberal as someone who picks your pocket to exercise their compassion by buying a frozen turkey for the homeless on Thanksgiving.

On the subject of turkeys, my cousin, who is a director for a respected charity, once took me to task because I spent $5 on 2 dozen overripe jack-o-lanterns, so that my kids could amuse themselves by rolling them down a long steep hill at the bottom of which I'd parked the family sedan. She asked me why I hadn't given them to the homeless, who might make a meal of them.

I was trying too hard to keep a straight face to suggest that Cinderella pumpkins are more appropriate for making a pie, and that homeless folks don't have ovens to roast seeds in, or that the reason they were $5 for 2 dozen is that they were well beyond their sell-by date.

No liberal hypocrisy here, just dippiness.

10:51 AM, December 02, 2005  
Blogger Helen said...

To Donna B,

Ok, so far, your post has made me the angriest--this nutjob (the only diagnosis this woman is worthy of) of a boss of yours sounds like a real winner. I hope you have moved on to a better situation.

11:09 AM, December 02, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not sure that I can beat the first post, but here's my example.

I once worked for a law firm headed by a husband/wife team. We were required to recycle everything that could be recycled (paper, cans, etc) and I often heard liberal statements regarding race (big supporters of AA policies), the homeless, the Republican adminstration, and school choice, among others.

The first thing that struck me was that the office remained open on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day -- although some of us were encouraged to attend the local parade. The things that really got me were the following:

1.Their children went to very expensive private schools (school choice is great for them but not for people who can't afford private school)
2. They drove huge vechicle -- a Ford 350 truck and a Ford Expedition. We were expected to recycle the tinest pieces of paper but they drove around in diesel guzzling trucks.

12:04 PM, December 02, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Admit it, you're trying to get enough material to fill your own book. :)

Let's see.

Guy in CA I know:
Screams about "tax cuts for the rich". Insisting bigger government is ALWAYS better.
Makes his living on ebay sales, cash transactions, and brags about not sending money to the IRS for 10 years.

Also, talks about the anger inherent in the "religious right" , then in the next breath, talks about keying SUVs in his parking garage. (Because they were big, SUVs, and probably Republicans).


But my current, and most recent favorite. My girlfriend introduces me to a good friend of hers, staying with her for the weekend. GF mentions that I've got a CCW. (We had a re-discussion about How We Don't Talk About That, Really, I Mean It This Time, afterward). During dinner, I was discussing the fact that all the guys I know at least have THOUGHT about a "SHTF-bag", (aka bugout bag) and all the women laugh at us when we plan for it. But mostly, we mean to do it, every guy I know has thought about it, and his partner has ridiculed him. (With the exception of my gf, the bestest in the world, who didn't laugh, didn't see the point as much, but didn't think it was a BAD idea) She (gf's friend) says "Yes, my husband would like to have one, but I won't let him" (which was my point).

Afterwards, she calls my gf to tell me that she has.... concerns.... about me. That I seem... awfully paranoid. Carrying a gun? Planning for disaster? By the way.. she was calling from her home in.. New Orleans.

Well, 1 week post-Katrina, she calls my gf, (she had evacuated to near where we are). "Hey, can Addison go back with my husband to survey things. And.. does he have some guns, or assault weapons he can bring?"

Said I, "I thought I was dangerously paranoid?". Says my gf "Yes! But she *loves* that about you now!"

12:23 PM, December 02, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ooh. Yeah, there's this here... Not mine, but still, very good:

http://michaelbane.blogspot.com/2005/11/old-left-over-wsj-piece.html :

I once got a call from the editor-in-chief of one of the most relentlessly, unabashedly anti-gun newspapers in the country. Seems he and his wife were going on a Caribbean cruise in the new sailboat. Since this was at the height of the Great Florida Drug Wars, when hijacked sailboats were the delivery vehicle of choice for incoming drug shipments, the editor needed some advice on which AR-15—the semi-auto civilian version of the military M-16 battle rifle—he needed to purchase to repel boarders.

I pointed out to him that only recently he had written quite eloquently that the days when civilians had any need, or even any rationale, for owning firearms was long past, and the United States needed to wake up to that fact and do something about that darned Second Amendment.

“For god’s sake, Michael,” he snapped. “I’m a journalist, not a complete idiot.”

12:31 PM, December 02, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, this didn't happen to me, but it is still a good example.

A friend of mine was up for tenure at a small liberal arts college a few years ago, in the sciences. There was a woman in my friend's very small department who professed to be a feminist and said that sexism was the worst thing in the world. She went so far once to complain to my friend that she didn't like exposing her kids to Sesame Street because the monsters were all boys.

Also in my friend's department were two "good old boys" who razzed her constantly about feminist topics and generally tried to bully the junior faculty around. She consistently battled these two over teaching and student issues, often with my friend's help.

My friend thought these were funny academic experiences until tenure time. He had two publications and a 200,000 dollar government grant to support his research (two more publications submitted but not yet published at the time of review). The two old boys wouldn't support him, since he had received the grant and the second publication appeared in the last year of his tenure consideration---they felt it was too "last minute." Of course, one of the old boys hadn't published anything in fifteen years, and had never had a grant, but there you go.

The woman in question wouldn't support my friend for tenure either, because she said she had to "get along" with the boys in the department. "Consensus is important," she told my friend. And she had received tenure six years before with zero publications and one grant.

When my friend, outraged, asked her why she wouldn't support him for tenure given her own record, she looked him in the eye and said "I had to deal with sexism, and you didn't."

After my friend left his former college (tenure denial means you lose your job), that same woman went on to support another woman in the department with three publications and no grants.

I guess the woman had an interesting definition of "sexist behavior," huh?

Long story, but Dr. Helen asked about liberal hypocrites.

"Eric Blair"

P.S. My friend luckily managed to get another job...which is pretty rare after a tenure denial.

1:53 PM, December 02, 2005  
Blogger Helen said...

Mr. Blair,

Yes, there is always the liberal hypocrisy double standard of "I had to deal with racism, sexism, homophobia etc and you didn't. Therefore--anything I do is ok." It is best to watch your back with these types as they will stab you in the back most of the time. Glad your friend found another job.

2:10 PM, December 02, 2005  
Blogger Analog Mouse said...

Not a stellar example, but one that enraged me at the time...

I work in the mental health system and was attending a case management meeting for a young man under my care in a residential facility. We were discussing discharge plans with 30 people who knew nothing about his case yet had all sorts of ideas as to what should be done. I informed them that an apartment had been secured in the downtown neighborhood, where he would be within walking distance of shopping, medical care and his therapist, and the woman next to me said "That's horrible! That neighborhood is drug-infested! It's terrible! How can you allow him to move in there?"

I looked at her and said, "Is there any subsidized housing in your neighborhood?"

She said not another word.

2:46 PM, December 02, 2005  
Blogger DRJ said...

Our youngest child is profoundly autistic. For those who don't know much about autism, autistics withdraw from other people and exhibit strange (and sometimes violent) behavior. Modern therapy primarily involves aggressive behavioral intervention to try to draw the autistic out of his/her private world and into the mainstream. It's very hands-on because most autistics have sensory issues that cause them to reject human contact at every level - touch, auditory, visual and smell.

That's a lot of background for a short story. Our public school system has instituted a new program for special needs kids like our autistic child. It consists of NEVER touching or talking to the child. The child is left in his/her world to watch TV or (hopefully) sit quietly. If the child becomes violent - to him/herself or others - the teacher has to watch helplessly until the behavior stops.

Please note that it's not the teachers who want this policy, it's the administrators because it's an easy policy to implement and because they are afraid of child abuse claims. In all fairness, I'm not sure if this is an example of liberal hypocrisy but it seems like an example of "trust us to do what's best for your child" and then they do what's best for them.

3:06 PM, December 02, 2005  
Blogger Ed Driscoll said...

Don't know if anyone's mentioned this one yet, but I'd like to enter Google, whose two young billionaire founders just bought their own personal Boeing 767 jet to tool around, while preaching that their employees should drive electric cars and hybrids.

As I wrote last month, I don't begrudge anyone his or her choice of car, SUV, or heck, even jet. (We're planning on the Pajamas-767, right guys...?). Just don't lecture me about, or try to take away my choices.

That seems fair, doesn't it?

3:18 PM, December 02, 2005  
Blogger Helen said...

To Ed,

Absolutely, that seems fair--and it sounds really fair that Pajamas should have a jet--I was thinking more of a Boing 747 though--since all the Pajamas stars will need to be taking their spouses/significant others on trips.

3:23 PM, December 02, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm in a book group with exceedingly liberal, professional, well-to-do women. When we get together, invariably one of them makes a cutting remark about Bush and this God-awful war. These women came of age in the late 60's, early 70's, some of the actively marched against the Vietnam war and they all perceive themselves as feminists.

What has astonished me over the years is that these women have no interest in reading literature set in totalitarian, oppressive regimes - they just don't get it. Books they openly disdain include Reading Lolita in Tehran, Kite Runner, Waiting, Snow. Last month, one remarked about Snow, "I don't know what is happening in Turkey, this book is of no interest to me."

3:25 PM, December 02, 2005  
Blogger Helen said...

Hi DRJ,

Hmmm--just wait until one of these kids ends up hurting themselves or another kid because of the no intervention rule--what is the school going to do to get out of that law suit?

3:30 PM, December 02, 2005  
Blogger Cousin Pat said...

This one will be an "angry" one.

As a liberal myself, I tend to hang out at coffee shops and trendy places where I can drink a foamy latte, sharpen my knife and help plan our next big attack on middle America.

Yeah, that's really what we do at places like that. ;)

You can imagine I ran into some pretty interesting characters at these places. Buddy Holly glasses, obscure girl scout T-shirts, and too many folks who have listed their occupation as "student" for over 10 years.

Folks like these are who y'all think of when you hear the word 'liberal,' aren't they? The egghead academic elitists who don't live in the real world.

Thought so. I never really understood that until something happened, something I'm about to tell you all right now. This one sticks out in my mind like a thorn.

Many years ago, I knew a young lady who had found herself in a delicate situation. She had made some bad decisions concerning her behavior and now had to choose between terminating a pregnancy or having the baby.

After a long soul searching deliberation, involving many hours and many tears (she didn't want the father to know 'cause he had some pretty bad habits, and when she did tell him, he pressured her to terminate the pregnancy), she dumped the loser and decided to have the baby and give this baby up for adoption.

That was the most difficult decision of her life.

Moments after she tells me and two other friends this news (this conversation is taking place outside a coffee shop) an egghead academic elitist who calls himself a 'liberal' walks up to us.

I had known him from listening to his loud rants in public places. Those particular rants about a woman's right to choose and his utter disgust for those who don't support such legality. Let that soak in, it becomes inmportant in a minute.

He knew both me and the young lady 'cause we were all regulars at this particular coffee shop.

I was reading so I don't quite know how he got into it with the young lady in question, but I looked up when I heard sharp voices.

He had a disgusted look on his face and asked "Why on earth would you choose to have that baby?"

Alarm bells started ringing.

"Don't you know all the medical stuff that you'd have to go through to have a child?"

"That's gonna be expensive...you know the proceedure only costs about $200."

"You know we have to fight really hard so y'all don't have to go through all that."

She said the only thing she needed to: "It's my choice not yours."

He said "Well that's just about the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

We call them fightin' words, down South. He ended up leaving the area under what we will call 'reasonable duress.'

I never saw him near that particular coffee shop again.

I ended up asking myself, how could someone who says they support a woman's right to choose act so ridiculous when that choice is a choice for life?

Ignorance. Plain, dumb ignorance.

That would be my 'liberal hypocracy' story, though I don't really consider folks who act that way to be liberal at all.

An accurate term to describe those individals isn't something I say in polite society.

3:43 PM, December 02, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was always amused by the fact that the governor of Illinois - Rod Blagojevich - got into office and immediately laid off a bunch of people... no money to pay them don't you know.

However, his family (wife and kids) live in the Chicago area and he "commutes" back and forth on the weekends to the tune of about $1800 per trip... paid by the tax payers naturally. Not to mention that the governor's mansion sits pretty much empty but open, with the electricity, water, heat, etc all on...

I wanted to pass a law making it mandantory for someone who runs for governor to actually LIVE in the Governor's Mansion. Last I heard, his voter approval rating was 36%...

4:46 PM, December 02, 2005  
Blogger DRJ said...

Dr. Helen: "Hmmm--just wait until one of these kids ends up hurting themselves or another kid because of the no intervention rule--what is the school going to do to get out of that law suit?"

Good question. There are some reasons that a lawsuit might not happen (even if it should) but I think the main reason would be that there are no competent witnesses. These children are non-verbal and self-injurious, so evidence of injury might not be enough to cast blame on anyone other than the student.

Some parents have placed their children in private settings, some can't afford to, and others are so overwhelmed with the daily demands of taking care of an autistic child that they are grateful for any assistance the school provides - even if it's basically to warehouse the child for 8-10 hours a day. Ultimately, a teacher would have to complain, but the classes with the most difficult students have teachers that apparently support the new policy.

Finally, the recent Supreme Court case of SCHAFFER, BRIAN, ET AL. v. WEAST, JERRY, ET AL. may make it even more unlikely that a lawsuit would succeed. My understanding is that this case puts the burden on the complaining parent of a special needs child to show the school's educational plan doesn't work, rather than the prior standard that required the school to show its policies were appropriate for the student.

Of course, all of this is just a guess on my part and it's far outside the scope of your original post. Thanks for letting me vent.

10:16 PM, December 02, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

To my way of seeing things, patrick hit the nail on the head, and hard (also echoed in tom’s Bonus): too many call themselves “liberal” when they mean “leftist”. There’s a difference, and a fundamental one, and it makes for the ultimate hypocrisy of the topic: the hubristic and intolerant calling themselves liberal. Liberals I like just fine; leftists, not so much.

Peregrine John

11:57 PM, December 02, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think it was an episode of "West Wing" where someone pointed out that the celebrities always drive their hybrid/electric cars...to their private jets.

2:00 AM, December 03, 2005  
Blogger AmericanWoman said...

I work for a telecommunications company. Our office has two managers. Mine is a white male, the other is a black female. When I first got there I clashed with her. I then found out that she was the Directors best friend. The director then left, but she is still here. She used to hardly be at the office (when her friend was in charge), and when she was spent all of her time on 'charity' events. She used to claim to 'telecommute' or work at home, but would then come in with new hair extensions.

Most of the office is black females, I'd say 70%. This manager treats her employees like slaves. She talks a good game about empowerment and diversity, but slowly all of the white people in ther group have left, some claiming racism. She denies her employees sick time and makes them take personal or vacation time. She wants her absence rate to look good so she will get a larger bonus.

She started a African American interest group at work (all are welcome, of course) and yesterday everyone in her group was busy making posters and using the color printer to print them out for a group event. The one white person in her group was left to do all the work. This worker was recently denied time away from her desk to attend leadership courses.

It makes everyone sick, but there is not much we can do. HR was here recently and got an earful. Even her black employees are sick of her. Many of them come and speak to me for advice. I have told them to document what she does and says and send it to HR.

It makes me angry that the only reason this person is in the position she is in is because she is black. She has no managment or leadership skills what-so-ever. I do support Affirmitive Action, but sometimes this is the result.

9:14 AM, December 03, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I remember during my high School Days and Uni days when I used to clash with my left-wing teachers and professors. They all pressed us to think logically and demanded that we speak our mind and reason things out; but when I questioned fallacies in their logic and teaching, ooh, I got cut down for being irrational and subjective. BTW, I went to La Trobe University- and studied under teachers like Richard Broome.

10:18 AM, December 03, 2005  
Blogger Helen said...

anonymous (10:18):

Yes, the hypocrisy of the ivory towers of academic freedom in this country is one of the biggest liberal hypocrisies of our time. My next contest needs to be for students, parents and others to write in about the politically correct garbage they are exposed to on college campuses--while paying thousands of dollars for the privilege!

10:38 AM, December 03, 2005  
Blogger Helen said...

Hi Allicent,

Thanks for your liberal hypocrisy example--in response, I have heard of many people doing this type of thing--rich, poor and in-between. But mainly upper middle class and higher because of the lawyers etc. Because of the disability federal laws that schools must follow, if the school cannot meet the needs of a child with special needs--they must pay for the child to educated elsewhere. I have seen a number of cases where the school has had to pay extraordinary amounts of money to do so. Many of the parents with money can go to a private psychologist/psychiatrist to do an ADHD evaluation--somewhere along the line--someone will usually vouch that the child has some need that cannot be addressed by the school.

BTW--I am a psychologist, not a psychiatrist--the difference being that psychologists hold PHD degrees and do testing, assessment and psychotherapy while Psychiatrists have MD's and prescibe medication and doing less therapy. Of course, this is changing now with some states (such as Tn) looking into passing laws so psychologists can prescribe.

11:49 AM, December 03, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Allicent and Helen - I wonder if these people getting their children "labelled" for special schooling, have any idea of what kind of a burden they are putting on these kids later in life. After all - once it's all nicely documented... it will be on the record for ever and ever and ever... the label will stick.

Seems to be a high price to pay to get a break on school costs.

11:02 AM, December 04, 2005  
Blogger Helen said...

Teresa,

You know, you would think there would be repurcussions for being labeled this way--but I don't think so--with the American Disabilities Act--it is hard to do much---in college, many of these teens go on to use the disability as a way to get extra time on tests, tutors etc. and then perhaps even extra time to take the GRE etc. --I even know of cases where those with ADHD failed law school and graduate programs and were given another chance due to their condition. Would you want an ADHD or learning disabled lawyer who could not do their job?

11:21 AM, December 04, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Do I get bonus points for current events?

Received this from the DNC in my throwaway account a few days ago:

* * * * * * * * * * *

Dear Blatant,

This morning I was getting ready to send an email thanking more than 7,000 of you for stepping up to take the fight into the backyard of Jean Schmidt and any other Republican leader who attacks one of our veterans for cheap political gain. We had begun working with Lamar, an ad company in the area, and signed a contract to place two billboards near Jean Schmidt's district office in Portsmouth, Ohio (one on US-52 and one at 1024 Offnere Street). Thanks to your overwhelming response we were also looking into putting up additional billboards in several other locations in the Cincinnati market.

Unfortunately, at about 10 AM, we got two phone calls -- the first came from Lamar's Cincinnati office informing us that because of the content of the ad, they are refusing to continue to work with us. The second call came a few minutes later from Lamar's Huntington, West Virginia office, informing us that despite our signed contract, they were also rejecting our ad. This reversal came more than 24 hours after the DNC had signed a contract with Lamar, and 48 hours after they had accepted the artwork for the billboards you helped pay to put up.

By rejecting these ads, Lamar has limited your right to be heard.

The DNC's General Counsel, Joe Sandler, has drafted a letter to Lamar's chairman demanding that Lamar honor its commitment to run the billboards. They think they can get away with this because they own nearly every billboard in the district, but you can put pressure on Lamar to support free speech by signing on to the letter:

http://www.democrats.org/lamar

The full text of the letter is at the end of this note, and we will deliver it by noon Friday with the signatures of everyone who wants to be included. The management at Lamar Advertising has seriously miscalculated if they think that thousands of Americans who want to stand up for our veterans will be silenced.

The attack on a decorated combat veteran's courage and patriotism that came out of Jean Schmidt's mouth on the House floor was unacceptable. But Lamar Advertising seems to think that thousands of people coming together and holding her accountable for it is what's really unacceptable.

You can let Lamar know what you think by signing on to our general counsel's letter before noon on Friday:

http://www.democrats.org/lamar

Republican leaders need to learn they cannot get away with dishonoring the service of veterans to score political points. This is a pattern that needs to stop here and now, and that's why this billboard is so important.

Please forward this message around to let people know what's happening. I will be in touch as this story unfolds.

Thank you,

Tom McMahon
Executive Director
Democratic National Committee

P.S. -- Here is a copy of the letter to the Chairman of Lamar Advertising:

Mr. Kevin P. Reilly, Jr.
Chairman & CEO
Lamar Advertising Co.
5551 Corporate Blvd.
Baton Rouge, LA 70808

Dear Mr. Reilly:

We are writing on behalf of the Democratic National Committee to demand that Lamar honor a contract its Huntington, West Virginia office entered with the DNC for placement of two billboard advertisements in Portsmouth, Ohio. These advertisements accurately referred to a statement made by U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives attacking a respected Member of Congress and decorated war veteran. The advertisements were aimed at informing her constituents about this statement, and called on Rep. Schmidt to cease such attacks.

The DNC was told by your Huntington regional manager that Lamar is refusing to honor the contract because the advertisements are "too negative." In addition to refusing to honor the contract for the Portsmouth billboards, Lamar, through its Cincinnati office, refused to accept the same advertisement for placement on billboards in Cincinnati.

While Lamar's form contract reserves to the company the right to refuse to run a billboard advertisement, Lamar's conduct in this instance raises serious questions about whether the company is unlawfully or improperly using corporate resources to favor or benefit the Republican Party or Rep. Schmidt. Your regional manager was unable to cite any company policy providing any objective standards or criteria for rejecting political or advocacy advertising.

Rep. Schmidt's constituents are entitled to know what she is saying on the floor of the U.S. House and the DNC has a right to tell them. Lamar should either offer a credible reason for its efforts to censor the Democratic Party or else should live up to its contractual obligation and let the DNC put up its billboard and let the people of Rep. Schmidt's district hear the truth.

Please let us know immediately whether Lamar intends to honor its contract--and if not, why. Fairness and the public interest demand no less.

Sincerely,

Joseph Sandler, General Counsel, Democratic National Committee
Amanda LaForge, Chief Counsel Democratic National Committee

Sign with Joe and Amanda now:

http://www.democrats.org/lamar

* * * * * * * * * * *

Now, does anyone else remember this from about 15 months ago?

http://humaneventsonline.com.edgesuite.net/unfit_pdf.html

1:14 PM, December 04, 2005  
Blogger Helen said...

acksiom,

Now that is a good one--hypocrisy at it's best.

2:06 PM, December 04, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My favorite, from a while ago, was something Eric Alterman wrote in Esquire:

"The lack of civility he [Limbaugh] demonstrates toward liberal politicians is really dangerous to our political public. I hate to say it, but I wish the guy would have gone deaf. "

Beam, meet mote. Mote, meet beam.

Yes, Alterman apologized, but the fact that he was capable of saying such a thing and not noticing the contradiction speaks volumes.

3:11 PM, December 04, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow. I go offiline for a day or two, and come back to find people seriously discussing JOE DANTE as a political auteur. Sheesh.

While propaganda is long been part of filmmaking (like CASABLANCA), I still like what Louis B. Meyer used to say: "You want to send a message, use Western Union, not my movies."

Next thing up, various trolls will be discussing John Carpenter's THEY LIVE with Rowdy Roddy Piper as an anti-Reagan movie (which, by the way, Carpenter believes that it was). I love horror movies, but come one!

Anyway, here is recent hypocrisy.

Look at the cover of ENTERTAINMENT magazine this week, showing a scene from the very typically left of center George Clooney movie SYRIANA.

The headline on the cover reads: "THE NEW POLITICS OF HOLLYWOOD."

Oh my... Yes, Hollywood was certainly right wing or apolitical prior to this movie.

"Eric Blair"

9:26 PM, December 04, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Liberal Hypocrisy Contest Entry:

I wrote an article where I talk about how Diversity/Multiculturalism is motivated by alternative and, in my opinion, defective understandings of freedom. In this article I said that Diversity can be dehumanizing for all parties affected.

The immediate reaction of the obvious parties was that what I wrote was racist. On a website such as this one, one of the most outspoken students at the school (someone who I know personally, and who claims to be a person of "color" but you would never know it by looking at him) went and posted about a hundred or so taunts of "Whitey" "White Power" and so on. This is someone whose efforts were pretty much a cornerstone, behind the scenes, to the whole public effort to fight racism, as they call it.

All from someone who is (for all intents and purposes) white, and claims to be trying to promote some sort of ideal of racial unity.

11:23 PM, December 04, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

To anonymous at 11:23...

Maybe the student is channeling Ward Churchill... does he have long stringy hair and wear dark sunglasses with a black turtleneck?

To Helen...

"Would you want an ADHD or learning disabled lawyer who could not do their job?"

Creepy thought isn't it.

The thing is - with all that "help" while they stumble through school... do they have any ability to function in the world after school is over? Or are these the kids living at home with mom and dad for the rest of their lives? I'd love to know if they can get and keep a job after college. I hate thinking about all these coddled kids being the ones we have to rely on for the world to work.

12:18 AM, December 05, 2005  
Blogger Ben said...

People in the suburb I grew up in who consistently voted for voted for politicians at the state and federal level who would cut their taxes so they wouldn't have to pay for programs for fellow Americans 30 or 300 or 3000 miles away, but eagerly voted for town politicians who raised taxes on their childless or elderly neighbors to pay for excellent schools for THEIR children. Oh wait, sorry, those were conservative Republicans.

How about all these people I know who claim to believe in a smaller government but vote to re-elect a President who has presided over the biggest increase in federal spending in 40 years? Oh shit, sorry, those are Republicans also.

Christians who vote for a politician because he's against abortion or gay marriage but don't mind that he supports the death penalty and pre-emptive war? Hmmm, they all seem to be conservatives.

There's all those people I know who want the government to take less money, but then also complain how the roads they drive to work are in bad condition, the (private) health insurance system is a disaster, their child in the military doesn't have good enough armor, etc., and see no contradiction between the two beliefs. Goddamit, I did a conservative thing again.

Sorry about that. But for some reason when I try to think of hypocrisy, conservatives easily come to mind.

Maybe the lesson is that ideologues of all political stripes are regularly hypocritical and anyone who sees it on only one side must be willfully obtuse. In fact, isn't claiming to be fair minded and only being amazed by hypocrisy of one side the most hypocritical stance of all?

4:00 AM, December 05, 2005  
Blogger KCFleming said...

I am a physician with a decent income, but my wife and I chose to raise our kids in a lower middle class neighborhood in town for alot of reasons (cheaper house, walk to work and school). The best part was avoiding the very "liberal" but very restricted upscale neighborhoods where the wealthier doctor and techie types live. (Rich kids have a tendency to get in trouble at school alot in this town ...why hang around them?) Oddly enough, rich liberals never seem to live around the more modest neighborhoods. I wonder why?

Anyway, last year, our neighborhood group went to a city council meeting to oppose the construction of a Salvation Army soup kitchen in our neighborhood. Why? Our 4-block radius already has the majority of low-income rentals, as well as halfway houses for drug abuse, recent ex-cons, and battered women. Fine. But now this too? Having homeless men urinating in our back yards (as occurs with the current center downtown) is simply untenable.

Some of my "liberal" friends scolded me for this stance, as this project "needed to go somewhere." I pointed out that liberals always seemed to locate "somewhere" in the same part of town every time. They were shocked when I suggested we could bus them all to a vacant house I knew was for sale in their posh neighborhood. They had no answer when I asked why they would be opposed to it in their neighborhood.

10:09 AM, December 05, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have one. One Presidential candidate in 2000 said "I'm worried about an opponent who uses nation building and the military in the same sentence."

But then after he was elected, this same guy committed the military to an interminable nation-building process! What hypocrisy!

1:02 PM, December 05, 2005  
Blogger KCFleming said...

FYI: "hypocricy" is not the same as "I changed my mind."

Of course, those that didn't change their minds after Sept.11 need to get a clue.

Otherwise, great example, worm.

2:35 PM, December 05, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Of course, no member of the SEPTEMBER 11 CHANGED EVERYTHING!!!111!! crowd has ever bothered to explain precisely how 9/11 made nation-building task to which the military is well-suited. But I suppose it's unrealistic to expect people to actually think about what they're saying, when abreathless invocation of 9/11 justfeels so right.

I got another example of liberal hypocrisy: all those people who pronounce endlessly how the War on Terra is a struggle for the survival of civilation and the key issue of our times, as long as the actual fighting is done by other people.

3:16 PM, December 05, 2005  
Blogger KCFleming said...

Re: as long as the actual fighting is done by other people.

Since the majority of the military actually doing the fighting supports this war, then I gather you accede to their wishes and grant them the run of foriegn policy from here on in?

Thanks Worm! And besides, honey, you don't want to rehash all that post WW2 rebuilding of those two dopey nations, Japan and Germany, because, well, it was such an abject failure wasn't it?

3:24 PM, December 05, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dr. Helen,

I don't think my story is very funny, and it probably won't make you very angry. But it's such a concise view of the entire reality I can't help but laugh just to keep from crying.

I went to an Ivy League school, was part of a pro-life group and regularly participated in 'conservative' demonstrations. A lot of the time, libs used to say something like "You guys are so heartless. Don't you care about the poor, the sick, the etc?"

Eventually I got so sick of them trying to conflate one's politics with ones personal behavior/sentiment toward the less fortunate that I established 'the Nick Challenge', to be brought out when a libtard voiced a doubt about my altruism, here's one episode:

At a pro-gitmo demonstration a kid said "You're so heartless."
me: "And you really really care about the poor and the downtrodden don't you?"
him: "more than you"
me (with smirk on my face): "So how much community service do you do?"
him: "Why?"
me: "Well, I happen to be of the school of thought that if you care, you do something. So I'm trying to guage just how much you care. I guess I want to knwo if you really do care more than me. I got nothing to hide on how much time I put in"
him (stammering): "It isn't about that."
me: "Wait, so caring about people has nothing to do with putting time in to help them?"
him (lip quivering): "Look man, you just don't understand."
me: "You're right. I guess I really don't understand how you can say you care when you don't lift a finger. I, in the meantime, have actually gotten off my ass to feed the poor, to work with sick kids, and even worked in a sanctuary for former lab animals."
He just walked off.

That challenge stood for dang near three years, in both private and public debates. Not one liberal was even willing to tell me how much community service they put in, much less compare it to mine.

--Nick

p.s. I'm in school to be a psychiatrist, precisely because I'm so sick of a lot of the crap you've criticized the mental health professions for.

7:37 PM, December 07, 2005  
Blogger Helen said...

Nick,

Great story--I think you made a good move with psychiatry--the psychiatrists seem to have a more diverse group of views etc.--and the pay is much better!

6:26 AM, December 08, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ok, let’s look at Ben’s examples here:

The first one is not an instance of hypocrisy. Presumably, those who voted for higher taxes for their neighbors also voted for higher taxes for themselves. Apparently, judging from this comment, you support dismantling public schooling in favor of private schooling where parents pay for their own children, and those without children don’t pay, right? Somehow, I doubt it.

To give you a clue, hypocrisy would be to vote to raise taxes on others and then take all the tax breaks you can yourself, as many liberals I know do. Or, like many teachers I know, campaign for higher property taxes in the school district in which they work so that they can be given higher salaries, while moving to districts with lower property taxes.

Your second, example, well, you vote for two real flesh-and-blood candidates, not between an ideal one and a less than ideal. Conservatives have been complaining about Bush’s spending since he’s been in office. The fact that you haven’t heard it doesn’t make the rest of us hypocrites.

Third example, well, if you’re a hypocrite for being opposed to abortion but for capital punishment, then you’re a hypocrite for holding the opposite views. Anyway, all these views have little relevance to one another. But I’m not a Christian, so I guess I’ll actually let a Christian take on that one.

Fourth example: Perhaps you’re switching cause and effect here. Part of the reason we conservatives oppose having the government take more money is because they often spend it poorly. Do you want to write the government a blank check and then deal with the consequences, whatever they might be? Perhaps, but I don’t. When I spend my money at a business, if they don’t live up to my standards, I can choose another business. I have no such options with government. I have to put up with their roads whether they’ve built them well and under budget or poorly and over budget.

Also, who are these people? Everyone I know complains about the conditions of roads and insurance. Big deal. I suspect that part of the problems with health insurance as it is now is too much government involvement in the health care industry, not too little. As far as children in the military, well, if I could earmark all my federal income tax to the military and nothing else, I would. Believe it or not, not all of us (or any, for that matter) conservatives oppose paying taxes entirely, and I think it’s my duty (as well as everyone else’s no matter your income bracket) to pay some taxes. I just don’t want high taxes to pay for ineffective government programs that provide little benefit to anyone other than perhaps the few people who happen to work for these programs.

I work in the education field, and I regularly see money being wasted. I see people working in jobs that no one would pay anyone to do if not for government funds being attached. I see grants go to research studies where the results are buried, ignored, or otherwise discounted. It’s not really that hard to teach kids, yet school districts are teaming with “curriculum specialists” who do little to actually improve education. Hell, many school districts have almost as many administrators and they do teachers these days. But I suppose I’m just supposed to shut up and write a check, lest I be considered a hypocrite.

12:32 PM, December 08, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Theres plenty of liberal hypotcrits i mean when liberal antigun columist CARL ROWAN who shot a indruder in his swimming pool with a gun then theres AL GORE who rants about the INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE then rode in his Vice Presidetnial limo then how many cars has the former veep driven in? and he has ownership ox oxidentla petrolium and in fact many enviromental groups acualy opperate their own oil wells then the kennedys with their armed body guards

10:12 AM, December 09, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your so rigth about liberal gun control advocates i mean look al ROSIE O,DONNELL are her demands for gun control they geta gun for her adopted childs bodyguard i mean who do they think they are just becuase their wealthy liberaal hypotcrits dont mean they can tell us what to do we dont live in a monarcy we live in a REPUBLIC

3:24 PM, October 28, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Rediclous enviromentalist hypotcrits i mean just look at AL GORE he urges us all to conserve energy, drive less and recycle our garbage then he gose and uses all that jet fuel traveling around to flap his big fat piehole and then gose to the award show in a limo with its 4 mpg and get a award for a piece of leftists propeganda i mean its nothing more then some wealthy socialist eco-freak hypotcrit no different then that swagggering swll headed idiots TED TURNER who brainwashed kids with such junk like CAPTIAN PLANET,ONE CHILD ONE VOICE and other eco-junk films

4:27 PM, March 14, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I saw one of those enviromental hypotcrits last week this jerk was parked in front of our local supermarket in a pick-up with s bumper sticker reading EARTH FIRST WE,LL SCREW UP ALL THE OTHER PLANETS LATER and this idiot flipped a lighted cigarret on to the ground

7:49 PM, April 15, 2007  
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