Why More Derision From The Left Than The Right?

[Revoltingest]

Over my last decade on RF, I've noticed the strong trend that we're
deeply despised by so many on the left. Yet conservatives are
universally rather tolerant...I don't ever recall a rude word word
from them towards us.
And this is despite our being generally pro drug, pro abortion,
pro profanity, pro sex work, pro....well...many things they oppose.

Why is this?
Is it what you've experienced?

Note:
This thread is simply about libertarians' experiences with
treatment by others. Let's not have it become a debate
about policies. And let's avoid criticizing others...I want
no hint of bashing others. Honor the spirit of the forum.

 

[Nakosis]

Over my last decade on RF, I've noticed the strong trend that we're
deeply despised by so many on the left. Yet conservatives are
universally rather tolerant...I don't ever recall a rude word word
from them towards us.
And this is despite our being generally pro drug, pro abortion,
pro profanity, pro sex work, pro....well...many things they oppose.

Why is this?
Is it what you've experienced?

Note:
This thread is simply about libertarians' experiences with
treatment by others. Let's not have it become a debate
about policies. And let's avoid criticizing others...I want
no hint of bashing others. Honor the spirit of the forum.

Why is this?
I think, well ok, I thought we both want less government, less government spending.
Maybe not so much for republicans any more though.

Yes, I've seen a little criticism from liberals on RF.
Most my post are generally political neutral, not really libertarian so maybe I don't see it as much as others.
Maybe conservatives spend so much time fending off attacks from liberals they've no time for us.

 

[icehorse]

And this is despite our being generally pro drug, pro abortion,
pro profanity, pro sex work, pro....well...many things they oppose.

Why is this?
Is it what you've experienced?

I think of myself as a "classic liberal" and it seems to me that over the last decade the goalposts have shifted around me, so I think many now would call me a "left leaning conservative" or some such. In any case, I think extremism has gotten more extreme on both ends of the spectrum. At a place like RF, extreme righties aren't going to survive for long, but more extreme lefties tend to get a pass.

 

[Revoltingest]

I think of myself as a "classic liberal" and it seems to me that over the last decade the goalposts have shifted around me, so I think many now would call me a "left leaning conservative" or some such. In any case, I think extremism has gotten more extreme on both ends of the spectrum. At a place like RF, extreme righties aren't going to survive for long, but more extreme lefties tend to get a pass.

I too identify as a "classical liberal".
People can argue about it being different from
"libertarian", but I don't find it all that significant.
It's a useful label when meeting liberals...they
aren't so put off by "classical liberal".

 

[Nakosis]

I too identify as a "classical liberal".
People can argue about it being different from
"libertarian", but I don't find it all that significant.
It's a useful label when meeting liberals...they
aren't so put off by "classical liberal".

Isn't classical liberalism and social liberalism opposing ideas in Europe?

 

[Revoltingest]

Isn't classical liberalism and social liberalism opposing ideas in Europe?

I can't speak for their different usage of the terminology.

 

[Kooky]

I haven't noticed any derisions for my political beliefs from leftists, although some people have questioned my rejection of capitalism.

Isn't classical liberalism and social liberalism opposing ideas in Europe?

Not necessarily, but depending on the country, liberal parties in Europe can be quite far apart on that spectrum.

One key difference between European and American political traditions is the existence of Social Democracy, which occupies a rather significant portion on the political spectrum of what in the US would be called left-wing liberalism.
I wouldn't really call social democrats "liberals", though, because while they have adopted a good portion of the US Democratic Party's positions, social democrats come from a very different political tradition (specifically, the 19th century labor movement), with a much stronger emphasis on economic issues.

 

[Kooky]

At a place like RF, extreme righties aren't going to survive for long, but more extreme lefties tend to get a pass.

I count at least three outright fascist posters here on RF (and I don't mean that as a derogatory term, but as literal pro-ethnostate, authoritarian, Mussolini-worshipping fascists) and several hardline conservatives, whereas I'm pretty much the only one who openly calls themselves a libertarian socialist. I know literally nobody who posts here on the regular who has ever quoted Marx, let alone spoken of real life socialism in positive terms, while people have created several threads here praising fascist leaders like Mussolini, or advocated for authoritarian theocracy.

Perhaps you simply don't see people whose opinions are to the far right as particularly "extreme" because they're closer to your own political positions?

 

[icehorse]

Perhaps you simply don't see people whose opinions are to the far right as particularly "extreme" because they're closer to your own political positions?

I don't recall seeing posts like this at all. But then, I don't scour all of the forums.

If you have some sense of my positions being on the right, I'd be curious to know what you think you know of my positions?

 

[Kooky]

@icehorse, you may not be in a small minority but actually a growing number of the general public. Yes, the majority view on RF is biased toward the liberal end of the political spectrum. I give a thumbs up to the stamina of those arguing for the opposing point of view. I was a member of more than one science website for a few years, one of the websites was very conservative. The others were quite liberal in my experience. I saw no reason to continue arguing with what I believed to be pure ignorant malice displayed by members and one, actually well educated, staff member who hated all Muslims. I don't happen to be a Muslim but I have friends who are members of an Islamic religious community. My friends have stood by me,I stand by my friends..... There is so much we all agree on.

The most staunchly anti-Muslim posters on this forum are outspoken conservatives.

 

[Hold]

The most staunchly anti-Muslim posters on this forum are outspoken conservatives.

To be honest, as yet i have not witnessed what you describe. What I have noticed is @Kooky knows a great deal more political science than I have been taught or have managed to acquire on my own. Also as a youth reading Marx was said to burn blisters into your hands.I was a high school freshman when Sputnik shocked the western world. Prior to that, major American publications had stories of the lazy socialist workers and backward engineering that the USSR suffered from. I almost forgot;Russian women looked like male wrestlers...Sputnik changed things.................... Sadly, I have not been in touch with those Muslim friends for over thirty years and they were much older than me. I did have the four sisters of my mother who were communists.......They were members of a cloistered order of nuns.

For many of us it was the bankruptcy of the USSR and Russia's opening up that made it obvious that Russian women were not less attractive than any other nationality..