The Hyperemotional Left VS. The More Rational Right

We have all seen it, ad nauseam. The ardent leftist screaming and ranting and raving about the topic de jour, because the left has convinced its shock troops that emotion and feelings and simple volume, complete with weird body language and gestures is a perfect replacement for considered, rational argument.

Sadly, that is not limited to the rank-and-file of the progressive movement. I's political leaders are long on emotional appeals and very, very, short on logical arguments to buttress their political philosophy. For instance, it has become axiomatic, and a meme, that any Republican or conservative policy will hurt women and children!

What is really telling is that they have extended that into their personal lives, because the line between their political philosophy and their emotional lives simply does not exist. Many of us have liberal friends and family, and I am willing to wager that most have not cut off contact with them, absent some ridiculous and ghastly emotional scene in which their sentiment and passion overwhelms their sense of family or friendship. I have family and friends who are on the left, and while we have disagreements about most of what is going on in the political world, it is beyond my understanding of the human condition how someone can reject people who really matter simply because of politics.

And there's the rub! It is not simply politics for much of the left; they have internalized their politics so that it is part of their emotional well-being, and has become a part of their psyche. When one can't differentiate between the personal and the political, that's a problem!

Dennis Prager has written and spoken about what he calls "The micro and the macro." Simply put, he does not allow his political philosophy to intrude upon his personal relationships. That is wise.

For instance, in my life, the macro would be the horrid stances that Homosexual Inc. take about marriage and promiscuity and adoption and Gaza and on and on. But I have homosexual friends, and I cannot imagine attenuating our relationships because of those politics.

But the left is different. They will happily demonize anyone who is not rigidly in step with their stances on...everything!

Who knows...maybe there is a physiological difference between conservatives and leftists. Is there some brain chemistry that allows us to make those delineations, and leftists do not have the biochemical capacity to differentiate between friend and foe, because their politics are the only thing that matters?

posted by CBD at 12:00 PM

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