For example, you can choose not to smoke and as a result, have healthy lungs. Or you can choose to smoke and risk having lung cancer. The choice is yours; you just have to face the consequences.
I hear people make assumptions and stereotypes about religious or conservative people all the time. It happens; people are entitled to their opinion. What does bother me, however, is that while it's socially acceptable to do that, it is politically incorrect to make assumptions and stereotypes about liberal people.Now I'm not here to promote the right to bash Obama, gay people, feminists, people who drink or sleep around. I'm here to reject the right to bash people who don't have the same beliefs or views. There are double-standards in our society and it is unfair that a liberal person is welcome to voice their opinion about anything, but conservative people have to follow the "politically correct" code of conduct. Doesn't that contradict the whole point of being a "liberal"?
I've come up with the following examples of double standards:
- A lady who blogged about her choice to not wear leggings was accused of slut-shaming. Let me get this straight: I'm allowed to help men focus on something other than what's under my clothes; I just can't blog about it. Otherwise, I'm automatically calling other women who do wear women them sluts, even though I never did. Now, if that same girl blogged about her choice to wear leggings because she is free to wear what she wants, then Huffpost women would be sharing the article calling her open-minded and progressive, but Heaven FORBID if anyone accused her of virtuous-shaming.
- A young couple of ages 18 and 19 decide they want to live together after graduating from High School. "Awe, how cute." one would be expected to say. But when a 20-year old girl and a 22-year old guy decide to get married, however, people would say "They're so young, they don't know what they're doing." So living with someone you're not sure you want to spend the rest of your life with is okay, but solidifying that relationship and celebrating that love, is a sign of immaturity and uncertainty simply because of your age?
- On Glee season 6, episode 2 there's a scene where former Glee club members Quinn, Sam, Puck, Mercedes and Tina go to a conservative school club where all the members are Christians, the Tea Party Patriots. Not surprisingly, the members of those clubs were depicted as goody-two-shoes, arrogant, and uptight. What irritates me about Glee is they force liberal values onto kids so obviously, it almost makes me want to turn into a radical conservative. But anyways, after they say no to joining the Glee club Mercedes calls them many things, among them, Obama-bashers in an insulting tone in her voice. So, we are free to voice our opinions and choose to vote on whoever we want to, so long as you like Obama? You could say "Well, Glee isn't forcing anyone to like Obama; it was just a joke." See, these TV shows targeted to teenagers, who are so malleable and still figuring out who they are and what their values are, DO have an influence on society. Especially those that have been as successful as Glee.
- This is the 21st century; a woman can sleep with as many people she wants because it's her body so she's free to do so. But if a 20-year old guy said he's saving that for marriage, heck, he wouldn't hear the end of it. His peers would tell him he's brainwashed, he needs to enjoy life, he's not getting any younger, and YOLO! Is he not entitled to his choice? Doesn't he get to choose for himself what he does with HIS body?
- A Broadway musical bashing the Mormon religion was enjoyed by many audience members and considered funny. But Heaven FORBID if there was a Broadway musical making fun of Gay people. Why is it politically incorrect to bash gay people, but it's politically correct to bash a religious group?
- People always protest that Gay people should be given the right to get married if they love each other, and if anyone says anything about it, they're bigots and homophobes. So if you have anything against it, keep it to yourself. But if a guy and a girl who have known each other for less than a year decide they want to get married, they wouldn't hear the end of it; that you can't know someone well enough in less than a year, that you need to live together first, that they don't know what they're doing, etc. Heaven FORBID if you say anything about gay people, but it's okay to judge a straight couple based on their timeline simply because you don't think it would work?
- Miss California who was running for Miss USA 2009 answered the following when asked her thoughts about gay marriage "I think it's great that Americans can choose one or the other. We live in a land where we can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. (...) I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there. But that's how I was raised and that's how I think it should be; between a man and a woman." Her response raised controversy and attacks against her. But let's look over her answer: where did she say gay people were bad or deserved any form of punishment? All she did was risk her crown as Miss USA to defend her beliefs and voice her personal opinions. She even said "no offense, but that's how I was raised" But no, apparently, she's not entitled to her own opinion and she's not allowed to defend her beliefs because it's not politically correct. But calling her a dumb b**** (as Perez Hilton did) is fine, for some reason.
- A dude who chooses to follow his religious code by not drinking, for example, will be told by his peers that religions are only there to restrict him from living freely. Yes, you are indeed free to choose. He could utilize his freedom to choose to drink. Or he could utilize his freedom to choose not to drink. It's not his religion that's restricting him. It's his belief that by not drinking, good things will come to his life. But when you pressure someone the way his peers are because you want them to, aren't you taking away that person's freedom to choose? So, it's not okay for a religion to caution its members from doing something, but it's okay for you to pressure that person to do something?
Here are some more examples:
At first I didn't think those things affected me. I thought "So what if liberal values are being more and more accepted? So long as I live mine, I'm good." But it does. Yes, in most cases, living your beliefs is still allowed. But standing up for them, or telling people you live them, is shamed on.
We are progressively seeing the state and the media impose their own moral values on us, forbidding diversity and freedom of opinion. As a result, religious institutions have a bad image. The adjective "religious" has developed a negative connotation. I wouldn't be surprised if the government completely overthrew the supremacy of God and religions.
Family as a social unit has also lost its value with the glamorization of radical feminism, legalization of abortion, divorce rates rising, teen sex, kids being justified when disrespecting parents because it would be immoral for those parents to punish them, common law being now more acceptable than marriage, schools taking on the responsibility of teaching sex ed rather than letting the parents do it, etc. Sooner or later, kids won't need parents to teach or discipline them, because the government will take on that role.
Educational institutions are teaching and instructing students from a liberal standpoint. Political views used to be respected by teachers and all political parties were explained and taught Teachers taught both policies, giving their students freedom to decide which party was right for themselves. Now, conservative policies have been taught in school with a negative light. As though it is only to be taught in history classes, not current political science classes as they are old school and irrelevant. This brainwashes students into thinking they are not smart unless they vote liberal.
The concept of being politically correct makes it so good people have to tiptoe around controversial subjects not to offend people when really, they shouldn't have to be cautious about standing up for their beliefs. People with that kind of integrity and courage to stand up for what they believe in (even though the whole world may disagree) deserve our respect, if anything. But no, they are no longer allowed to hold, let alone defend, certain values, otherwise they are bigots, narrow-minded, and old-school. Another thing that bothers me about the liberal media is that it is driven by attacking, accusation, guilt-tripping and pitying/playing the victim.
Like I said, I'm not here to attack liberal people or their values. I'm also not here to promote harassment or bullying of liberal people or even their views. I am promoting the respect towards conservative people and their views by pointing out that conservatives have been progressively losing their right to voice their opinions simply because it's not socially acceptable anymore, which is completely unfair.
I was reading an article for my International Business class called "How Successful Leaders Think" and what it concludes is that what every successful leader has in common is the ability to hold two opposing ideas at once. It argues that as humans, we have the natural capacity to hold two opposing ideas at once, but we have been conditioned and trained to automatically choose which of the two ideas to overthrow and eliminate and which one to accept. With that being said, we need to be open to both sides of the story. The same way conservatives have been forced to respect liberal views on certain topics, particularly controversial ones, liberals need to at least respect those of conservatives.
So, the moral here is, if you're gonna go around protesting that people shouldn't judge or bash certain people, let us then be fair and not judge or bash ANYONE. I don't believe judging those with liberal views is the solution to this issue. In fact, I think we would be taking a step back by doing so. We solve this by treating everyone with respect.
Funny story: As soon as I finished editing this, I came across this Press Conference where LDS church leaders call for laws that protect religious freedom, while treating advocates of the LGBT community with respect:
At first I didn't think those things affected me. I thought "So what if liberal values are being more and more accepted? So long as I live mine, I'm good." But it does. Yes, in most cases, living your beliefs is still allowed. But standing up for them, or telling people you live them, is shamed on.
We are progressively seeing the state and the media impose their own moral values on us, forbidding diversity and freedom of opinion. As a result, religious institutions have a bad image. The adjective "religious" has developed a negative connotation. I wouldn't be surprised if the government completely overthrew the supremacy of God and religions.
Family as a social unit has also lost its value with the glamorization of radical feminism, legalization of abortion, divorce rates rising, teen sex, kids being justified when disrespecting parents because it would be immoral for those parents to punish them, common law being now more acceptable than marriage, schools taking on the responsibility of teaching sex ed rather than letting the parents do it, etc. Sooner or later, kids won't need parents to teach or discipline them, because the government will take on that role.
Educational institutions are teaching and instructing students from a liberal standpoint. Political views used to be respected by teachers and all political parties were explained and taught Teachers taught both policies, giving their students freedom to decide which party was right for themselves. Now, conservative policies have been taught in school with a negative light. As though it is only to be taught in history classes, not current political science classes as they are old school and irrelevant. This brainwashes students into thinking they are not smart unless they vote liberal.
The concept of being politically correct makes it so good people have to tiptoe around controversial subjects not to offend people when really, they shouldn't have to be cautious about standing up for their beliefs. People with that kind of integrity and courage to stand up for what they believe in (even though the whole world may disagree) deserve our respect, if anything. But no, they are no longer allowed to hold, let alone defend, certain values, otherwise they are bigots, narrow-minded, and old-school. Another thing that bothers me about the liberal media is that it is driven by attacking, accusation, guilt-tripping and pitying/playing the victim.
Like I said, I'm not here to attack liberal people or their values. I'm also not here to promote harassment or bullying of liberal people or even their views. I am promoting the respect towards conservative people and their views by pointing out that conservatives have been progressively losing their right to voice their opinions simply because it's not socially acceptable anymore, which is completely unfair.
I was reading an article for my International Business class called "How Successful Leaders Think" and what it concludes is that what every successful leader has in common is the ability to hold two opposing ideas at once. It argues that as humans, we have the natural capacity to hold two opposing ideas at once, but we have been conditioned and trained to automatically choose which of the two ideas to overthrow and eliminate and which one to accept. With that being said, we need to be open to both sides of the story. The same way conservatives have been forced to respect liberal views on certain topics, particularly controversial ones, liberals need to at least respect those of conservatives.
So, the moral here is, if you're gonna go around protesting that people shouldn't judge or bash certain people, let us then be fair and not judge or bash ANYONE. I don't believe judging those with liberal views is the solution to this issue. In fact, I think we would be taking a step back by doing so. We solve this by treating everyone with respect.
Funny story: As soon as I finished editing this, I came across this Press Conference where LDS church leaders call for laws that protect religious freedom, while treating advocates of the LGBT community with respect:
