From a liberal perspective I think it's becoming less and less of a swear word. I live in San Diego we are as mixed as Florida we have a strong hispanic gay liberal community as well as a good mostly moderate republican community thanks to a lot of military instillations in the area so being prejudice against liberals in San Diego would be as ridiculous being prejudice against republicans because we are just so mixed. I also feel like it has a lot to do with the red scare historically not to say commies are good I hate communism but it also made a lot of left policies taboo.

It isn't.

hard core republicans think liberal is an insult, but a majority of Americans don't think liberals are bad.

Its just the minority who do think liberals are bad are loud, VERY loud.

Because the reds are coming to get your children.

It's not. People who are liberal are not ashamed of the term. I think its just that your exposure to it is limited to people like krellen who does this best to belittle liberals and has tried to turn the word into an insult. There are similar types on the left who try to demonize the term "conservative". There just aren't many of them on this site.

@fasces, that is a brilliant answer, thanks.

I think OP is confused with libtard.

@Philcore: nobody considers conservative to be an insult. The left use the terms neocons and rednecks as insults, while the right use to terms liberals and socialists as insults.

"The Republican Marketing Machine is better at it's job than the Democrat."

If that was the case then Romney would have won.

Liberals have an inherently guilty conscience -- most don't live their personal lives in the same manner as Liberal Politicians -- for example, spending money way beyond their means, giving money to people that refuse to even try to support themsevles, etc...so when they are personally tied to this philosohpy (i.e. "You are Liberal....you spend money you don't have and expect others to bail you out") the gut reaction is defensive ("No I'm not!!").

Things associated with "Liberal" that a lot of people don't want personally tied to them as a person:
* Killing babies
* Open homosexuality
* Spending trillions of dollars we don't have
* Giving welfare to those that have stopped trying to help themselves (**different** from giving a helping hand to those that are temporarily in need -- it's permanent welfare versus temporary)
* Looking to the government for every need, instead of thinking "I'm an adult, I can care for my own needs

Most adults, when confronted with this set of ideologies, will shrink back and not wish those to be the top attributes applied to them.


Oppose this to typical Conservative ideologies:
* Self reliance - not government reliance
* Fiscal Responsibilities (note, these are Conservative principles, NOT Republican)
* Temporary support to put people on their feet, not life-long handouts

@philcore -- If you are not offended by the term Liberal and it's connotations, then no matter what I say you would still be proud. Don't be a fool -- feel free to "slander" me with the word Conservative any time you wish.

Your pathetic whining (Wahhh....krellin hurt my feelings) grows old...especially when you certainly have no problems throwing around your own brand of insults. Good lord, when will you cry-babies stop being such hypocrites.

I'm with krellin, except that I don't see what's wrong with open homosexuality? That's guys kissing I assume?

It's left over from the 1970s, although I don't think it has been anything like a mainstream pejorative since the 1990s at the latest.

Between the 1930s and 1960s, Cold War liberalism was the dominant political philosophy in the United States, largely because of the New Deal. Conservatism barely had a national profile, and when it did it didn't look good (e.g. Barry Goldwater in 1964 losing the presidential election by historic margins). This started to change in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Problems with Lyndon Johnson's Great Society (a New-Deal-lite-style collection of government programs including Medicare and Medicaid) and the American failures in the Vietnam War were attributed to liberalism. The apparent urban crisis emerging in the late 1960s, the anti-war movement, and America's declining economy all contributed to a sense that something was wrong and that liberals had been part of the problem. The Civil Rights movement moved beyond legal segregation and disenfranchisement, largely in the South, to address national issues of economic and de facto segregation; not coincidentally this is the moment when the majority of white voters turned against both the Civil Rights movement and federal or state policies to support its goals. The American left went through a bit of a internecine conflict, largely related to the Civil Rights movement and Vietnam War. Different historians will give you a different answer about the order of those events in terms of their significance.

As a result, in the 1970s and especially 1980s a new brand of small-ish government and robust foreign policy emerged. Crime, urban unrest, and the apparently vigorous burst of Communist/communist and socialist foreign governments were all blamed on this idea of a weak-kneed liberalism. In the 1990s, this disdain of liberalism gave way as a new generation of Third War-type Democrats, especially Bill Clinton, gave liberalism the kind of charismatic and apparently effective face that people like Ronald Reagan had given conservatism; plus America apparently had won the Cold War and a new kind of foreign policy was necessary.

As long as you don't do it in my face... But the same counts for straight couples. Girls kissing in front of me should be fun though.

Funny about the Conservative ideologies.
The US farm industry relies entirely on subsidies, and is a heavily Republican thing. I know you said conservative, not Republican, but still, you have to admit that conservatism has created an entire non-self reliant industry.
Fiscal Responsibility, yet those who call themselves conservative are willing to stop the federal government at a moment's notice.
Temporary support, yet most 'conservatives' entirely reject measures that would be much like this. For example, unemployment subsidies, which many conservatives want to stop. Or universal healthcare, which is pretty much the definition of putting someone on their feet. Meanwhile, the life-long handouts, well, once again, the only reason the Farm Bill ever passes is that it is a compromise on who should get handouts - those living in or near poverty, or those working in the fields. Both are worthy, I think.
You talk of ideology, but what use is it when the 'conservative' party doesn't follow it.

Also, "Liberal" is associated with "Killing babies", no, it's a fetus, not a kid. "Open homosexuality" makes no sense, your political views do not define or place your sexual preference. "Spending money we don't have" is taking a loan. What on earth is wrong with taking a loan. "Giving welfare to those that have stopped trying to help themselves" because you're qualified to tell if someone is trying to get a job or is just being refused without cause all the time. Looking to the government for every need is "Pooling resources for more efficient care-giving." I realize that you are only saying what Liberal is viewed as in America, and I am saying that viewing it that way is stupid. I am also going to say that it is unlikely to be a general thing, and viewing Liberalism this way is something limited to your surroundings.

I am not ashamed or proud of being Liberal, and I barely even qualify as one, since I'm far too left-wing to be 'Liberal'. I'm Socialist. I'm not proud or ashamed of that either, since "Socialist" is a term that groups certain political views.

people like krellen who does this best to belittle liberals and has tried to turn the word into an insult. There are similar types on the left who try to demonize the term "conservative" quoted from philcore
How is this pathetic whining? He just states that you do your best to belittle liberals, something which you prove with all your posts in this thread, and it appears to even be something you publicly try to do. He is not being a hypocrite, what he gave is an entirely accurate assessment of the situation. There are people who are not ashamed of being "Liberal" and "Conservative" and some of these people try to slander the other group. Are you denying that you slander Liberals?

Krellin proves my first comment admirably

"hard core republicans think liberal is an insult, but a majority of Americans don't think liberals are bad.

Its just the minority who do think liberals are bad are loud, VERY loud. "

Fasces first comment above


Please tell me how what i did is a reflection of your first comment. All I did was list off the operating characteristic of Liberals. If you find those principles to be an insult, then I suggest you are not a liberal or are....as I say...a Liberal with a guilty conscience.

@ Phil - did I do something to "belittle liberals" I was attacked on this thread by philcore on this thread BEFORE I EVER COMMENTED. But I don't see you calling out philcore for bad behavior.

As is ohhhhhhhhh so typical, the liberal hypocrites are coming out **exactly** as I describe them...I'm a freaking god...I've got esp.

steephi - i didn't say anything is wrong with it -- but MOST PEOPLE do not want to see open kissing in public period, let alone have to walk through the mall and watch a couple of fat guys making out because their open.

And that's the problem with modern homosexuality - it isn't "we want the right to be married", it's "we want to shove it in your face", when, generally speaking, it has never been widely acceptable public behavior for *anyone* to make out in public.

I don't give a shit - marry your dog if you want - but keep your bedroom activities in the bedroom. It's rather ironic that the Democrats used to be the ones yelling and screaming about how they wanted the government out of the bedroom...and now that you are the major backers of the homosexual marriage movement, you can't wait to but the bedroom on display. MOST PEOPLE don't want that.

@phil - reading your defense in detail....if you want to go in to all the nitty grttiy detail, feel free. MOST Americans can hardly spell their own name, let alone understand the nuances of farm policy.

Therefore, my blunt definitions of Liberal v Conservative hold, regardless of your detailed defense.

My next door neighbor, good hard working Chrysler Union guy, think abortion is killing a baby, he spends wants in his bank account and is pissed off that we are trillions in debt, etc. Most people have no clue what you are talking about.

THUS, when you call him a Liberal (versus a blue collar Democrat), he might slug you in the nose, because Liberal holds certain social connotations, period.

"people like krellen who does this best to belittle liberals and has tried to turn the word into an insult. "

Please tell me **exactly** where I have tried to turn it in to an insult? If you are a proud liberal, and I call you liberal, you won't be insulted. If you are liberal and I call you a liberal and you are insulted, that isn't ME insulting you...that is you being insulted because.....why? As I said...guilty conscience.

<....I am **highly** amused at all the Liberals drifting in to the conversation that are all highly insulted because Liberalism was defined and, when spelled out in the same bullet points your Average American comprehends, their undies are suddenly in a bunch...If this is you, then I suggest you need to do a serious self-assessment on what your politics really are, and if they align with your actual lifestyle...>

"The Republican Marketing Machine is better at it's job than the Democrat."

Tell that to Mitt Romney. ;)

But FOX News gets high ratings, and we're essentially a nation split down the middle...

So for the Red half (ironic liberals get called reds while the GOP has Red States, lol) takes liberal as a swear word.

krellin, i don't want to argue with you about conservatives, just one thing about your homosexuality issue because that bugs me a little: i think for some people it actually is "we want the right to be married". i don't understand how you can say that you don't give a shit yet you don't want them to marry - you didn't say that, that is just my guess, correct me if i'm wrong. that makes no sense to me.

TO ANGRY LIBERALS: Do you, as a matter of personal policy / lifestyle:

1. Do you: Always spend more money than you have, by way of a planned budget, and resist all attempts to reduce your spending?
2. Do you: In school, volunteer to do the homework for the kid that refuses to do his own homework? or in work, do the work of your coworker who refuses to come of break and cover for him....every day...

To basic test...do #1 and #2 describe how you would personally live your life?

@kasimac -- are yo ureading disabled? Where did I say I don't want them to be married? I said I don't give a fuck if you marry a dog -- please don't lie about what I've said. I think the government needs to get out of marriage, period.

For all you libs out there today in the US -- why don't you go to your next door neighbors house and give him half your dinner for free, because he decided he didn't want to go to the store and cook a meal, so he doesn't have a nice turkey dinner. So be a good guy....go over there and give away half your dinner for nothing, because your neighbor...he lives and breathes, therefore he deserves half of what you have, right?

Because that is Federal Liberalism - and if you support it at the national level, LIVE IT, baby...

Well, you kinda "belittle liberals" in every other political thread you post in. It's sort of your thing, like my thing is long posts going into far too much detail. I find those principles not to be an insult, I just operate on a different definition for some of the positions and for many for others I do not view it as necessarily negative unless specifically stated in a way to make it seem negative.

I actually don't mind to see a homosexual couple making out in public any less or any more than any other couple, and over around here there are a lot of couples of both kinds. I guess that goes down to a cultural difference between Europe and the US, so I can't comment.

Thanks for explaining why some Americans view Liberal as a swear-word, though. It's clearly a matter of definition. Those who call themselves Liberal view it as being open to ideas, to people, and willing to help those in need, those who call others Librul view it as being irresponsible.

as i said, you didn't say that - if you would have read my comment correctly, that is what i said. but reading through the list you've made why people hate liberals you mentioned homosexual marriage directly underneath killing babies, which is in my opinion an emotional wording for abortion, and getting emotional usually means that you defend that position, so i thought the same goes for marriage. sorry if i was wrong.

and what is your proposition? what exactly do you mean by getting the government out of marriage?