The Mad Rants of a Raving Genius

A fitting saying, don’t you think? Extreme right-wingers are often seen as uptight and unable to cope with change, while the extreme left is classed as having more than a few screws loose. The irony is simply too much.

Anyways, I didn’t come here to discuss the hidden sociopolitical meanings behind the saying that reminds you which way to turn a screw. No, my goal here is to explain the difference between liberals and ultra-liberals, since there seems to be a rather large amount of people who don’t get it. In short: the “left” is not one big group with one set of goals, just as the “right” is not a single group. It’s called a political spectrum for a reason.

So what touched me off this time? Interestingly enough, a Wikipedia article about zombietime, a far right-wing blog run by some amateur photographer too cowardly to call himself (herself?) anything but “zombie,” let alone put up a contact link. In short, this person likes to frequent extremist left-wing rallies, claiming to be showing the world the dangers of the liberal mind when given a picket sign and something to yell about. Normally this wouldn’t bother me. Heck, I get scared when I see anarchists and feminazis mingling in the streets, yelling about the Man and how he’s putting everyone down (as he lets the protesters roam the streets). But what zombie does that pisses me off is group these loonies in with the rest of us liberals. In short, anarchists are the same as moderately anti-Bush soccer moms to him. This irritates me to no end.

A good example of this flawed line of reasoning is a photoessay he did for Front Page magazine. Scroll through the pictures and you’ll find a good spread of ultra-liberals. Mixed in with them, however, are people who would otherwise be considered somewhat moderate. Granted, a sign saying “Bush = Satan” is a tad on the extreme side, but what’s extreme about a sign saying November 2, 2004 was a sad day? zombie makes the common ultra-conservative mistake of taking any anti-Bush sentiment (no matter how mild) and thinking it’s evidence of rabid liberals let loose. This makes about as much sense as thinking NRA members are out to exterminate the entire homosexual population of the United States. Sure, they may be conservatives, but that doesn’t automatically place them in the same section of the political spectrum as the Rush Limbaugh’s and Ann Coulter’s of the world.

This really goes way beyond zombie and his blog. It touches on a fundamental issue that’s been debated since the dawn of time (or at least the dawn of politics): who’s right and who isn’t. I’ve seen this for as many years as I’ve had to see Ann Coulter’s mug on book covers. “How to Talk to a Liberal”? How is that any different than talking to a conservative? The thing is, people like to think they’re on the “right” (as in correct) side of an issue. Extremists on both sides of the political spectrum think this, which means, in their eyes, the other side is wrong, no matter how extreme the views. For a die-hard pro-lifer, any support of abortion is evidence of that disease called liberalism. An ultra-liberal born and raised in a commune is likely to take affront at any shred of homophobia. Both sides think they see problems in the other, but the real problem is that they divide people into just two groups: right and left. Conservative and liberal.

Those aren’t the only two sides.

There never were only two sides. Ultra-liberals, moderate liberals, Republican liberals…they’re all different. They have different views about the issues, and even when they share views, they express them in vastly different ways. For every anarchist at an anti-Bush rally waving around a “F*CK YOU” sign, there are three people who dislike Bush just as much who write petitions and calmly gather support to correct his mistakes and fight his decisions in Congress. Not every liberal is gay or loves terrorism or despises religion. They don’t all hate men or soldiers or the government. I don’t make the mistake of classifying all conservatives as gay-hating, war-mongering Bible-thumpers because I realize that, for the most part, only the extreme edge of conservatism expresses those traits.

It’s not just about who loves Bush and who hates him. It’s not just about who wants to eradicate Islam and who wants to solve things peacefully. People like zombie make the mistake of putting exactly two sides to every issue, but that’s just one thing: wrong. Bash ultra-liberals if you must, zombie, but don’t lump the reasonable liberals in with them.