April 11, 2007

CAN OF KIDNEY BEANS

I found a great comment over at Blackfive by a guy named Geo(AeroEng). It was in response to a post wherein a lefty blog criticizes her fellow lefty bloggers for not sharing the love with linkage. She says that it's a shame that

people whose worldview is so narrow, intolerant, exclusive, and hateful are so much better at supporting their ideological soulmates than we on the left, whose values run to diversity, inclusiveness, a place at the table for everyone, human needs before defense contractors’ wish lists.

I know, I know. Muffle your guffaws. Geo(AeroEng) responds with:

Perhaps its because we on the "right" are willing to put aside differences for a common goal. Here on B5, I've seen posts and comments from the "religious right" to "libertarian" to "classical liberal" and many other unique (and stereotyped) view point. On many issues, we actually DON'T agree. I remember firestorms about topics from gays in the military to legalizing drugs. Regular poster debated regular poster. In the end, we agreed to disagree and behave civily. In the end, we know that we have some common ground and are willing to focus on that. We, unlike many on the left, are more than tolerant of other's beliefs differing from our own. Something to say about us placing a high value on freedom.

One pair of posts struck me as representative of why we, as a community, work. In the post concerning Cpl. Emery, Orion and Carrie had this exchange:

Orion: I may be pagan, but I'll pray for him and the Sarn't Major as well.
Carrie: Orion,
I don't care if you worship a can of kidney beans..
all the positive energy that we can muster is needed right now.
All of it.
Just do what you do.....it is all good.

On a place like the Daily Kos, I'm sure this would have devolved into a blow by blow against a certain religion (most likely the roles reversed or militant atheism vs. christianity/paganism). On the left, one must buy into the party line completely. Various groups fight for supremancy of THEIR goals and only theirs.

Here, it was cherished. WE don't give a hoot about every issue at once, only the important ones.

We know when to argue, we know when to unite, like any good, if slightly disfunctional family. Family looks after family.
Maybe the left just doesn't get it. In a way I pity them.

Amen to that. I think my blogroll is fairly diverse. I don't agree with everything my favorite bloggers say. And I thought I agreed with everything CaliValleyGirl says, until she disagreed with me about the 15 British sailors! I enjoy listening to Neal Boortz and Rush Limbaugh on the radio because I agree with them about as often as I disagree with them, and they disagree with each other often too. "The Right" is a very broad tent, but we band together with our common ground and face the problems at hand. I even was excited to find the blog But I Am A Liberal! yesterday, because the common ground is there for us too. I can disagree about the details, but I can't disagree about the basic underlying values.

I can't speak for the Left because I've never been a part of the Left, but I have a hard time seeing that it's the Giant Table With A Place Setting For Everyone that this blogger says it is. And what will they do in 2008 when their common ground -- that Bush is the root of all evil -- is gone?

I love being a part of the big tent that is the Right. And I continue to identify with and vote for people I disagree with on a lot of things, because at least our core set of values are aligned.

But I really need to put a stop to disagreeing with CaliValleyGirl.

Posted by Sarah at April 11, 2007 08:42 AM | TrackBack
Comments

Oh, Sarah. I hope you and I have a long life with many disagreements!
Pray tell we disagreed on something before...
Anyhoo, I was cracking up at that description of how the right is seen from others...makes me think. I mean, that person seems to be pretty educated and writes well, but nevertheless her view of things is pretty narrow.

Posted by: CaliValleyGirl at April 11, 2007 10:10 AM

Nice post, and thanks for the plug. Hopefully we can find more common ground on the most important issue of our day: the fight for democracy and freedom against all those forces who would like to suppress it (both on the right and the left).

I don’t often put myself on the left these days, but I do feel it is as big a “tent” as the right. Depending on how you classify “right” or “left”, I would say everything from socialist minded anarchists to capitalist libertarians fit into the “left” tent. Not that any of these people would sit down and have a friendly dinner together!

I know it sounds cliché, but I don’t even bother with left and right classifications anymore. Like I routinely say, if you stand up for democracy and the rights of the individual over the masses or the government, you are a friend of mine!

Keep up the good work; I have enjoyed your blog.

Posted by: Roland Dodds at April 11, 2007 12:36 PM

Then we're friends, Roland! Let the individual reign! I hope you're right that the Left tent is as big as the Right tent, but I will certainly say that neither side has a monopoly on intolerance or hate, like this Lefty blogger says.

Posted by: Sarah at April 11, 2007 01:09 PM

Couldn't have said it better myself. I have been reading your blog for a while now, and find myself agreeing more than disagreeing with you. That said, I have never been the type to completely write someone off because we disagree on the little things. Very rarely can you agree with all of the people of a certain group all of the time. As individuals, there will always be little things that make us stop and say "what the??? Variety is the spice of life, and if we always agreed our interactions would be pretty boring. Sharing a common set of core values (as you so nicely put it) is what's important, the rest... gives us something to discuss. :-)

Love the blog...

Posted by: Jules at April 11, 2007 10:17 PM

This might come as a surprise to you, but both Neal Boortz and Rush Limbaugh are ignorant assholes. They lie a lot and appeal to the baser elements in human nature.

Posted by: Charles Chips at April 11, 2007 10:47 PM