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" (which is the core conservative stance.)" Except that it isn't. People conflate all sorts of ideas about particular issues with the larger overarching polit

" (which is the core conservative stance.)" Except that it isn't. People conflate all sorts of ideas about particular issues with the larger overarching political ideology. It's entirely possible to be conservative, be pro-gay marriage, pro abortion, pro legalization of marijuana, etc. There are some specific issues which the conservative ideology does fall squarely on, such as a resounding no to universal healthcare, but these are few and far between. The conservative ideology in the most simplistic terms is "a smaller central government with less power is a better government". Modern conservative and liberal ideologies are nothing more than an extension of federalism and anti-federalism from the founding of the nation. Conflating this ideology with some of the worst people who claim it is unfair and divisive without cause or care. This, in fact, is the exact thing the person you're responding to is pointing out. You are claiming conservative = "a belief in punitive actions against marginalized members of society" (paraphrasing you slightly for clarity). This simply isn't true, by any measure. It's a nice rhetorical soundbite to raise the ire of your political fellows as a clarion call, but it's not factually accurate and espousing this viewpoint about conservatives normalizes and encourages the type of political divisiveness we are seeing today. Fun story, if we go by the last 5 years (honestly if we go by the last 100 years, but that's a deeper discussion about ideology shifts related to specific key issues) the majority of political violence occurring in the US is being done in the name of liberal ideologies, with much irony I presume. This very position you are putting forth is actually rather anti-liberal, but it's not conservative either. As a shock to all, there are more than two sides to a cube.

zimpenfish 9y ago
> the majority of political violence occurring in the US is being done in the name of liberal ideologies Gerrymandering, Voter suppression, bias against POC, denial of bodily autonomy for women, denial of basic rights to LGBTQ - all done in the name of conservative ideologies.
- tristor 9y ago
  None of those things (with the exception of voter suppression) could be remotely classified as "political violence". While I find the idea of denying basic human rights to anyone repugnant, it is not violent in and of itself. "Political violence" is violence perpetrated to reach political goals. For something to be political violence, it first must be violence, only then does the political angle even matter. I would also broadly separate "politicized violence" from "political violence". The first could be a war that is being discussed politically, the latter is physically assaulting someone because they hold a political view you disagree with. Let's not play funny with words, it doesn't help the quality of the discussion. You're clearly not ignorant, so don't act that you are for the purpose of trolling. Not to mention, basically NONE of the things you brought up are part of the conservative ideology. You're focusing on "issues", which have nothing to do with ideologies. Ideologies are deeper, and determine individual's stances on issues. An individual can hold an ideology and have differing stances on an issue from other individuals with the same ideology. Something helpful to consider might be that Republican != conservative and Democrat != liberal. While the terms are often conflated, it is wrong and done by pundits /specifically/ to confuse the conversation. Don't play into the same game.

zimpenfish 9y ago

> the majority of political violence occurring in the US is being done in the name of liberal ideologies Gerrymandering, Voter suppression, bias against POC, denial of bodily autonomy for women, denial of basic rights to LGBTQ - all done in the name of conservative ideologies.

tristor 9y ago
None of those things (with the exception of voter suppression) could be remotely classified as "political violence". While I find the idea of denying basic human rights to anyone repugnant, it is not violent in and of itself. "Political violence" is violence perpetrated to reach political goals. For something to be political violence, it first must be violence, only then does the political angle even matter. I would also broadly separate "politicized violence" from "political violence". The first could be a war that is being discussed politically, the latter is physically assaulting someone because they hold a political view you disagree with. Let's not play funny with words, it doesn't help the quality of the discussion. You're clearly not ignorant, so don't act that you are for the purpose of trolling. Not to mention, basically NONE of the things you brought up are part of the conservative ideology. You're focusing on "issues", which have nothing to do with ideologies. Ideologies are deeper, and determine individual's stances on issues. An individual can hold an ideology and have differing stances on an issue from other individuals with the same ideology. Something helpful to consider might be that Republican != conservative and Democrat != liberal. While the terms are often conflated, it is wrong and done by pundits /specifically/ to confuse the conversation. Don't play into the same game.