From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Mon Aug 27 2001 - 19:50:38 MDT
Russell wrote
> But I *am* getting impatient with the use of the word "liberal" (in the
> sense of social democrat/ic) as one of abuse. The way this is done, day in
> day out, suggests that some people here believe that liberal ideas in that
> sense are somehow contrary to extropianism or to transhumanism or to the
> list's traditions and are illegitimate on this list.
and J.R. responded
> Ideas that are good enough to have persuaded _you_ of their worth ought to be
> good enough to stand on their own ('cause your a savvy guy),
yes
> without being bolstered by association with social democrat/ic
> politics.
I would never use the word "liberal" (and for our overseas readers,
I mean American liberal by that) in a pejorative sense. Many people
are proud to be called liberals, and understandably so: their beliefs
have been enshrined for decades in (American) liberalism. Now calling
someone a fascist, a communist, or a racist is almost always pejorative,
because there are so few who acknowledge being such. Thus we may have
arguments about whether someone is a racist, but there will be no
arguments about whether someone is a (conservative or) liberal.
Russell again:
> some people here [may] believe that liberal ideas in that sense
> are somehow contrary to extropianism or to transhumanism or to the
> list's traditions and are illegitimate on this list.
I don't believe that any ideas on *this* list are illegitimate.
The only thing illegitimate here SFAIK is to fail to engage in
rational discourse.
Lee
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