Are there any lefties/liberals you respect?

[Eldritch]

Politicians, writers, journalists, etc .... people whom you can at least feel some respect for, even though you may not necessarily agree with them?

[HawkR]

Yes, my cousin. He's not a journalist or something, and not actually a leftie, he's a commie(shrugs) oh wait, he's a little leftie (wierd to think about the nationalism though). But the nationalism, the way he lives with nature, damn, he could be a idol for many youngsters.

[Absinthe]

Sure, there are...in fact I have respect for most people that have a mind of their own (regardless of it being different from mine) than those who are merely indoctrinated into some ideology...

That been said, I'd rather have a challenging talk with someone of opposing views but original and well founded arguments, than with someone with views similar to mine but who doesn't tell me anything new.

[Treffie]

Yes, there is one Liberal MP that I respect - Vince Cable. Back in 2004, he was trying to bring to our attention that the collapse of the financial markets was inevitable. He confronted Gordon Brown about it in Parliament but he denied everything.

http://www.politics.co.uk/photo/vince-cable-$7008667$300.jpg

[Vulpix]

Yes, there is one Liberal MP that I respect - Vince Cable. Back in 2004, he was trying to bring to our attention that the collapse of the financial markets was inevitable. He confronted Gordon Brown about it in Parliament but he denied everything.

http://www.politics.co.uk/photo/vince-cable-$7008667$300.jpg

This guy is a miscegenator and has had no less than 3 mulatto children :mad:.

[Treffie]

This guy is a miscegenator and has had no less than 3 mulatto children :mad:.

Has he?

Edit, Olympia Rebelo, oops!:(

[Beorn]

Politicians, writers, journalists, etc .... people whom you can at least feel some respect for, even though you may not necessarily agree with them?


No. Put up with? Yes.

[Psychonaut]

I can immediately think of one social liberal who I profoundly respect:

Bertrand Russell

http://www.nndb.com/people/954/000044822/Russell-2.jpg


Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970), was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, advocate for social reform, and pacifist. Although he spent the majority of his life in England, he was born in Wales, where he also died.

Russell was an influential philosopher and mathematician. He led the British "revolt against Idealism" in the early 1900s and is considered one of the founders of analytic philosophy along with his protégé Wittgenstein and his German elder Frege. He co-authored, with A. N. Whitehead, Principia Mathematica, an attempt to ground mathematics on logic. His philosophical essay "On Denoting" has been considered a "paradigm of philosophy." Both works have had a considerable influence on logic, mathematics, set theory, linguistics and analytic philosophy.

He was a prominent anti-war activist, championing free trade between nations and anti-imperialism. Russell was imprisoned for his pacifist activism during World War I, campaigned against Adolf Hitler, for nuclear disarmament, criticised Soviet totalitarianism and the United States of America's involvement in the Vietnam War.

In 1950, Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought."
Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell)

[Loyalist]

Why should I respect anyone whose ideals do nothing but erode and destroy my people, my society, and my values? To answer the question, no. :thumb down2

[Loki]

Politicians, writers, journalists, etc .... people whom you can at least feel some respect for, even though you may not necessarily agree with them?

That depends what one means by "lefties/liberals" I guess.

I can have some respect for people if they are working from an honest, fair and objective perspective. The ones who I cannot tolerate are those who shout down arguments and deny free expression. But there are some liberals who would hear out all sides of the argument. Those I can respect to a degree.

Richard Dawkins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_dawkins) is someone who is very progressive and forward thinking. I wouldn't exactly describe him as a leftie/liberal, he is more a free thinker. Yet he does seem to be PC in his books, probably trying to find justification for his works, or increase his popularity. Nevertheless, he is doing great work in his field, and I can respect him for that.

[Baron Samedi]

Two words... Alan Moore.

lol

Oh yeah, and as far as journalism goes.... Keith Olbermann is my hero.

[Loyalist]

Oh yeah, and as far as journalism goes.... Keith Olbermann is my hero.

:rolleyes2:

http://i39.tinypic.com/96gwh5.jpg

[Eldritch]

That depends what one means by "lefties/liberals" I guess.

Hmmm, I suppose I myself do not have an exhaustive working definition of those terms. I was mainly referring to (whomever the person responding to the question considers to be) the people "on the other side of the fence".


I can have some respect for people if they are working from an honest, fair and objective perspective. The ones who I cannot tolerate are those who shout down arguments and deny free expression. But there are some liberals who would hear out all sides of the argument. Those I can respect to a degree.

Amen and several Hail Marys. :thumb001:

You said it better I ever could. As long as I am on the same page about the goal; the betterment of entire humanity, or our race(s), countries, people(s), whatever, I can argue about the methods for achieving it endlessly without losing respect for them.

As for the other types of people you mention .... someone once said that there must be something fundamentally wrong with the Western Civilization, since it produces scores of people who, despite being more secure, confortable and healthy than any other human beings ever in history, hate their own civilization and do whatever they can to destroy it. This is a conundrum I still do not understand and, like doubtless many others here, ponder almost daily.

Moving on, Bertrand Russell and Alan Moore have already been mentioned, excellent. What's your take on, say, Noam Chomsky or David C. Korten?

And what about Orwell? Is he a "leftie/liberal"?

[Birka]

I do not like lefties or liberals, but who I am starting to have much more negative attitudes about are Authoritarians. From either the right or left, when they try to grow their power (usually through government), they chip away at our freedom and liberty.

Maybe the worst of the Authoritarians are the international bankers and money men, men like George Soros and the Rothschilds, men hiding behind the scene but who control governments through manipulation of money like the Federal Reserve Banks and International Monetary Fund, and the dreaded UN. I despise these people.

[Susi]

I respect people who can justify their viewpoint to me in a realistic, reasonable manner.

[RoyBatty]

Naomi Klein is worth reading

[Baron Samedi]

:rolleyes2:

http://i39.tinypic.com/96gwh5.jpg

Yep, he has his own attitude and mindset....

Better than most one-dimensional journalists nowadays.

[Psychonaut]

What's your take on, say, Noam Chomsky

I've read a few of Chomsky's books on linguistics and really admire his work on transformational grammar. I'm not enough of an expert to judge the veracity of his theories for myself, but I can certainly see why he retained the position he did at MIT. Needless to say, I'm not a fan of his politics, but that doesn't sully the rest of his work.

[Bobby Martnen]

Jimmy Carter. I don't agree with most of what he did as President, but he's an amazing man.