Anyone who pays attention to popular political culture has noticed the contrast between how conservatives treat progressives and how progressives treat conservatives. Someone, I forget who, observed long ago that generally speaking conservatives think progressives are good people who are misguided. Whereas progressives think conservatives are evil. And so we see their despicable behavior towards people who disagree with them. Thomas Sowell cites the treatment of Sarah Palin and Charles Murray as examples in his article titled Fact-Free Liberals: Part IV, and the following paragraph sums it up so nicely that it was a bonus quotation of the day at Carpe Diem one day last month. To wit:
The vision of the left is not just a vision of the world. For many, it is also a vision of themselves -- a very flattering vision of people trying to save the planet, rescue the exploited, create "social justice" and otherwise be on the side of the angels. This is an exalting vision that few are ready to give up, or to risk on a roll of the dice, which is what submitting it to the test of factual evidence amounts to. Maybe that is why there are so many fact-free arguments on the left, whether on gun control, minimum wages, or innumerable other issues -- and why they react so viscerally to those who challenge their vision.
That "vision of themselves" sounds about right as it seems that for many lefties their political ideology is a major part of their identity.
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