JoB
JT..
i loved this comment.. “are liberals to be fluid in all things at all times to remain a liberal?”
transplantella..
if “flexible, unbiased, tolerant, unprejudiced” equates with giving in to and agreeing with everyone who crosses their path.. then probably we aren’t so liberal.
(yes, i am a transplant.. but it didn’t take me long to figure out i belong here.. i am one of those you so carelessly condemn now :)
but there are other ways of defining those terms…
flexible?.. have you looked outside your window? the flexibility of people here is confirmed by the incredible transportation options people are using today:) so far i have seen sleds (made of everything possible) snowshoes, cross country skis… and every motorized option short of a snowmobile:) And that is just on one street.
that same flexibility fuels the innovation of Seattle’s business and arts community… and produces some of the best geo-tech engineers in the world:)
my daughter is visiting and i am geo-tech focused right now.. but i suspect the same is true of several ground breaking areas of science…
unbiased? … the lack of bias here fuels the imaginations of those who lead the pack in innovation… you can’t get innovation from biased minds… You have to be willing to concede that there is much you don’t know to look for what is possible instead of labeling the unknown impossible.
tolerant? … on any given day in any pub in town you will hear a broad range of opinions being voiced on a broad range of subjects .. and the most likely comment is.. “you might be right, but”…. present your argument well and someone is likely to buy you a beer… I’d call that pretty tolerant.
The range of diversity in lifestyles here is also proof of a pretty tolerant society… When somene here says.. “some of my best friends are ____ ” .. they probably are.. and not because they went out of their way to cultivate a token friend…
but, come to think of it, most of us would never think to make that statement at all.. we’d just be indignant that you were so insensitive as to talk about our friends that way…
unprejudiced? … I think a lot of us struggle with our own personal prejudices.. but as a whole we tend to err on the side of bending over backwards to compensate for that prejudice rather than let that prejudice control our actions.
while i am fully aware that is a form of prejudice.. i suspect it isn’t the one you were noting.
Have you noticed the way we tend to look after those who are different or disadvantaged here.. even bag ladies and tramps.. ???
I think you got us wrong… your loss ;)
Don’t confuse our intolerance of dogma for intolerance in general because there is one thing that is definately true here.. we seem to be a fairly well educated group of people who were taught to think for ourselves… and don’t much value those who can’t or won’t.
I suspect intolerance of bull is one of our most consistent traits.. maybe that’s why we choose to live here ;~>
but…. we are mostly too polite to call you on your bull unless you insist on foolishly repeating stereotypes without bothering to scratch the surface for substance…
scratch a little and you might find what you have been missing.
unless of course, you are inflexible, biased, intolerant and prejudiced yourself..
in which case no matter how deeply you look, there will be nothing you can see.