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siren2541, who, to her credit, was pissed off by the list.
Top 11 things you must believe if you are a liberal:
1.You believe that guns in the hands of law-abiding Americans are more of a threat than nuclear weapons in the hands of the Red Chinese.
2.You have to believe that the AIDS virus is spread by a lack of funding.
3.You have to be against capital punishment but for abortion on demand - in short, you support protecting the guilty and killing the innocent.
4.You have to believe that all trial lawyers are selfless heroes and all doctors are overpaid.
5.You have to believe that global temperatures are less affected by cyclical, documented charges in climate, than by yuppies driving SUVs.
6.You have to believe that gender roles is right-wing propaganda, but being gay is natural.
7.You have to believe that businesses create oppression and governments create prosperity.
8.You have to believe that self-esteem is more important than actually doing something to earn it.
9.You have to believe the NRA is bad, because it stands up for certain parts of the Constitution, while the ACLU is good, because it stands up for certain parts of the Constitution.
10.You have to believe that the only reason socialism hasn't worked anywhere it's been tried is because the right people haven't been in charge.
11.You should be shallow, muddled, contradictory, divorced of logic and a bit sadistic.
Rebuttal:
1) How are those connected in any way? Both are a threat. There's no point in having one be more of a threat than the other. They've set up a straw man comparison. (Also: Red Chinese? I think I missed this colour designation back in preschool.)
2) No, the AIDS virus is spread by infected people who don't have the information or resources to keep others safe. Funding helps them get information and resources. If you'd rather keep them ignorant and dying, which one of us is sadistic?
3) I'm against turning people in my country into legal killers of fellow citizens, and I'm against the possibility that someone we think is guilty may actually be innocent. I'm also against back-alley acts of desperation brought on by intolerance and ignorance.
4) Doctors aren't overpaid, but insurance companies are.
5) I believe both, actually. Again, straw man comparison. There's no reason why both those propositions can't be true, and if they are, the situation is rather worse than if only one of them is true.
6) Gender roles - no problem. Gender roles as biological determinism - now there's the problem.
7) No, I believe that it's a role of government to ensure that businesses don't create oppression. Regulation and control are not the same thing.
8) Enough already with the straw-man comparisons!
9) No, I believe that nothing in the Constitution requires all types of guns to be available for private ownership.
10) Um, socialism HAS worked. These guys must be hay farmers - where else would they get all that straw?
11) Considering how many contradictions and poor debating tactics I just pointed out, this is a fine example of the straw man calling the scarecrow yellow.
siren2541, who, to her credit, was pissed off by the list.Top 11 things you must believe if you are a liberal:
1.You believe that guns in the hands of law-abiding Americans are more of a threat than nuclear weapons in the hands of the Red Chinese.
2.You have to believe that the AIDS virus is spread by a lack of funding.
3.You have to be against capital punishment but for abortion on demand - in short, you support protecting the guilty and killing the innocent.
4.You have to believe that all trial lawyers are selfless heroes and all doctors are overpaid.
5.You have to believe that global temperatures are less affected by cyclical, documented charges in climate, than by yuppies driving SUVs.
6.You have to believe that gender roles is right-wing propaganda, but being gay is natural.
7.You have to believe that businesses create oppression and governments create prosperity.
8.You have to believe that self-esteem is more important than actually doing something to earn it.
9.You have to believe the NRA is bad, because it stands up for certain parts of the Constitution, while the ACLU is good, because it stands up for certain parts of the Constitution.
10.You have to believe that the only reason socialism hasn't worked anywhere it's been tried is because the right people haven't been in charge.
11.You should be shallow, muddled, contradictory, divorced of logic and a bit sadistic.
Rebuttal:
1) How are those connected in any way? Both are a threat. There's no point in having one be more of a threat than the other. They've set up a straw man comparison. (Also: Red Chinese? I think I missed this colour designation back in preschool.)
2) No, the AIDS virus is spread by infected people who don't have the information or resources to keep others safe. Funding helps them get information and resources. If you'd rather keep them ignorant and dying, which one of us is sadistic?
3) I'm against turning people in my country into legal killers of fellow citizens, and I'm against the possibility that someone we think is guilty may actually be innocent. I'm also against back-alley acts of desperation brought on by intolerance and ignorance.
4) Doctors aren't overpaid, but insurance companies are.
5) I believe both, actually. Again, straw man comparison. There's no reason why both those propositions can't be true, and if they are, the situation is rather worse than if only one of them is true.
6) Gender roles - no problem. Gender roles as biological determinism - now there's the problem.
7) No, I believe that it's a role of government to ensure that businesses don't create oppression. Regulation and control are not the same thing.
8) Enough already with the straw-man comparisons!
9) No, I believe that nothing in the Constitution requires all types of guns to be available for private ownership.
10) Um, socialism HAS worked. These guys must be hay farmers - where else would they get all that straw?
11) Considering how many contradictions and poor debating tactics I just pointed out, this is a fine example of the straw man calling the scarecrow yellow.