The problem with the debates about whether liberals are not willing to compromise is the false equivalence.
Generally on the liberal side, these fundamental beliefs are about wanting to ensure people can live their lives how they want without fear of persecution or harassment.
Whereas on the right they are passing law banning people living lives how they want, restricting voting rights for people who disagree with them and in extreme cases resulting to violence (see the murder on Friday which has been suggested was due to someone flying a pride flag)
And yet (some) liberals are the problem because they won't compromise?
Part of the problem on the liberal side is academia has created a bubble where people who deviate from accepted “progressive” views in any way (not just right wing stuff) are shunned to the point that people are careful to keep their views to themselves, which persuades “progressives” that everyone in fact agrees with them about everything when that is not the case. People see a “progressive left” that claims there is only one way to oppose racism, only one way to support transpeople, and anyone who doesn’t toe the line (which is ultimately 90% of society) is a worthless bigot. It’s one thing to recognize the wrong of “othering” minorities, but it isn’t set right by “othering” the majority (using “white cishet” as a pejorative in political arguments, for instance).
I can see this argument, but I think it happens less than people think. Left-wing political views are more correlated with openness to new ideas, less deference to authority, etc. so if anything they're less likely to be shunning people with opposing views.
Fully agree though that no one should be insulting people with opposing views and it doesn't help anyone with liberal arguments.
And regarding the woman who was shot over the pride flag--it seems things are going backward in terms of gay acceptance. Partly this is from an assumption on the left that the battle was won and there’s no reason to try to educate people or persuade them any more, while on the right some very successful propaganda efforts are being run bring back all the old fears of homosexuality that we thought had been eradicated. The pandemic seems to have created an atmosphere for paranoia to run wild, in part because it pushed so much activity online (which was temporarily necessary, but not ideal for most people in the long run).
Gay rights aren't going backwards in the US (although you could argue acceptance isn't going up anymore), there's just a vocal minority being amplified by social media, e.g. https://news.gallup.com/poll/1651/gay-lesbian-rights.aspx
But I agree with you that there is an issue with liberals taking certain opinions for granted and not explaining why people should be accepting, the hurt it causes others, etc. The right seems better at setting the narrative on social media.
From the linked poll, it does appear than from 2022 to 2023, people are less approving of transpeople even though more of them say they know one....when acceptance of gays was going up, part of it was people discovering that people they knew were gay, and their realization that a beloved family member or friend was gay changed their attitude towards homosexuality. The opposite is happening with transpeople, for a variety of reasons, but given that trans and nonbinary people are the ones getting the most attention (the new pride flags literally have a trans-flag cutting into the rainbow), it’s a bad sign. Most disturbing is that many places that used to be able to have pride events without incident have been forced to cancel.
Possibly, it's hard to tell a trend from only two surveys.
It is interesting though that the people thinking changing gender is moral is about the same who said the same about gays / lesbians in the early 2000s.
Post-1992 universities, ITYF. :)
See this is why I didn't get in to a Red Brick.
The problem with the debates about whether liberals are not willing to compromise is the false equivalence.
Generally on the liberal side, these fundamental beliefs are about wanting to ensure people can live their lives how they want without fear of persecution or harassment.
Whereas on the right they are passing law banning people living lives how they want, restricting voting rights for people who disagree with them and in extreme cases resulting to violence (see the murder on Friday which has been suggested was due to someone flying a pride flag)
And yet (some) liberals are the problem because they won't compromise?
Part of the problem on the liberal side is academia has created a bubble where people who deviate from accepted “progressive” views in any way (not just right wing stuff) are shunned to the point that people are careful to keep their views to themselves, which persuades “progressives” that everyone in fact agrees with them about everything when that is not the case. People see a “progressive left” that claims there is only one way to oppose racism, only one way to support transpeople, and anyone who doesn’t toe the line (which is ultimately 90% of society) is a worthless bigot. It’s one thing to recognize the wrong of “othering” minorities, but it isn’t set right by “othering” the majority (using “white cishet” as a pejorative in political arguments, for instance).
I can see this argument, but I think it happens less than people think. Left-wing political views are more correlated with openness to new ideas, less deference to authority, etc. so if anything they're less likely to be shunning people with opposing views.
Fully agree though that no one should be insulting people with opposing views and it doesn't help anyone with liberal arguments.
And regarding the woman who was shot over the pride flag--it seems things are going backward in terms of gay acceptance. Partly this is from an assumption on the left that the battle was won and there’s no reason to try to educate people or persuade them any more, while on the right some very successful propaganda efforts are being run bring back all the old fears of homosexuality that we thought had been eradicated. The pandemic seems to have created an atmosphere for paranoia to run wild, in part because it pushed so much activity online (which was temporarily necessary, but not ideal for most people in the long run).
Gay rights aren't going backwards in the US (although you could argue acceptance isn't going up anymore), there's just a vocal minority being amplified by social media, e.g. https://news.gallup.com/poll/1651/gay-lesbian-rights.aspx
But I agree with you that there is an issue with liberals taking certain opinions for granted and not explaining why people should be accepting, the hurt it causes others, etc. The right seems better at setting the narrative on social media.
From the linked poll, it does appear than from 2022 to 2023, people are less approving of transpeople even though more of them say they know one....when acceptance of gays was going up, part of it was people discovering that people they knew were gay, and their realization that a beloved family member or friend was gay changed their attitude towards homosexuality. The opposite is happening with transpeople, for a variety of reasons, but given that trans and nonbinary people are the ones getting the most attention (the new pride flags literally have a trans-flag cutting into the rainbow), it’s a bad sign. Most disturbing is that many places that used to be able to have pride events without incident have been forced to cancel.
Possibly, it's hard to tell a trend from only two surveys.
It is interesting though that the people thinking changing gender is moral is about the same who said the same about gays / lesbians in the early 2000s.