Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Hollywoodaction]

Bah, if you were Canadian, you'd understand that liberals and conservatives are equally pathetic.

[Bulsajo]

[Moldy Rutabaga]

They are both problematic political philisophies, and are to an extent industrial names that no longer really fit a globalized world.

I say problematic because what's a conservative? Someone who holds on to the old ways. But Canadian conservatives don't advocate loyalty to the king-- conservatism just seems to be favoring whatever was the case fifty years ago.

And liberals, in theory, advocate laissez-faire government which is 'liberal' in leaving people alone and having minimal control over people's lives-- but this doesn't sound much like big-government, politically-correct liberals nowadays.

To me what is needed is better descriptions of political parties. A party may be global-thinking economically and reactionary in justice issues-- or the reverse-- and conservative and liberal governments aren't always very different from each other.

Ken:>

[Gopher]

[Bronski]

Is this about liberalism and conservatism in theory or people who call themselves liberals and conservatives? Also, there are people who are socially conservative and economically liberal or socially liberal and economically conservative, etc and so forth. People like to choose sides, but it's more complicated than that. I think accusing people of being pessimistic is often an attempt to try to shut them up when they say something you disagree with.

[Ya-ta Boy]

I was really asking if there is a connection between the general personality traits of optimism/pessimism and a person's political view (while knowing that most people inherit their political views along with their eye color).

I was hoping people would stay on the theme of the original quotation that I cited from another thread.

[Moldy Rutabaga]

I am not sure if an optimist or a pessimist is necessarily any political persuasion. They overlap either party, I would think.

But yes, I think an idealist (dreamer?) would tend to be more liberal and a realist (cynic?) more conservative. I am not saying one or the other is good or bad, only that these are probably general tendencies.

Ken:>

[Gopher]

[deleted]

[Rteacher]

I think liberals have traditionally been more optimistic in the sense that they have been more amenable to extending opportunities for material advancement to lower classes and minorities. Conservatives have been more pessimistic about giving more power to underclasses. Of course, it's not necessarily clear that this is a function of different assessments of human nature - or simply different levels of greed and protectionism (of personal - and extended personal - wealth...)

[Ya-ta Boy]

I wish xingiman would show up and explain what he meant in his original statement.

[cerulean808]

xingiman