I'm At A Lost For Words!!!

[Evil Dead]

I know Conservatism is complete bullshit, but I need some help on explaining why.

Can I get some help?

[Rusty Shackleford]

I meant Conservatism, I had a typo and my browser corrected me

Ok well conservatism is obviously pro-capitalist. it is socially conservative meaning it relies on reactionary social views.

conservatives tend to be militaristic and hawkish.

in 'conservative' economics, all policies are very pro-business anti-worker. political 'liberals' are only slightly better than political 'conservatives.'

[Apoi_Viitor]

??????????? Why is conservation bullshit?

[Jimmie Higgins]

I know Conservationism is complete bullshit, but I need some help on explaining why.

Can I get some help?It's self-contradictory:

"we value life... except if you are poor, a pregnant mother, a prisoner, someone in a country we are bombing"

"we believe in family values... the value of a family in picking up the slack for social problems and dealing with alcoholism, drug use, poverty, job-loss, sickness, child-care all by their selves with no help from social programs."

I'm sure everyone here can point out more right-wing hypocrisies -- you get the idea.

The right-wing's ideas are also often just wrong because the ideologues, the pundits and the politicians and so on are not really interested in the truth. The goal of Lou Dobbs when he demonizes immigrants isn't to "protect the middle class" - if he was interested in that he would not support the neo-liberal policies which have caused people to have less job security and lower adjusted wages. The point of immigrant scapegoating for the people at the top is to find a way to blame anything other than the system for the faults of the system.

Fundamentally right-wing political ideas are only there to protect the interests of the ruling class and so it doesn't matter to them if they spread lies about immigrants, welfare-recipients, unions and so on.

It's the same for liberals too, except they are to system's "good cop" to the system's "bad cop" of the political right. A conservative may say "pull yourself up by your bootstrap" while a liberal says, "here's a program to help you pull up your bootstrap" but they both want the same thing.

[bcbm]

did you mean conservationism or conservatism op?

[Evil Dead]

did you mean conservationism or conservatism op?
I meant Conservatism, I had a typo and my browser corrected me

[Pretty Flaco]

I meant Conservatism, I had a typo and my browser corrected me
You might want to correct that typo... I was about to say something about how I like endangered species, you know, not being dead forever

[mikelepore]

Conservatism means supporting what already exists and opposing change. Whether it's the right attitude depends on whether what already exists is good. So the real issue isn't about conservatism itself. The real issue is whether we already have the best of all possible social systems, or whether changes could bring about improvement.

Historically, there has generally been a need for drastic improvements, therefore conservatives have usually been those who have opposed social progress. While there were some who dared to be the "kooks" who supported abolishing slavery, equal rights for minorities and women, the right to form labor unions, and protecting the natural environment, not everyone supported these things. Some people opposed those things merely because those things involved change.

That is the historical role of conservatives, to oppose any good idea because it is new. It's a nonthinking role, a habitual pattern of behavior, a knee-jerk reaction of fear, and therefore it attracts stupid people. If you live in a time in which the establishment says that the emperor is a god, it doesn't take any courage or intelligence to say likewise that the emperor is a god. To challenge the social convention takes careful thought, but to approve automatically whether your predecessors have taught you requires no strength or imagination.

John Stuart Mill wrote: "Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative."

[ContrarianLemming]

What we have is not the best we are capable of, and what we have will not always be.
/conservatism.

[Cyberwave]

Conservatism is too pitiful to realize that reforms and regulations are necessary for capitalism to survive; without these "horrible socialist governments and their tyrannical interventions into private business" then capitalism can't be preserved, and preservation of capitalism is the ultimate goal of conservatism.

[TwoSevensClash]

I know Conservationism is complete bullshit, but I need some help on explaining why.

Can I get some help?

The belief in the free market and small government solves all but when it comes to things like showing tits or saying fuck on TV its the governments moral duty to censor it. Saying they care about humanity but supporting the one of the most unjust systems ever (capitalism). Belief in pointless militarism that causes much more problems and doesn't solve shit. Many more stuff

[Thirsty Crow]

No offense to anyone, but I cannot understand one thing...
How can one who cannot explain to others (or to himself for that matter) know that conservatism/anything is bullshit?? Isn't this knowledge also "instinctive" and not based on study of any kind?
I just can't figure it out...:confused:

[Luisrah]

I've never went much into it. What sense is there in protecting a society that has no free health, education, food etc? A society where it is more important to not let the poor manager from that company lose his 200 million bonuses than to feed the 10 million that die of hunger every year?

You can keep going, but this is enough for me to understand that what we have now doesn't work.

[777]

Conservatism is, by definition, all about preserving the status quo.

The status quo is bad.

Simples.:thumbup1:

[Uppercut]

Conservativism is all bullshit. It assumes that humans are pathetic, greedy organisms and that only a small few can truely reach their potention. As has been said in the posts above, it is an anti-worker, anti-humanist, anti-collectivist, racist, and homophobic ideology that needs to be eliminated.

[Red Commissar]

Conservatism is, by definition, all about preserving the status quo.

The status quo is bad.

Simples.:thumbup1:

This is essentially a cornerpoint of conservatism. One thing to remember is that "Conservatism" embodied a different set of ideals depending on what time frame you look at but almost always it attempts to preserve the status quo by the reasoning that rapid change is bad, the fundamentals are still working, and what ever things that follows.

Conservatism, in turn, begins to change with generations and adopts principles that have been deeply ingrained into the fabric of society. Most "Conservative" movements in the 1800s, for example, were opposed to the Liberals' advancement of free-market principles. Only until the turn of the century and much of the 20th century did we see Conservative parties adopt standards of capitalism when in time it was the accepted way of doing things.

The conservative by default will fall back to defending the status quo when faced with some drastic change, and brings up the danger of a violent revolution and the destruction of the society that "we love so much".

Conservatism is a dangerous and consistent force because by nature of trying to make themselves appear as to not rock the boat, they can get support among various segments of society- the ruling class down to the workers.

However most times this is a rouse. Conservatives' main feature is to preserve the social and economic relations in society, and use other tactics, say a concern for the country, certain principles (FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDOM), religion, and exploit social anxieties in order to distract from how unfitting their ideas are for anyone but the ruling class.

It comes down to ultimately one's stance on the advancement of society. Is change good or should it be avoided until ruling interests feel its safe to jump on, sometime long after? This issue has been present in all parts of human history, between those who demanded change and those who called it dangerous.


If it had not been for the discontent of a few fellows who had not been satisfied with their conditions, you would still be living in caves. Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization. Progress is born of agitation. It is agitation or stagnation.

Conservatism in America takes the following forms

-Adherence to "free-market" principles while ensuring the safety of major concerns
-Rigid opposition to social programs and taxation on the upper segments of society
-Incorporation of conservative social values, religion, and nationalism to appeal to social groups outside the ruling class
-The concept of "Hard Work" being taken by those lazier than you (i.e. welfare to them)

A combination of misinformation and exploitation of social anxieties leads to a considerable support behind what we see as American conservatives, despite the values they embody economically would not work for the masses of working people who think that "capitalism" means they are free to work and reap their hard work to the fullest.