Liberal vs Conservative Facebook

[Askold]

Link: http://graphics.wsj.com/blue-feed-red-feed/

Wall Street Journal has made a thingy that shows us how Liberals and Conservatives are talking about politics and politicians in USA. The main point of this exercise is to show the posts side-by-side to give the reader a nice comparison on how people with different political views talk about the same issues.

Note that the articles and posts in question might in fact from a neutral source but they are here if they are circulated mainly by one group. (Like story about Target and the new bathroom policy being circulated by people opposing it.)

Someone already noted that the Conservative feed about Sanders is much less toxic than the one on Clinton. (In fact the Sanders feed takes several shots at Clinton and it seems that Conservatives prefer Sanders, if not for his policies then because at least he isn't Hillary Clinton...)

[Souriquois]

Conservatives probably have less vitriol towards Bernie Sanders than Hillary Clinton because Hillary is a woman. Conservatives and liberals seem to have hostility towards Clinton.

[pyro]

That and Sanders isn't expected to actually be nominated.

[Ultimate Paragon]

Conservatives probably have less vitriol towards Bernie Sanders than Hillary Clinton because Hillary is a woman. Conservatives and liberals seem to have hostility towards Clinton.

Misogyny probably plays a role, but I'd say it's more a combination of "Clintipathy" and the hatred of First Ladies who are viewed as trying to wield power through their husbands.

[Sigmaleph]

The latter seems like an aspect of misogyny though?

Like. A First Lady wielding power 'through her husband' is just a First Lady wielding power as First Lady, since that is a position defined by who she is married to. Which, y'know, sure sounds like saying that the First Lady should hold no power at all and be a purely decorative position.  Insert the standard discourse about the Patriarchy.

Then again I'm sure there's plenty of Hillary-specific reasons (and Clinton-specific reasons) conservatives dislike her.

[rookie]

I don't remember anyone having a problem with Nancy's Just Say No campaign.

[Ultimate Paragon]

The latter seems like an aspect of misogyny though?

Like. A First Lady wielding power 'through her husband' is just a First Lady wielding power as First Lady, since that is a position defined by who she is married to. Which, y'know, sure sounds like saying that the First Lady should hold no power at all and be a purely decorative position.  Insert the standard discourse about the Patriarchy.

Then again I'm sure there's plenty of Hillary-specific reasons (and Clinton-specific reasons) conservatives dislike her.

Good point.  On the other hand, people also tend to dislike VPs and cabinet members who are perceived has having too much influence.  Advisors too.

I don't remember anyone having a problem with Nancy's Just Say No campaign.

Well, a lot of people hated Nancy.  Still do.

[Askold]

People claim that Obama is a dictator overstepping his boundaries when he makes laws they do not approve of. More often than not the problem isn't an abuse of power, it's the fact that power is being used to do something the complainer does not approve of.

[Ultimate Paragon]

People claim that Obama is a dictator overstepping his boundaries when he makes laws they do not approve of. More often than not the problem isn't an abuse of power, it's the fact that power is being used to do something the complainer does not approve of.

Exactly.  It's partisanship, plain and simple.  Lots of people insult Obama for (rightly) calling Islam a "religion of peace," but conveniently ignore the fact that Dubya wasn't exactly "tough" on the faith himself.

[Sigmaleph]

The latter seems like an aspect of misogyny though?

Like. A First Lady wielding power 'through her husband' is just a First Lady wielding power as First Lady, since that is a position defined by who she is married to. Which, y'know, sure sounds like saying that the First Lady should hold no power at all and be a purely decorative position.  Insert the standard discourse about the Patriarchy.

Then again I'm sure there's plenty of Hillary-specific reasons (and Clinton-specific reasons) conservatives dislike her.

Good point.  On the other hand, people also tend to dislike VPs and cabinet members who are perceived has having too much influence.  Advisors too.

Yeah, fair point.

[Askold]

Although in my opinion misogyny and racism do show up strongly in the hatred against certain people. Everyone is aware of how much racist speech and themes are used against Barack and if you look at the criticism of Michelle, what she has done is not so much the target as her appearance (or at least someone's opinion of her appearance.)

Look at all the pictures in the bad political cartoon thread that are about her fat ass (I have no idea who could consider her fat) or claims of her looking like a man (or a gorilla.)

[Sigmaleph]

Racism definitely shows up against Obama. And it probably contributes. But I would guess that some people who would hate Obama even if he was white (because he is a Democrat president) are expressing that in ways that are racially coded because they are culturally available. Any weapon against the Hated Enemy, and so on.

Which is not to say they aren't racist. They are. But they also hate Obama for non-racist reasons.

[Lt. Fred]

I don't remember anyone having a problem with Nancy's Just Say No campaign.

I certainly do. For a drug dealer* to use his sale of drugs to demonise his victims and thereby win public support is pretty scummy.

* Note: Ronald Reagan permitted and assisted in the importation of crack cocaine.

[Ultimate Paragon]

I don't remember anyone having a problem with Nancy's Just Say No campaign.

I certainly do. For a drug dealer* to use his sale of drugs to demonise his victims and thereby win public support is pretty scummy.

* Note: Ronald Reagan permitted and assisted in the importation of crack cocaine.

Source?

[dpareja]

I don't remember anyone having a problem with Nancy's Just Say No campaign.

I certainly do. For a drug dealer* to use his sale of drugs to demonise his victims and thereby win public support is pretty scummy.

* Note: Ronald Reagan permitted and assisted in the importation of crack cocaine.

It goes back farther. The entire War on Drugs, as admitted by a Nixon aide in 1994, was started by the Nixon administration to a) lock up blacks, who voted Democratic, b) lock up hippies (ie liberals), who voted Democratic, and c) get Republican propaganda on TV news every night.

You want to know what this was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.