Liberal and Conservative, when did they become insults?

[Deleted]

So this popped into my head a few days ago after reading a few threads and i honestly found it kinda hilarious that terms like leftist, conservative, liberal etc... were being thrown around like insults. Since when has somebodies political stance been an insult? i mean really.

[Tradewind]

Shortly after Clinton I believe it became more apparent, to me anyway. When 'Murricans decided it was more important to focus on what political affiliation a person had and use it as more ammunition to treat each other like shit.

[Deleted]

Its not an insult.

An insult is insulting.

I get that, but people throw it around like one. "You're a leftist, your opinion is invalid" sort of deal.

[Kraenen]

I never really get the impression that conservative is meant as an insult. Anywhere from statistics to finance to day-to-day living being "conservative" about things seems to be the accepted gold standard of behaviour. Being liberal means you're wasteful and glutonous, and don't want to work, just want to seek out satisfaction with no regard for standards or morality. The media seems to be quite biased towards conservative mentality, but of course they don't openly say "liberal", it's all part of the backdrop.

[Deleted]

I never really get the impression that conservative is meant as an insult. Anywhere from statistics to finance to day-to-day living being "conservative" about things seems to be the accepted gold standard of behaviour. Being liberal means you're wasteful and glutonous, and don't want to work, just want to seek out satisfaction with no regard for standards or morality. The media seems to be quite biased towards conservative mentality, but of course they don't openly say "liberal", it's all part of the backdrop.

Talk about bias.

[Dillon]

Republicans and Democrats are neither conservative nor liberal. Though they are both fond of spending money, so I suppose in a way they could be considered liberal, as in liberally applying their insanity wherever they go.

[Kraenen]

Talk about bias.

It's just the way the world works. Being "liberal" in mainstream politics is a bad thing

[Deleted]

It's just the way the world works. Being "liberal" in mainstream politics is a bad thing

Well lets see, usually being a conservative is considered to be against moral social issues such as gay marriage and that kind of stuff, that seems to me to like no regard of morality and standards. Political stance isn't a straight line, it's more of a circle, both extremes are pretty fucking similar.

[Deleted]

It's just the way the world works. Being "liberal" in mainstream politics is a bad thing

“You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means”

[eschatological]

Liberal as an insult arose when Bush called Mike Dukakis one and labeled it as "the L word," as if it was similar to "The F word." Keep in mind, long before "the L word" ever meant lesbian, this was in the '88 Presidential election.

I'd say Conservative became an insult (and this is just my opinion/observation/educated guess) when Bush went on and on in the 2000 election about being a "compassionate conservative" and how well that worked out for him as a President. There was a rather reasonable opinion of conservative before that.

[Tradewind]

Well lets see, usually being a conservative is considered to be against moral social issues such as gay marriage and that kind of stuff, that seems to me to like no regard of morality and standards. Political stance isn't a straight line, it's more of a circle, both extremes are pretty fucking similar.

Don't forget there's social conservatism and fiscal conservatism. The latter is a pretty good thing to go for these days, but yeah the former is old fashioned and you're right.

[Dezerte]

As a non-US citizen I find this even weirder.

[Deleted]

Don't forget there's social conservatism and fiscal conservatism. The latter is a pretty good thing to go for these days, but yeah the former is old fashioned and you're right.

I won't talk about anything economical because i wouldn't know what i'm talking bout, although i can see the point of being restrained on spending in the current climate.

[Kraenen]

Well lets see, usually being a conservative is considered to be against moral social issues such as gay marriage and that kind of stuff, that seems to me to like no regard of morality and standards. Political stance isn't a straight line, it's more of a circle, both extremes are pretty fucking similar.

That seems to me to be a strong regard for morality and standards actually. (Just not good ones).
And that's just one issue compared to the ones I brought up.

[Deleted]

That seems to me to be a strong regard for morality and standards actually. (Just not good ones).
And that's just one issue compared to the ones I brought up.

You didn't bring up issues, if anything you just described your view point on what being liberal is.

[Kraenen]

Don't forget there's social conservatism and fiscal conservatism. The latter is a pretty good thing to go for these days, but yeah the former is old fashioned and you're right.

This is more along the lines I was going for. The whole fiscal conservative mentality is quite accepted in mainstream media and politics. "Let's take a conservative estimate" for example is usually considered a good thing. Taking risks such as thinking outside the box or the status quo is generally scorned. I think this way of using it is quite different from political philosophy, and is more about general life values.

[sykke]

As a non-US citizen I find this even weirder.

Me too. I need to find someone to explain the meaning of all these terms in the US. I think that most differ from the European definition. Like american "left".

[Dillon]

When someone says liberal, or conservative, I assume economically speaking. As far as social issues go, for me there's Libertarianism, and everything else.

[eschatological]

Awww, man, I thought this was going to be a cool thread about the origins of language and connotation, but instead it turned into a debate of the definition of the terms. Liberal has always been a positive word to me. Bleeding heart liberal is actually stylized on Jesus, whose heart literally bled for the poor and oppressed and all of humankind's sin. Not a negative thing at all to me.

But politically, in the U.S., it has had a negative connotation since Bush Sr. called it "the L word" in '88, like I said. Mondale before him was labeled a "liberal" but it wasn't really considered an insult, but more of a categorical assessment.

[Kraenen]

You didn't bring up issues, if anything you just described your view point on what being liberal is.

What? The issue of liberals not being "strong family values" or such isn't an issue?