Like, if a more centralized government precluded one from being in the "Western Civilization" club then you just kicked out probably all of Europe, lolol

The combination of The Enlightenment and The Protestant Reformation lead to a movement toward independent thinking, science, technology, and liberty for more citizens.

The United States was (and remains) a beacon of hope for people all over the world seeking freedom and economic empowerment.

Western Civilization essentially collapsed in Europe due to the rise of Nazism and the Soviet Union.

Europe now relying on (mostly) Muslim immigrants to keep their Socialist Utopias running.

The Muslims will ultimately, I suspect, destroy Western Culture in Europe.

This was true until around November 2016. You might wish it were that way, but it's the other way.

I'd be curious to know where you got this view. Also curious - have you ever been outside the borders of the USA? Have you ever visited Europe?

The right is currently run by a cult leader who demands unflinching loyalty and governs in complete opposition to science. You're starting a pretty solid case here for a group in the United States that wants the end of Western Civilization, just not the one you thought.

lol

I mean, you agree with hardline Islamists vis-a-vis homosexuality.

Hell, you don't have to leave the USA to encounter Muslim enclaves.

lol liberals. bruh I got news for you. its never been true. ever. unless you were a rich white landowner that wanted to not pay taxes and **** your slaves. then it was def a beacon.

ya thats the first thing that came to my mind. well not homosexuality in particular, just that Islam and Christianity are pretty damn similar in their ahem "family values".

but its a totally bizarre statement considering how the right has accelerated the police and military state that has destroyed the smidgeon of personal freedom we once had in this country.

now, I wouldnt say the establishment left is really trying to bring it back and has any sort of policies that will help much. maybe a tad. certainly a better chance than the right but proly negligilbe in the long run.

you know what does actually create more freedom? economic freedom. freedom from want. the ability to put food on your table, educate yourself, and utilize the amazing advances in health care over the years. the freedom to live your elder years without poverty and discomfort.

the right is staunchly opposed to that and I dont think the left cares too much in general and is happy to compromise those people.

The Enlightenment gave us what we consider Western Culture today. The PR was just a different version of the same nonsense. The actual problem was religion as an arm of politics.

I'm not sure Nazism was anything other than a function of nationalism and the industrial revolution. As you can see we live in a quasi fascist state ourselves. It seems to be some sort of natural development that would need to be checked. Assuming anyone cared enough to stop it.

Radical Islam is a good reminder of the dangers of religion. The thinkers of The Enlightenment knew that danger also. Locke seemed to have no issues with God but wasn't keen on religion. Go figure.

lo ****ing l

The right wing extremists he was referring to were very frequently the police, which, since this is the Seattle thread, were on several nights caught on camera charging and assaulting a non-violent crowd in Seattle.

Or the right-wing extremists who intentionally used the protests as cover to murder people

Every single person in this country has these freedoms. Show me a law limiting these freedoms to only certain members of society. Finish high school, don't have kids as a teenager, only have kids after marriage, work full-time. Stay completely away from hardcore drugs. I just got done reading "Hillbilly Elegy" and it's a shame what's been happening all up and down the Appalachians. The lower class white folks have been failing in all 5 categories much more often in the last 10-15 years. Single-Mom rates have sky-rocketed, no one can hold onto a job. Every town I used to hang out in when I was younger now just has walking zombies on opiates waiting for gov't handouts. It's so ****ing depressing.

I can only give an opinion on this in broad brushstrokes as it's phrased, so here we go:

The right wants individuals to make the best decisions possible and doesn't believe in identity politics. Now I understand there are and will always be built-in inequalites. That's life. There will never be equal outcomes. Some people grow up in better conditions, attend better schools, and have generational wealth to build on. This doesn't break down into "White people have wealth, black people don't". That's not the truth at all. If you saw the neighborhood I grew up in (all white) and you were told we all have wealth, you'd fall over laughing.

The left does care a lot about freedom actually. But only for certain groups. They love equality, but just think some people are more equal than others (gotta love that Orwell dude) For example, see what happens when a left-leaning speaker goes to a college to give a lecture vs a right-leaning speaker. Guess which one often leads to riots, people pounding on windows outside the auditorium, and pulling fire alarms?

If you are a Black person in Ferguson, MO, this isn't nearly enough. The police were targeting people for petty crimes to foist on them heavy and escalating fines to fund the city, even though white people did the same thing without police interference.

False. The right believes in a form of identity politics that's based around one identity: white and Christian.

LOLOLOL

Or maybe you'd prefer Liberty University's open-minded approach to opposing views on campus

Explains a lot that you just finished the official book of the 2016 election since your idiotic political takes are years out of date

You can't really encapsulate the right's views on "free speech" any better than modern free speech warrior Bari Weiss spending her college years trying to cancel Arab and Muslim professors for criticizing Israel

I guess you missed the part where the modern grassroots right coalesced around the causes of fundamentalist Christianity, science denial, anti-intellectualism, xenophobia, systemic racism and authoritarianism then. That's pretty much the raison d'etre of the current right, not "rugged individualism" or whatever other lofty ideal you've been sold.

The 1970's called.

They want their life advice back.

According to Wikipedia

In Afghanistan, Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, parts of Somalia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen, homosexual activity carries the death penalty or prison sentences. In other countries, such as Algeria, Bangladesh, Chad, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia, and Syria, it is illegal, and penalties may be imposed. Homosexual relations between females are legal in Kuwait, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, but homosexual acts between males are illegal.

In May 2016, a group of 51 Muslim majority states blocked 11 gay and transgender organizations from attending the 2016 High Level Meeting on Ending AIDS

--That is quite a list. Looks like we have several hundred million (billions?) ofhardline Islamists in the world. Assuming lagtight actually believes homosexuals should be executed or deserve long prison sentences (which I completely doubt, although I will let him speak for himself), then he certainly has a lot of company in the Muslim world.

As far as 51 Muslim majority countries rejecting LGBT activism; that has to be pretty much all of them, right? How many Muslim majority countries are there?

Of course their hand washing of intolerance, non inclusion, and non equity in Islam and the Muslim world is where progressive leftists tip their hand the most clearly. This movement isn't about tolerance at all. It is about power, plain and simple. The power to tell you what you are allowed to say and what you are allowed to think. Progressive leftism is the new fascist totalitarianism. And there is no regressive "allies" they will not accept with completely open arms as long as they help them towards those goals.

It's not a big progressive issue other than everyone is treated fairly.
You're confusing the neo liberal, 3rd way dems who use identity politics to allow them to govern as moderate republicans with progressives.

It's an honest mistake. Everyone who gets their education from Fox News has no idea what a liberal or a progressive is.
Hell, most of them don't even know that they themselves are fascists.

My views are based on, among other things, a study of 19th and 20th Century history, and of examining some of the foundational principles that undergird certain ideologies.

I have never been to Europe.

I have been to Mexico several times.

I agree with Islamists on some things.

I agree with Progressives on some things.

I agree with Randians on some things.

I agree with Planned Parenthood on some things.

I agree with Black Lives Matter on some things.

What's your point?

Lagtight, should homosexuals be able to get married?

I currently oppose the criminalization of sodomy.

I was advised by WN sometime back that I should avoid discussing the topic of homosexuality in this Forum.

If you'd like, we can discuss this topic in RGT.

(Given the above, you can probably "guess" my answer to your question.)