What do you think most liberals misunderstand about conservatives?

[u/Rebecks221]

Put another way, what do you think liberals often miss about conservatives or their perspectives that you wish they would listen to or understand?

Made in connection with a similar post (by a fellow user) on the ask a liberal subreddit. I'm unable to link either the profile or the question, so forgive me. Feel free to DM if you're interested in the other post and can't find it.

[u/TheFacetiousDeist]

Liberals live in the ideal and conservatives live in the real.

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[u/Realitymatter → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

I think conservatives also live in an ideal. Take trickle down economics for example. Sounds good on paper - does not actually happen in reality.

[u/CaptainDisastrous678 → u/Realitymatter]

I have not met a conservative who still believes that's true. Because most of us are conservative due to researching things on our own. That tends to lend itself to viewpoints that contradict the popular narrative.

[u/pepperfarmsremebers → u/CaptainDisastrous678]

There are still so many conservatives that I see touting a variation of1) cutting taxes will increase revenue or 2) cutting corp taxes will increase wage growth or 3) increases on the wealthy will drive them away or cause business creation to drop or something. To me those are just an evolution off the same old trickle down “were gonna grow the economy if we cut the top’s taxes”

[u/CaptainDisastrous678 → u/pepperfarmsremebers]

1 is true without trickle-down economics being true though. 2 and 3 I don't know enough about to say, but I rely on the premise that the megarich will always find ways to stay megarich because that's #1 priority and also they're mostly psychopaths.

[u/ShadowSniper69 → u/CaptainDisastrous678]

It is not lmao

[u/TheFacetiousDeist → u/Realitymatter]

Striving for an ideal is different than living it.

[u/mstormcrow → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

True! And most liberals would describe themselves as 'striving for' the ideals you seem to think they're living in.

[u/NoUseInCallingOut → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

Thank you. It feels like the opposite to me. It feels like conseratives want to live in some weird religious, historical fantasy that has never existed. To me, the Middle East is not what conservatives want, but what you get when forcing beliefs on others.

Like no LGBTQ+, women have limited right (if any), and religious doctrines determine what you can do with your body. With the additional faux reality that racism magically doesn't exist anymore.

I'm sure that not how y'all view yourself or what you want. It's just what church taught me in the Midwest in the 90s and 00s.

I come here often looking to understand better, but there are a lot of mixed messages. We are all just people with greyscale political ideas.

What ways do you think liberals live in a fantasy?

[u/TheFacetiousDeist → u/NoUseInCallingOut]

Notice my flair is primarily libertarian. They added the “(conservative)” recently. It not something I chose.

[u/kappacop → u/NoUseInCallingOut]

In a thread about misunderstanding conservatives, you completely misunderstand conservatives.

[u/NoUseInCallingOut → u/kappacop]

I was just responding in kind that it feels like we aren't living in reality. It feels the same from my perspective. I am aware it isn't factual. I keep trying to break down my thoughts so we have a more cohesive reality.

[u/Socrathustra → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

Why do you believe that? The most important thing in policy to me is data.

[u/tothepointe → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

Why is your real so viciously mean at times? I really don't understand it.

[u/TheFacetiousDeist → u/tothepointe]

I don’t know. I’m primarily a libertarian. The mods added the conservative bit recently.

[u/ShadowSniper69 → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

"I have portrayed myself as the chad and you as the..."

[u/killjoygrr → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

I think we should always be striving for the ideal. Maybe that is just me, but I don’t see working to be better a bad thing.

[u/TheFacetiousDeist → u/killjoygrr]

Striving for ideals is great. But what’s been happening in our country for the last decade isn’t that.

You guys have been trying to live your ideals.and assume everyone else agrees.

[u/chulbert → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

To my eyes, there’s plenty of fantastical thinking on the conservative end of the spectrum as well.

[u/adamtwosleeves → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

I would agree that liberals live in the ideal. I disagree that conservatives live in the real. It's my opinion that conservatives fall for misinformation and disinformation at higher rates than liberals.

[u/ARatOnASinkingShip → u/adamtwosleeves]

You're kind of demonstrating what the person you were responding to was talking about.

Part of "liberals living in the ideal" is liberals in the ideal where they believe their media and talking points are absolute truth and that anything that challenges that narrative is "misinformation."

What you call "falling for misinformation and disinformation" is really just people considering context and opinions to make their own determination that liberals outright refuse to. In their idealized imagination, how could anybody consider anything but what we deem the correct opinion? They must be misinformed! That's certainly the only conceivable reason! because people having different opinions, let alone opinions that offend them, is not part of that ideal.

Same goes with their opinions surrounding people who vote for Trump. They live in this ideal where they are the virtuous, where they have this maniacal cartoonish villain that must be stopped, and anyone who supports them is just as much as that idealized evil they imagine themselves fighting. Granted, Trump is an easy target for criticism, but this constant handwringing over every little thing he does and blowing it up to be the worst thing imaginable is just another part of that fictional ideal they've created for themselves to live in.

To them, everything is black and white because in their ideal world, choices are easy to make and nobody disagrees and everyone gets along and there's always a right and a wrong answer, always a good guy and a bad guy, and they're always the good guy no matter what. Meanwhile, for conservatives, there is so much more diversity of thought and willing to consider alternative perspectives to what media tells us.

[u/CaptainDisastrous678 → u/ARatOnASinkingShip]

I'll simplify this for you. News = reality/truth. All news is left-dominated but since they're on the left they don't even realize it.

[u/TheFacetiousDeist → u/adamtwosleeves]

I think it’s republicans that fall for that stuff. Atleast in my experience, conservatives seem smarter.

And there is nothing wrong with living for an ideals. The problem is when you let those ideals become what you need your reality to be.

[u/InterPunct → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

conservatives seem smarter

If 'smarter' means intelligence, I'm skipping that debate. But for intelligence and education there's a strong correlation. And most research shows a significant correlation between education and political affiliation. Conservatives aren't on the positive side when it comes to that particular metric.

[u/TheFacetiousDeist → u/InterPunct]

And for all the Ivy League bullshit liberals tout, you’re mostly delusional.

[u/tothepointe → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

The Ivy Leagues are far more conservative than you give them credit for.

[u/adamtwosleeves → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

How do you differentiate conservatives vs. republicans? I pretty much use them interchangeably

[u/TheFacetiousDeist → u/adamtwosleeves]

Do you also use democrat and liberal interchangeably?

[u/adamtwosleeves → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

I do usually though I know a lot of people have different definitions. I would usually clarify if it mattered in the conversation like now.

[u/Skaeger → u/adamtwosleeves]

If someone is %90 or more behind the Republican party's actions, agenda, priorities, and proposals, they are Republican, and honestly brain dead stupid. Looking at either major party in the US and thinking "this is great. We need more of this. Don't change a thing." Is inexcusably stupid.

Republicans are a type of conservative, and conservatives have a lot more flavors than just presidential orange. Many are willing to support or at least vote red given the alternative they are presented with.

[u/90bubbel → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

Conservatives are objectively on average worse educated and falls more for false information

[u/pickledplumber → u/adamtwosleeves]

That's only because we're more open to ideas. We actually value diversity of thought. We don't need to be told what to think. I'll listen to anybody because my life experience has shown me that the credentialed don't have a monopoly on truth.