Are Liberals Just Sad? / Judy

Many of you know that I belong to a writer's group that meets twice a month. I really enjoy it because it keeps me writing something and the group gives me good feedback. And I feel like I've made some good friends. However, I am the lone conservative in the group. I'm grateful they tolerate me, but it sure is interesting to hear them talk among themselves about the state of the world. I get a perspective I normally wouldn't hear. And the thing I've noticed is how gloomy their world outlook is. They seem to have no hope, no joy, and everything is terrible. One of them is blatently anti-American; according to her there is nothing good about this country. This is hard to listen to and frankly gets a little boring.

I was thinking about this the other day while I was reading through Time magazine, a known "liberal rag," and they fell right into the same attitude. The whole magazine was so dour it was depressing to read it. Here are a few of the headlines: 1. In an article on the sinking of Venice, Italy: "The city of bridges always had one foot in the sea. Now the waters are rising." 2. "In the wake of the terrorism in Mumbai, India has no good options, nor does the U.S." 3. "Will Iraq stumble after US soldiers leave? Dangerous times for the cities." 4. "Is this Detroit's last winter? "In Michigan the death of the auto industry has been going on so long, it's become part of the culture." 5. "A few scholars and politicians think it's time to kill the 401K." 6. "Dying for a drink; our watery world is drying up fast." 

I know the media works to sensationalize the news and make everybody afraid; that's how they sell their stuff. But I read the newspaper every day and I've read other news magazines and never felt such a gloomy, foreboding sense of doom before. I wonder if it's because Liberals have no faith? Without faith you would naturally have no sense of hope and wouldn't even see the good in the world. All you'd see is how rotten everything is and then naturally you'd want to protest about it. 

Let me give an example of how they can't see anything beyond their preconceived notions. Once one of the women in my group, a member of Mothers for Peace, which is always protesting about something at the Diablo Nuclear Power Plant, was ranting about how dangerous the nuclear waste was, so therefore the whole industry should be shut down. I said, "I know there are problems but some people are doing something about it." Then I told her about my brother who works up at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and how his job was to neutralize the waste. He says they have a process that turns it into an inert glass log, absolutely harmless, then bury it so it's completely safe. As I talked I could see her eyes glaze over so she didn't even hear what I was saying because it didn't fit into her world view. She never even acknowledged my talking to her.

I see this attitude in my writing group and I see it in much of the media. And I think it's sad.