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The Great List of Liberal "Truths"

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"The majority of those who are loosely identified by the term “liberals” are afraid to let themselves discover that what they advocate is statism. They do not want to accept the full meaning of their goal; they want to keep all the advantages and effects of capitalism, while destroying the cause, and they want to establish statism without its necessary effects. They do not want to know or to admit that they are the champions of dictatorship and slavery."

-Ayn Rand, "Conservatism: An Obituary" Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

Even if we are not raised by hard core Liberals as I was, the effects of their insidious thinking which claims to care about the welfare and individual rights of people is everywhere. With the blunders of the so-called "free market" farce, more and more people are trusting their words.

Here begins the list of Liberal "Truths" learned from my parents and the "caring" Liberals who claim to love and cherish individual rights.

Feel free to add your own from personal experience or observation.

1. All people who are successful steal from those who are not.

2. One's place in society does not matter. (One should not worship social status, but it is more important than the Liberal claim.)

3. Authority (teachers, law enforcement, government officials, experts, etc.) knows best, and their motives and results should not be questioned.

4. People do not have to make their own decisions and are not intelligent enough to do so. They also do not have to accept the consequences of said decisions.

5. Education should be free, and by extension, it is not the responsibility of parents to ensure their children are functional adults prepared for the real world. After all, the Authority figures are supposed to do it for them.

6. Everyone is guaranteed a right to a job (and by extension, a "good" job where the company takes care of the employee, pays them a "fair" wage, provides free/low-cost healthcare, bonuses, and retirement benefits)

7. Rich people are uncaring and do not help the less fortunate.

8. Everyone is obligated to do what society/Authority wishes, not what one values.

9. The government is supposed to take care of you if you are old/enfeebled.

10. Without Unions or government rules and regulations, safe working conditions and equal rights would not exist.

11. The purpose of a person's life is to follow the orders of someone else, and dare not aspire to anything greater.

12. People are helpless, disenfranchised individuals who either have to do it all themselves, or depend on the State in order to be successful.

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This is my first post here, so be gentle. Good post, V.C. Fortunately, I am the son of an immigrant father who came here smack in the middle of the Great Depression. His family wasn’t exposed to the trappings of the governmen: welfare, AFDC, Medicaid, Food Stamps, etc. He served in WWII and then went to school to become a physician. We lived a middle class existence (even though we weren’t) and I was reminded that I would have to find my purpose, set my goals and work to achieve them. Your list reminds me of everything my Dad told me to watch out for as I entered liberal UMass in 1973.

Last week, I saw Atlas Shrugged. I knew who Ayn Rand was, but never read her books. After getting an early acquaintance with her philosophy, I think I found something to fill in the gaps of my conservative/libertarian views.

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I am happy that you were raised by people who would have none of this.

The clincher is, my mother gave up her affluent background for a loser Union worker who held up these values as gospel, a man who was beneath her intellectually, and emotionally.

These are the values which I have had to spend a great deal of my life overcoming. These values are evil: pure and simple, and do absolutely everything to encourage inequality, abuse, and mediocrity. Possessing these values however, means never having to take responsibility for your failures and your triumphs.

Like many of their generation, both of my grandparents fought in World War II, but their lives were completely different.

On on side, one grandfather was a champion of individuality and the power of business- a brilliant college educated engineer who spoke multiple languages, and later in his career travelled establishing international trade relationships for the company he worked for. My grandmother was also educated and worked as a nurse in a time when the wife was supposed to stay at home and be her husband's doormat.

The other was a steel worker who believed no one deserved happiness, opportunity, and that the purpose of a man's life was to work hard, get handouts, and die.

I do not share this because I want people to feel sorry for me, but I want people to know of the evil that Liberalism and "equality" can lead to.

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So, I continue at the age of 30 to go full bore into my interest of music, especially when I am probably "too old" to do something. I'll probably fail, but that's what Liberals like to see.

Liberals do everything in their power to sabotage, hurt, and prevent people from succeeding. They are evil, cold, uncaring human beings who care only about themselves, while claiming to care about "the people".

Oh, most Union employees make better wages than most non-Union employees, but, that didn't stop the excuses of "we're not rich", and "it's someone else's job" from resonating

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My mother's side of the family is business people, engineers, doctors, managers, and artists.

It's quite clear she fed into the Hippie bull shit of the 60s and early 70s. The idea of a strong human being who didn't need to be dependent on others for their worth probably wasn't something the Flower Children liked very much.

I can give a young person of 18-25 some leeway in believing this. After all, they have not had much of a chance to evaluate life yet. But, it's criminal for someone to hold onto such evil values.

Edited by VoltageControl
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As someone who previously identified as a liberal, I just want to clear up what I think are some mischaracterizations. None of what I’m saying is meant to be taken as me saying that liberals are in any way correct. I just think you’ve missed the mark with regard to the approach that liberals are taking. For simplicity’s sake, I’ve left out examples but I’d be happy to provide some for each point, if you’d like.

1. That’s a bit of an exaggeration. To the extent that the typical liberal agrees with this, it also seems to be the extent to which an Objectivist would agree. This is targeting those who are successful mainly due to government corporatism.

2. I’m not sure what you mean by this. Maybe I’m misunderstanding your point but liberals typically don’t want people to be poor.

3. I think this is probably your worst point. There are sheepish people in every ideology. Many liberals consistently criticize all of the people you listed.

4. I don’t know where you’re getting this. Insofar as there are anti-libertarian laws which liberals support, this might be true but I don’t think the reasoning is ever that people are too stupid. The fact that liberals tend to be more libertarian on “social” issues should be enough to show us that there is more to the liberal argument than just saying that people need to be told what to do.

5. I think you’re basically correct here. But, again, the way you’ve characterized it isn’t exactly right. We all want every parent to be a good parent, unfortunately some of them aren’t and liberals have taken a specific stance with regard to this fact.

6. This seems like more of a liberal ideal or hope than a “liberal truth.”

7. This is more like a stereotype that some liberals, unfortunately adhere to. Stereotyping is almost always unintelligent, whether it’s stereotyping the rich or stereotyping liberals.

8. No. Liberals have specific ideals for society, just like any other ideology, including Objectivism. To the extent that society and its laws line up with liberal ideology, liberals believe people are obligated to follow but to the extent that society and laws do not line up with the ideology, liberals believe people ought to rebel against this in some way.

9. It’s not that gov’t is supposed to. It’s more like, the gov’t is something that can be used to do this and that it would be a good thing if it does.

10. I think you’re right on this one.

11. That’s just not true. I don’t even know where to begin on this one.

12. It’s more like some people are disenfranchised people who either have to do it themselves or with the help of state or charity.

Again, I don’t consider myself a liberal but I think your list is an unfair portrayal of liberal ideology. If we’re going to attack liberalism, we should attack liberalism instead of a straw man.

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I'm allowing my emotions to get in the way of having a rational discussion. I obviously am projecting my negative life experiences onto an entire group because my father claims to be Liberal.

I was not raised by a man who was willing to accept responsibility, learn from his mistakes or even take risks of any kind. He decided that the world and everyone in it should conform to his wishes, with a lot of force instead of compassion.

He used outsiders as straw men. "it's this rich person's fault that I can't do ____" or lying and saying "so and so told me to do it", or "no one helped me, so why should I help you?"

He has made a decent living for a number of years, but continues to act like he's poor.

Money and things always come before people, and individuality and people achieving anything beyond what he had achieved was evil, and he made sure to demonize me, my brother, and my mother, all under the guise of "what's best for you."

Family just wasn't important to him; appearing to be kind and loving in front of others, when he was a total jerk and abusive or neglectful behind the scenes.

Edited by VoltageControl
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So, I continue at the age of 30 to go full bore into my interest of music, especially when I am probably "too old" to do something. I'll probably fail, but that's what Liberals like to see.

Why do you think you might be "too old" at only the age of 30? I'm 34 and don't even think that way...

On topic, I would change number 4 to: People can not make their own decisions, we either are told what to do by some authority or humans are somehow determined and don't possess volition.

Edited by EC
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Again... what???

Repeated... Whaat!!

Yes, VC, you're over the hill - what can I say?

Except, it's interesting that you identified a whole bunch of authoritarian

behavior of liberals (quite accurately) - but, here you're relating to one major, false

authority - other, or "most people".

Don't fret, man : my friend, a fine guitarist, says he's getting to his best, now at 64,

after playing since his teens.

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@

Repeated... Whaat!!

Yes, VC, you're over the hill - what can I say?

Except, it's interesting that you identified a whole bunch of authoritarian

behavior of liberals (quite accurately) - but, here you're relating to one major, false

authority - other, or "most people".

Don't fret, man : my friend, a fine guitarist, says he's getting to his best, now at 64,

after playing since his teens.

I don't look my age. People say I look about 23-25 depending on who it is.

I don't smoke and I don't drink.

As much as I feel anxious about it, I've decided to take after Moby and Jordan Rudess, both of whom didn't have their success until 34, and are still going strong. Jordan Rudess is also quite the entrepreneur, owning a company which creates music apps, has written a couple of books on keyboard technique and even produced various tutorials. He's quite the marketer as well.

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As much as I feel anxious about it, I've decided to take after Moby and Jordan Rudess, both of whom didn't have their success until 34, and are still going strong.

What do you think it means to be successful? Accomplishing XYZ and getting recognized for it?

It seems like you think there's a specific goal you must reach and then you'll finally be *successful*

All you can do is try your best in everything you do and be content with the paths you choose.

Edited by Michele Degges
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People only seem to care about you if you accomplish things.

Maybe if I can accomplish something, I might be considered valuable and get the love and support I missed out on.

People only seem to care if you have some sort of status in society. You are regarded as trash if you don't.

Edited by VoltageControl
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People only seem to care about you if you accomplish things.

Maybe if I can accomplish something, I might be considered valuable and get the love and support I missed out on.

People only seem to care if you have some sort of status in society. You are regarded as trash if you don't.

Well - to run with that a moment, these 'people' will consider you non-valuable, and take back their love and support,

when you fail. Remember that we all 'fail', in something, or at some time. Success is not a straight line.

That's to demonstrate that the only rational standard to live by is your own. Any status that comes along is secondary - or completely insignificant. I strongly suggest you learn to cease seeing yourself through other people's eyes.

Find value and worth in your own mind and abilities.

Ask of yourself: is it music you love? or, is it being known as a famous musician? I know several world-class musicians who

have succeeded, but not made much money, or become famous outside of an appreciative minority.

Fame, alone, is empty and meaningless.

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This is a bit off topic from the subject of the first post, but reading things in subsequent posts I found kind of amusing. I know somebody else offline that is extremely insecure after an abusive upbringing and who wants to be a musician, but who feels like he needs to become extremely "accomplished" at this in the sense of being very widely regarded as successful and well known and such. He often has wondered if his desire for this in music has to do with wanting to receive love and approval like he has not gotten in his life earlier (though I contend to him the element of wide popularity and such may have to do with this, his passion for music is still genuine otherwise because if it wasn't, there are plenty of other things he could pursue to get lots of fans and yet this particular endeavor is where his interest is focused on very solidly.) He also has recently been going through feeling like it is too late for him to achieve any kind of successful career in music, particularly given that he is not yet at the skill level he would think he would need to be and that he does not have a solidified set of people to work with. This person I know who has been having these kinds of conclusions and getting all discouraged and ready to throw in the towel and give a career in music up entirely as futile is presently at the ripe old age of 18.

Of course, the same goes for you as for him that one does not need such fame and colossal popularity to be worthy and receiving of love. It's a damn shame the kinds of things some very good people are subjected to, but keep looking and one can and will find people who aren't assholes who can and will appreciate you for who and what you are.

Edited by bluecherry
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@bluecherry

Good lord! At 18!

Wow. You'd better get this person to come to their senses.

@whYNot

You're perfectly right.

Even if someone does manage to become highly regarded in any genre at any age (since we do see cases of someone doing well past the age of 25), it doesn't always last.

The people who do endure over the years I have observed, are always growing, and always changing. They must do it out of love, and this energy must help them push through. Perhaps it is this love which comes through in what they do. They also seem to become savvy at promoting themselves and connecting with their audience.

After all, people tend to gravitate towards a passionate person who is always learning and improving, as do all people who master something in the arts/business.

Creativity and music are important. I see that there is much that can be done to improve the way we interact with sound and how we create it, and have fun with it. This means there are possible entrepreneurial applications to this.

It is important to connect with others, constantly learn and improve. I enjoy that a great deal. Getting feedback from others. Tweaking, experimenting, etc.

I need to stop taking everything so seriously, making it a life or death situation.

@Michele I am trying too hard to be goal-oriented, when I am more process oriented. It is more important that I do something, put in the best effort I can. That is all a person can do. None of us has complete control over circumstances, in spite of what people say.

All I can say is, I don't want to be an old man and regret that I did not put effort into what I value.

Edited by VoltageControl
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@bluecherry

Good lord! At 18!

Wow. You'd better get this person to come to their senses.

I know, I've tried! :P I've many times tried to tell him that he's only 18 for crying out loud and that just because things are not how he wants them to be NOW does not mean they will stay that way FOREVER. He has all the time in the world to improve upon things!

Fortunately, at least this kid is seeing his own shrink and psychiatrist, so as long as he sticks with it, there's plenty of time for him to learn where he is being absurdly unrealistic and defeatist and too hard on himself and so on and so forth before he has thrown a ton of his life away into things he doesn't care about. Given time, a professional should be able to do much more to elucidate where he is being unrealistic than I can.

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Therapy is useful.

However, it is merely a tool.

It has taken me a long time to work through a lot of my issues. Sometimes I slip, as I have here.

The truth is, none of us knows the future. It worth pursuing what you value at any age. We only have one life.

I too, am being way too hard on myself as your young friend is. However, I have also seen that people even if they achieve what they value can still be hard on themselves and even be unhappy.

As for being realistic, that's a double edged sword.

On one hand, people can accomplish amazing things which others think they cannot do, in spite of their circumstances and perceived ability (or lack there of). Happens all the time.

On the other hand those amazing things may not be possible, which also happens all the time.

All we can do is strive to develop ourselves as best as we possibly can, take risks, and learn from our success and failure.

Edited by VoltageControl
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This is true, one can achieve what they set out to as some sky high aspiration and still feel awful. Music and other arts and such are littered with examples of this. How one feels about oneself and one's life is not solely controlled by what one manages to accomplish, not by a long shot. Generally, if you don't think you are a worthwhile person before you achieve something, you won't afterward either and instead will just minimize the significance of your achievements in your own mind. I've heard some things this kid recorded a couple years ago even that he created during a time in which it was hard to do almost anything and these things were BEAUTIFUL. Other people who would know well and be honest about it have commented on his skill too. He's still very nitpicky about these things though. But, some things are improving. :) As I've said, he's been getting treatment and there are some signs of improving. Not even a week after he was talking about giving up on music as hopeless he had been doing a lot of practice, drilling on things he thought he was weak on and has commented on having gotten past some plateaus in his playing skills and some people heard those recordings he had showed me and they contacted him interested in playing music with him. He liked what he heard by them too and they were willing to drive 40 minutes to come pick him up to practice together. He has been removing a number of people from his life too who have been bad for his mental well being. It's a difficult road, but I really think he'll get better in time and look forward to seeing him do well in the future.

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There have even been cases where someone did get all the advantages in life (being born to wealth, having supportive friends and family, etc.) and still go off the deep end.

I have managed to connect with people all over the world thanks to technology. One is a video game music composer in Europe who is releasing his first music just for him after making music for others for 20 some years. His brother had a couple number 1 hits in a couple European countries, and still produces music professionally to this day.

I've connected with a couple of pro synth preset designers who gave me a lot of practical advice on how to shape better sounds, as well as people who have built and designed synths.

I connected with a British man who used to run the UK branch of a synthesizer company which made a lot of advances in the 1980s as well as the inventor. Both the inventor and person who ran the company have moved on, one still makes software and the other now teaches blind and autistic children how to create music.

I speak to one of his blind students. She is an accomplished synthesist, but she can't do everything she wants since none of the software for making music has been designed with blind people in mind, or at least has the capability to be used by blind people. The only way for her to use things is to memorize how they are laid out, or get help from someone else. She wishes to remain as independent as possible.

I'd really like to succeed so I could obtain the resources necessary to make music and learning how to create more accessible to more people.

Someone shouldn't have to spend a lot of money or conform to the world in order to create.

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Mhmm, where you start in life can make it harder or easier to get various things done in life, but it is not a guarantee of where you will end up whether that be that for better or for worse. Good to hear you've got some people who can give you advice from experience on how to get to where you want to be. :)

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Was scary as hell to approach people. I had to be careful and show that I wished to communicate out of respect, rather than to get something for free, which was not my intention.

But, I learned that while some people will say no, or even ignore you, or think you're nuts.

Some people will say yes, and some will have faith in others.

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I decided I'm definitely not going to try outdoing someone like Lady Gaga or acting like an 18 year old, so no meat outfits or skinny jeans. I wil however, not act like I'm 65 even when I am 65 :-)

I will ensure I produce as high quality work as possible, and find a way to stand out.

BTW, Voltage Control is short for Voltage Controlled Oscillator, the circuit in an analogue synthesizer which makes the sound itself.

Chose it as a VCO can create sounds with very little, but has infinite possibility. It may not be a violin, but it has a sound all its own.

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