A Word of Caution
I've noticed that many of us Paul supporters have a tendency to bash the mainstream media, both with wide-sweeping lamentations and specific ad hominem attacks toward pundits.
I'm a freshman college student who went to a private Christian high school, and one of the things that got on my nerves there was a pervasive "us against them!" mentality when it came to atheists and liberals.
When I first started getting into politics during middle school, I was a liberal (even though I was still a very conservative Christian), but over the years I slowly transformed into a libertarian.
There was also a time during high school when I was an atheist, and I found myself in a unique position to observe neo-conservative fundementalist Christian behaviors and attitudes.
School bureaucracy and false assumptions about the effects of policy on the individual pushed me further into libertarianism, perhaps laying the groundwork for my current support of Ron Paul.
My point though, is that it looks so whiny when we hysterically complain about unjust media treatment.
For example, we have been accused of being white libertarian nerds with minority viewpoints, and some of us have responded to that in outrage. However, at the risk of commiting an anecdotal falacy, I AM a white libertarian nerd with minority viewpoints! I bet a lot us supporters are.
Furthermore, people with minority viewpoints, indeed any minority characteristics, are easy to characterize as crazy, ignorant, or inferior.
To blindly fight these characterizations only brings about further attacks, thus creating a cycle of animosity between us and the msm.
Ron Paul's views ARE diverse, and so too are his supporters. We can focus on this diversity and promote open-mindedness without giving into a self-destructive martyr complex. A complex like that is doomed to marginalize us further, demean us, AND turn away future supporters.
Let's take the high road folks; it's our only road to victory.
OMG she IS gorgeous!
We're definitely not all that good looking and cannot scare away supporters like the Ron Paul girl by ANY MEANS. All joking aside, diversity is definitely our strength, not our weakness. I'm wasn't born in the U.S., but my parents gave up everything to leave our country (hey guess what? They were overwhelmed by bureaucrats who crashed our currency in the name of a war on terror!) to ensure my brother and sister and me would have a free future. Even though I cannot vote, I feel it is my duty to fight for this freedom not only because this is the very land that taught me what freedom was, but to me, it's a bit personal. I'm a latino male in Nashville with long hair and sexy-ass features, so when I stand in front of the Stadium entrance when mostly white folks stroll in to watch the Titans whoop ass, my most comforting thought is the Ron Paul Revolution. And since I'm originally from Miami , I'm having an easy time turning my Cuban buddies' heads to Ron Paul when talking about limited government. I don't know if many people know this, but there is a good number of latinos supporting Ron Paul, and yes they CAN vote.(Except for Hellion5, don't know him) I may not be American by birthright, but I'm American by ideology.
Javi S.
- Javi
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Furious-Primates/213314918711...
The thing that makes me mad
The thing that makes me mad is the msm and everyone saying Ron Paul's ideas are diverse or radical, when all off his ideas can be backed by the Constitution. Just makes me angry that our society has shifted away from the Constitution.
One Thought to Bind Them All
At face value all of Paul's ideas are genuinely, flat-out crazy by today's standards.
It's like someone took an ipod filled with political stances and then pressed shuffle. Then of course you realize all the tunes were sung by the same Founding Fathers with lyrics straight off their Constitution album.
Oh my, yes, American society is a LONG way from where it once was, but not so far that we can't get it back.
Liv
Now there's someone who destroys the nerdy GUY stereotype!!
Bless her little heart.....
Liv?
Pardon me; I seem to be out of the loop or maybe there's some sort misunderstanding.
Who or what is "Liv"?
The Ron Paul Girl
Yeah, but she's a white, nerdy, libertarian...
... a stunningly beautiful one, but the stereotype nonetheless.
FreeMe.TV
http://www.ronpaulnation.com/tv.html#new_ron_paul_girl_video...
Liv is the "Ron Paul girl" that you'll see when you go to FreeMe.TV
Liv
She's the "Ron Paul Girl"
Check You Tube.
Right!
I feel bad I forgot her name! She had a pretty interesting backstory herself--coming from a welfare family and all.
And she did do a lot to gain exposure for Paul, pun intended.
Thank you!
Thank you for your deeply positive insights!
Whenever someone attacks Ron Paul, his supporters, or his ideas, my first reaction is to say, "Thank you for giving Dr. Paul so much attention!"
Attacks come from people who
Attacks come from people who can't defend their own ground and that is the easiest way to respond. The best way to respond is to write something insightful. Definitely correct any errors or lies that you see, but limit to that.
Think about it from a view point of a bystander who is just learning about candidates, any candidates, barely or never heard of Dr. Paul. When he sees insults in a reply or attacks about Zionism, Neo-Cons, even Rockaffeler etc. He just things WTF, and moves on. Instead if there were sound statements and rebuttals of the article, it may get his attention, no matter how many times you have repeat the same issue over and over.
I just see too many really childish replies on a lot of articles, people just get fired up and don't really understand the position Dr. Paul stands on and how it relates to other candidates, to intelligently refute it. I know I don't know enough, so 95% of the time I don't respond to articles, even though I'd like to and have an urge to say "shit head" or something really childish.
The best thing to do is to go back to a forum such as this and ask, can anyone help reply to this jerk in this article. I see those kind of requests all the time on ronpaul2008 yahoo news groups, and that is the correct way to handle this type of situation.
yep
yer right. I like your point that if you don't know, ask someone here. I am truly humbled by the degree of wisdom elucidated on this site.
yep oops double click.
yer right. I like your point that if you don't know, ask someone here. I am truly humbled by the degree of wisdom elucidated on this site.
Amazing....
Very well spoken. I think that EVERYONE needs to read this and be reminded of why we are indeed Ron Paul supporters, and as the original poster said, "...focus on this diversity and promote open-mindedness without giving into a self-destructive martyr complex."
I would like to STRONGLY request that this be made a permanent post, sticky, or whatever you call it where it WILL NOT get buried!!
Thank You!
Thank you for such wonderful commentary, one of the biggest problems I have with a small group of Ron Paul supporters is the tendency to attack those who say anything bad about Paul or his supporters. Do not attack these people, speak with them, and give intelligent, reasoned debate, but do not fall to base insults, it degrades you, and it degrades Ron Paul, remember as a supporter of Ron Paul you are an ambassador of Ron Paul. You represent him, do not represent him as an ignorant screaming petulant child. I see this over and over in forums. Educate yourself on economics, history and the constitution, learn the arguments for and against Paul's stances so that you may debate intelligently. If you have a Ron Paul bumper sticker on your car, for the love of god stop driving like a jackass, be polite, and be a good person. That is all.
-George
New leaf
Something to think about.
Prepare & Share the Message of Freedom through Positive-Peaceful-Activism.
This has got to be the 50th well written post on this topic.
And yet people don't get it!
BUMP
Well-said. We have to keep
Well-said. We have to keep doing what we think is right (Nov 5th, for example) and not let our campaign be run on reactions only. Our grassroots effort to spread Ron Paul's message does not require the recognition of scribe media.
: )
Thanks. I hope more of us will come to understand.