| Posted: 26 June 2009 at 5:56pm | IP Logged | 4
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I would agree with you guys that the hypocrisy of someone spouting family values and telling others how to live their lives while at the same time conducting themselves differently in private is why the republicans look bad on these issues.
That's why I have a hard time with environmentalism; I have nothing against the environment and feel that a lot of what they say has validity but the out and out hypocrisy of some advocates roasts my onions.
I was getting lectured at by an acquainatance last month (who, having found out I considered myself conservative, decided what my positions were without asking me and proceeded to argue against what he believed my positions to be. I'm not a social conservative though I choose not to insult those that are because I believe all viewpoints should be brought to the table and not marginalized. But also not followed. Basically we should listen; respectfully disagree, espouse our own positions and then explain our decisions). And for most of the conversation I just smiled and nodded because it was pretty entertaining. He was making himself look foolish more than anything else since the other people at the table knew my actual positions.
Until he got to the enviroment, specifically urban sprawl. And then it got personal. This is a guy who lives alone in a nice house, in a nice neighborhood in a fairly wealthy part of Calgary. He has three cars, which he drives a lot for work and weekend trips. He then proceeded to talk about how new developments should be taxed so highly that developers would be forced to build up not out. That the cost of registration on vehicles older than five years should go up every year until such time as it makes it economically necessary for someone to either get a new car (like his three) or use public transportation.
He had his. And his positions would lead to less traffic for him with fewer cars on the road (I don't think he'd taken public transit in years) and also lead to a higher price on his home. His positions would personally benefit him greatly and not effect him adversely in any way but allowed him to feel good about doing something for the environment.
I tried to change the subject because while arguments can be fun, this was hitting where I lived and I could feel myself getting angry. But then... well, he made an offhand remark about how apartments/condos are perfectly good places to live and he didn't understand why anyone would object to living in one. Of course he wouldn't; he hadn't had to live in one. Hadn't had to face the prospect of raising a family in one if the price of new homes went up by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I live in an apartment, I'm saving my scheckels up for a house, and after we have a house, we're going to start a family. That made it personal and we argued for a while until finally I just told this hypocrite to shut up. It was over. I think he could tell how close to violence I was and chose the better part of valor.
But someone who is single, living in a big house with three cars telling me that because I'm working class I shouldn't have a car, or a house, because I, and people like me, are destroying the earth.... sorry. I'm venting but the absolute hypocrisy of that guy just torqued me right off.
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