[lbo-talk] conservatives vs. leftists

[Wojtek S]

I recently had a conversation with someone arguing that conservatives
tend to be more generous and compassionate individuals (citing some
data on charitable giving and volunteering.)  While I generally
dismiss such opinions as propaganda, it occurred to me that  based on
my personal experience there may be some kernel of truth in it.  I met
a number of people with conservative ideas, which I found rather
objectionable, but many of the people who expressed them were quite
nice fellows - gregarious, polite, respectful, courteous, even
helpful.  On the other hand, the opposite was true of many lefties I
met - I liked their ideas, but the people who expressed them were
rather sanctimonious, arrogant, full of themselves, judgmental,
vitriolic, and quite intolerant of the views of other people.  Not
that every conservative I met was nice and every leftie was nasty -
but enough of them fit the mold to make one wonder.  I recall Graeber
making a similar remark that personal animosities and vitriolic
polemics were frequent causes of the breakup of leftists groups.

Any thoughts?

-- 
Wojtek
http://wsokol.blogspot.com/