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When did Democrats become so socially uptight?

GameShrink

GameShrink

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
2,680
Growing up in the 80s, I always identified as a democrat, even as a child. This wasn't because of my support for social welfare programs, unions or even LGBT rights, I hadn't truly grasped any of these concepts until further into my teenage years, the actual reason was far more basic: Liberals were laid back hippies and conservatives were uptight snobs.

Now, many decades later, I'm mortified by the disgraceful state of the Republican party... but I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't feeling totally disenfranchised with my own party as well. Democrats have become just as anxious and uptight as Republicans, a society where both sides are occupied by helicopter parents and mentally fragile kids who wallow in perpetual agitation. There's no place for people whose philosophy hinges on living a laid back, carefree, fun and chill life.

This reminded me of an excellent article from 2013 about how liberals were becoming Puritans in their lifestyle choices, and it encapsulates my feelings greatly:

Of course, there are plenty of conservative parents who worry too much about what their children eat, and there are plenty of conservatives who are morally censorious, dislike fun, and like prohibiting things. But I expect better of liberals. When I was little, in the 1970s and early '80s, my parents and their left-wing friends believed—I don't know if they would have articulated it this way, but this is what I saw—that stressing out was for conservatives. You know who got all uptight? The man. People had stress because they worked too hard; they worked too hard because capitalism forced them to; ergo, one way to resist capitalism was to relax, to take it easy, to be laid back.
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They say hygienic reform; I say the 30-hour work week and not stressing if my children eat Kix. Liberalism, as the political philosopher Corey Robin has recently argued, should be above all about freedom. The best reasons to want a labor union, or universal health care, or Social Security are to be free of worry, want, and privation, and to be out from under the hand of the boss. It makes no sense to re-enslave ourselves with fear, worry, and stress. That is not liberal but reactionary. Just because Big Brother is inside us doesn't mean he's not still Big Brother.
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So, Era, I ask you: Where have all the hippies gone? What happened to that beautiful ideology of carefree relaxation? And can it ever return?

Note: This is absolutely not about "PC culture," nor is it about Trump, as this trend predated his election and has more to do with social/interpersonal anxiety than political sentiments.
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New Note #2: So, the conclusion I'm drawing from the responses so far is that this is primarily a middle/upper class white social phenomenon (which checks out with my personal experiences), likely resulting from economic insecurity (perhaps racial as well, as even white democrats are having to adjust to the very gradual loss of privilege). Thanks to those who helped illuminate this.
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Mr.Peanutbutter

Mr.Peanutbutter

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,973
well, one party won't let me or a lot of people live laid back, carefree, fun or be chill.

hard to be laidback when i'm fighting back on that
 
JLP101

JLP101

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,742
It was easier to be carefree back then because people were not burdened with crippling debt like we have today.
 
BDS

BDS

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,845
Turns out being a woman, person of color, or queer person in modern America is pretty fucking stressing and that when you let people just do whatever the fuck they want without government oversight it usually turns into white men oppressing everyone else. Who could have guessed?
 
Bronx-Man

Bronx-Man

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
15,351
It's kinda hard to be chill these days given the state of the country. Won't stop me from lighting a fat blunt on the daily.
 
sphagnum

sphagnum

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
16,058
Since you say you're not talking about "PC culture" but seemingly attitudes towards personal living styles: urban professionals switched from the GOP to Democrats and brought along with them the culture.

(I'm just saying that off the top of my head, no idea if that's true).
 
Skelepuzzle

Skelepuzzle

Member
Apr 17, 2018
6,119
It's become harder to ignore the plight of the disenfranchised.

That and the other side went completely fucking bonkers.
 
FUME5

FUME5

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,421
I have no idea why puritanism seems to be on the rise in left leaning circles.
 
SieteBlanco

SieteBlanco

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,878
Humanity can only find true freedom in uselessness. We will only be free once AI and automation has made human labor completely worthless. Technological socialism was Marx's true endgame and what most fail to understand.
 
samoyed

samoyed

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
15,191
Liberalism has become/was always tainted by privilege; the "laid-back hippie" lifestyle is itself a hallmark of social/material comfort unavailable to many minorities/persecuted groups. A private/personal rebellion against the "man" cannot per se affect systematic change.

The modern American left is moving away from that, towards the idea that passive acceptance of the status quo is not going to bring about long overdue changes to American social structure.

Can it ever come back? Maybe in the far future, but not in a post-internet, pre-socialist world. It's too difficult to ignore ongoing injustice in the world if you're not actively trying to tune it out, and tuning it out makes you part of the problem so...
 
Lkr

Lkr

Member
Oct 28, 2017
9,510
I see where you're coming from, OP. I identified as a liberal from a young age because I had a very live and let live type of attitude. People should be able to live their lives however the hell they want as long as they are not actively harming fellow citizens.
 
LifeLine

LifeLine

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,779
When people realized not caring and being laid was just as good as enabling the other side.
 
rjinaz

rjinaz

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
28,393
Phoenix
I was pretty chill honestly, until Trump. That's when I lost my cool at what my country had just done. And it wasn't just because Democrats were no longer in control, it's that we decided to go about as far Right as we could, which includes racism and bigotry rhetoric not to mention a complete disregard for ethics, traditions, the rule of law, and the constitution. Kind of sours my mood.
 
Steeped in a Sea of Games

Steeped in a Sea of Games

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
6,948
User Warned: Unnecessary hostility
You come across as a gigantic privileged asshole.

You can't live a relaxed care free life when you're drowning in debt or being shot by the police. You can't just 'take it easy' when large swaths of society see you as lesser than an animal.

Get your head out of your ass op.
 
BDS

BDS

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,845
By the way, the author of that "excellent article" is a next-level dumbass who wrote a defense of Harvey Weinstein that got him dragged all over social media so he proceeded to write a lengthy piece about "the death of civility" and how people are too mean online.

He's just "Old Man Yells At Cloud" in the form of a person.
 
Davey Cakes

Davey Cakes

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,687
Massachusetts
Which is why I consider myself unenrolled, independent, and progressive, despite being "liberal" on the Political Compass.

The only reason I associate with Democrats is because they're closer to my ideals than conservatives. But, I really wish I had a party that truly represents me. The current Dems are a compromise, made only because we're still working in a system with two dominant parties.
 
Aaron

Aaron

I’m seeing double here!
Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,077
Minneapolis
Skelepuzzle said:
It's become harder to ignore the plight of the disenfranchised.

That and the other side went completely fucking bonkers.
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Yeah. At some point hearing your crazy uncle go off on Obama being a secret Kenyan Muslim pushes you over. It's not true and even if it was, it shouldn't matter. But hey, we're the ones with no chill.

A lot of social conservatism in general is just rooted in bigotry and ignorance, and as those voices have become more audible it's harder to sweep it under the rug like you could in the olden days.

It's really hard for someone to just come up to you like "Hey, I think gays are hellbound sinners and blacks are just lazy welfare queens, by let's set aside our differences and get along anyway!" and just accept that. Especially since the parties have polarized to a point where Republicans are just the racist asshole party where pre-Civil Rights Act it was a bit more mixed, which meant each side relied on bigots to some extent.
 
Pancracio17

Pancracio17

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Oct 29, 2017
18,711
People are just trying to be socially progressive, they just seem socially uptight compared to the right which is full of assholes.
 
Slayven

Slayven

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Oct 25, 2017
93,051
Actually that ignores a lot of history. Folks were hippies in the late part of the 60s, until they started getting their heads based in. Then in the 70s they started forming radical groups and arming themselves.
 
pigeon

pigeon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,447
Aaron said:
Yeah. At some point hearing your crazy uncle go off on Obama being a secret Kenyan Muslim pushes you over.

A lot of social conservatism in general is just rooted in bigotry and ignorance, and as those voices have become more audible it's harder to sweep it under the rug like you could in the olden days.

It's really hard for someone to just come up to you like "Hey, I think gays are hellbound sinners and blacks are just lazy welfare queens, by let's set aside our differences and get along anyway!" and just accept that. Especially since the parties have polarized to a point where Republicans are just the racist asshole party where pre-Civil Rights Act it was a bit more mixed, which meant each side relied on bigots to some extent.
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I don't actually think the OP is trying to both sides this, I think he's just too "laid back" to write a coherent OP so nobody understands what he's trying to say
 
Sai

Sai

Prophet of Truth
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
5,610
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if you don't look at the news every day and want to die or get someone's head in the guillotine, you aint woke yet
 
rjinaz

rjinaz

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Oct 25, 2017
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TickleMeElbow said:
My parents are liberal as fuck, and they were always stressed out when I was a kid.
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Hmm. Well I imagine when you care about society as a whole, and all the people in it, you have more to think about, get emotional about, than if you only care about yourself and yours. It makes a certain amount of sense. I prefer it, I find value in our society and want the best for everybody. I mean I'm not going to be truly happy with this country as long as there are social injustices. I can imagine others are perfectly fine, as long as they get a break on their next paycheck, for example.
 
Bronx-Man

Bronx-Man

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
15,351
This thread's also kinda funny since most young dems/leftists in 2018 are pretty similar to those in the 60s, with how there's been massive changes in attitudes/awareness towards race, gender, sexuality, & class.
 
pigeon

pigeon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,447
Bronx-Man said:
This thread's also kinda funny since most young dems/leftists in 2018 are pretty similar to those in the 60s, with how there's been massive changes in attitudes/awareness towards race, gender, sexuality, & class.
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I hope this is wrong, because I know a few people who were hippies in the 60s and they fucking suck now.
 
Mr. X

Mr. X

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Oct 25, 2017
5,495
People are concern about the weekly shooting sprees and police brutality.
 
Yasuke

Yasuke

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Oct 25, 2017
19,817
I don't understand pretending most of us don't want to live carefree and relaxed.
 
tulpa

tulpa

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Oct 28, 2017
3,878
As the Republican party shifted to the far-right cryptofascism it's currently in hock to, Democrats recklessly moved to fill the center-right political void the Republicans abandoned. Although I take issue with the way your point is framed, it's true that Democrats, at least in terms of their leadership and upper strata of their organization, have abandoned even the pretense of social radicalism and have become quite plain and stuffy.
 
WallSniper

WallSniper

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Nov 7, 2017
719
It used to be cool to go with the flow and not give a shit and now it's cool to virtue signal and give every shit.
 
SageShinigami

SageShinigami

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Oct 27, 2017
30,460
I do think the left has become a lot more "think of the children" lately but what do you want? The right wants half of us dead, the rest to be used as sexual slave labor.
 
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