User:Crazyswordsman

Just another liberal who wants to share his opinions on Conservapedia at a place that matters. I'll be updating this a lot. Feel free to move it into mainspace, but give me credit for....

=THE UNFUNNY TRUTH ABOUT CONSERVAPEDIA=

(Cue sexy YTMND music)

Conservapedia and racism
Conservapedia loves to blame the Democrats for slavery (despite the fact that one of their heroes, John Ashcroft, wrote a book supporting slavery and Republicans made up a large portion of the Klan in the 1920s).
 * In Judicial Activism and its related articles, you'd think Conservapedia would talk about Dred Scott or Roe v. Wade as being the two most activist decisions. But they chose neither.  They chose Brown v. Board of Education, which, of course, paved the way for civil rights.
 * In Mindless equality, they say that an example is "treating as equal literature and science from all cultures, no matter how primitive." This implies that the work done by dead white guys are superior to African, Asian, and Native American work (which is all equal and should be appreciated just the same), and by extension, the white race.

Answering Liberal denial

 * CP: Liberals deny they are liberal, and that most of the media are liberal.
 * I never denied I was liberal. And there's plenty of conservative media out there.  Most newspapers endorsed Bush in '04, and I have every reason to believe they'll endorse McCain in '08.  The difference is the "Liberal media" reports on real stories that affect people; the "Conservative media" is hoochie mamas and soft porn.
 * CP: Hollywood values, professor values and general liberal values have consequences for those who believe in them, and also for innocent victims.
 * If applied to the extreme, yes, you're right. But the same can be said for conservative values as well.  Not supporting universal healthcare kills innocent babies, for example.
 * CP: Liberals have censored prayer in public school
 * We do NOT want to censor prayer; this is an outright lie to get people to support coerced prayer. Most liberals support the idea of free expression in schools, including freedom of religion.  I support it when Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, or whatever start their own religious clubs and pray then.  Hell, if someone prays silently I still don't give a damn.  What we care about is teachers forcing students to pray, or students reading a prayer over a loudspeaker in a way that could be offensive.
 * CP: A woman significantly reduces her risk of breast cancer by having children rather than abortions
 * Where's your evidence? Clearly you've broken you're own "commandment" here.  And while it may be true, the point remains that there are better ways to get women to stop having abortions than to make them illegal.
 * CP: About half of promiscuous people carry sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and those STDs cause infertility
 * Promiscuous people have UNPROTECTED sex. On a REGULAR basis.  That's different from a lubricated condom plus a diaphragm every now and again, with which the chance each time of contracting an STD or conceiving a child is one in a million (based on some handout I got in high school which said diaphragms, condoms, and lubricant each had a 99% success rate.  For people in a healthy relationship who want to have sex on occasion, well, you do the math).
 * CP: The strident promoters of evolution generally have weaker credentials than advocates of intelligent design
 * Evolution is like this: "Here are the facts, so what can we determine from this." Intelligent design is like this: "Here is this idea, how can we back it up with facts."
 * CP: College faculties at nearly every school are completely dominated by liberals, and have virtually no conservatives
 * Well, instead of bitching about it, BECOME A PROFESSOR. Unless you define a "conservative" professor as one who openly preaches the conservative gospel in the classroom and has no tolerance for liberalism.
 * CP: Homosexuality shortens lifespan for a variety of reasons
 * Give me one.
 * CP: Reducing the number of guns, which are primarily defensive weapons, results in an increase in crime
 * If someone is about to stab you, a gun can't save you.
 * CP: Liberals deny that the war in Iraq was needed and also deny that the surge has worked
 * It's not just liberals who deny the war in Iraq was needed. It's pretty much most people.  When 25% of the country says it was needed, well, you're dead wrong on this one.
 * CP: More than 80% of child molesters are pornography addicts
 * I'm not denying this, and I wouldn't be surprised if it were true. But two things: as much as I hate porn, I hate censorship even more, and I'd like a citation for this.
 * CP: People like young mass murderers who take atheistic beliefs to their logical conclusions are not "crazy" or "insane", but are true believers
 * As are Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, Scientologist, Rastafarian, Oprahist, or whatever mass murderers.
 * CP: The intellectual justification for Hitler's attempt to build a master Aryan race was the theory of evolution
 * While it is true that Social Darwinists used evolution and survival of the fittest to justify racism, and while I wouldn't be surprised if Hitler was one of them, I'd like to see some evidence. And Hitler's era was after Social Darwinism, which was late-19th Century.
 * CP: Feminists censor discussion about differences between men and women, and boys and girls
 * Radical feminists, maybe. But not moderate feminists who just want equal rights for women.
 * CP: State run health care has lead to Islamic terrorism in Britain, and would do so in the US.
 * Just because a few Muslim doctors who happen to be terrorists infiltrate the state health system doesn't mean universal healthcare is wrong. That means Britain isn't doing background checks on their doctors adequately.
 * CP: Obesity is a bigger problem than hunger in the Western world
 * And Jerry Falwell, John Hagee, and Rush Limbaugh....some of your biggest allies....they're huge and you don't give a rat's ass. And tell this to inner city people who are basically being spat on no matter how hard they struggle.
 * CP: That a school having virtually no conservative teachers and many atheists and liberals is a liberal school
 * Conservatives also consider liberal schools to be schools without a hiring policy that only hires professors who have zero tolerance for liberalism and openly preach in the classroom. And here's an interesting conundrum: I went to Washington University, the same place Arsefly's mum went.  Most students and faculty were liberal, but over the past five years, there have been five high-profile conservative speakers (Ann Coulter, Phyllis Schlafly, David Horowitz, Mike Huckabee, and Alberto Gonzales) and only one high-profile liberal speaker (Al Franken).  And the school refused to allow Obama to speak citing it doesn't want to have presidential candidates speak (but they were more than happy to have Huckabee).
 * CP: That liberals attempt to intimidate and ostracize conservatives, particularly in school environments and some occupations.
 * See my comments above.
 * CP: That liberals support taxpayer-funded abortion
 * There are some liberals that do. I generally don't, but I think it should be a state's right, although money for abortions should be always provided in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the woman is in danger.
 * CP: That girls and women in sports have debilitating ACL knee injuries at 3-4 times the rate of men, and are vulnerable to other injuries
 * Okay, okay, okay. Title IX is very flawed.  But no one thinks women should be denied the right to play sports.  They know the risks and made their decision, so who are you to tell them they don't?
 * CP: That young mass murderers fit the profile of public school-trained atheism
 * "Public school trained atheism." My public school did NOT teach atheism.  Hell, it taught about Christianity.  And Judaism.  And Islam.  And Hinduism.  And Buddhism.  Try again with that one.
 * CP: That the numerous premature deaths of Hollywood stars are the result of Hollywood values
 * Tupac Shakur's murder was the result of "Hollywood Values?" No, it was gang violence, something both sides condemn.
 * CP: That homeschoolers often do better than those who attend public school
 * And they often do worse. Many are not prepared for the real world.
 * CP: That culture affects politics, and people's views and lifestyles
 * This one is true, but there are many different cultures, and most of them aren't worthy of being supressed. Everything is relative.
 * CP: That successful democracy, both historically and logically, is the result of Protestant Christianity
 * The Greeks certainly weren't Protestant. The people who wrote about the enlightenment were Deists, and many of them had a Roman Catholic background.  And frankly, isn't it obvious that this "fact" is demeaning of other religions, even Catholicism (which many of your admins seem to have a hatred for) and Judaism?
 * CP: That Lawrence Summers was fired as President of Harvard for making a politically incorrect suggestion about women and math aptitude
 * When you look at things like aptitude and preference, you have to look at the individual, not the whole group of people. I don't know the full details, but I do know Harvard isn't a school that's known for math and science stuff.
 * CP: That Ronald Reagan's public exhortation, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall," helped cause the nearly 30-year-old Berlin Wall later be torn down
 * Nobody denies this. Or at least very few people deny this.
 * CP: That reducing taxes stimulates the economy
 * Very few people deny this as well. But huge breaks to huge corporations don't stimulate the economy.  Tax cuts for middle class families do.  Most Democrats and liberals understand this, most conservatives don't.
 * CP: That the mainstream media is biased
 * Yes, it's biased. It's biased towards what will make money.
 * CP: That privately-run transport is more efficient than government-run transport
 * Example to prove this false: European publicly owned trains are frequent and on time and are generally high quality.  American, privately owned airlines are infrequent and experience delay after delay after delay and are uncomfortable.  The solution to this debate is private companies that get subsidized by the government.
 * CP: That public health care is inferior medical care
 * Liberals don't deny this. But public health care is superior to no health care at all.
 * CP: That unions interfere with employment opportunities
 * Unions aren't just about money and livable wages. They're also about worker safety and human rights, including, conservatives, the RIGHT TO LIFE (without unions and labor laws, the working conditions in a lot of jobs would be such that people would die on the job).
 * CP: That liberal leaders engage in shocking wrongdoing, hypocrisy, and abuse of power
 * Leaders of all political persuasions engage in shocking wrongdoing, hypocrisy, and abuse of power. And there are plenty of examples on both sides.  I could run through a laundry list of people, and you'll be surprised that lots of conservatives are on this list.
 * CP: That ideas do matter, and can cause great harm, including liberal falsehoods
 * I really don't know the point of this one. It's too vague.  And I'm sure there are some "conservative falsehoods" that cause harm, too.
 * CP: That Islamic extremism is a threat to the Western civilization
 * This one's true. Islamic extremism is a threat to the East, too (case in point: the whole Pakistan-India thing).
 * CP: That banning same-sex marriage is analogous to banning polygamy
 * This is a matter of opinion. Ours is banning same-sex marriage is analogous to banning interracial marriage.
 * CP: That aggressive interrogation is often the only way to obtain answers from terrorists
 * We are superior to the terrorists. Torturing them would make us stoop to their level.  And it wouldn't even work anyway because terrorists are trained not to fear death.  And we tortured many innocent, non-terrorists, including prisoners of the Taliban.
 * CP: How the liberal ideology is pushed on unsuspecting others, particularly youngsters
 * I don't see how this is true. I remember public schools well.  We never talked about gays or abstinence or evolution as absolute fact.
 * CP: That free trade strengthens global democracies
 * The whole free trade versus fair trade debate needs a solution somewhere in the middle.
 * CP: That a child in a mother's womb has rights established by the Constitution
 * To an extent, this is true, like if it wasn't rape that conceived the child or if it's late enough in the pregnancy. But life doesn't begin at conception in my opinion.  I honestly think it begins during uterine wall lining.  But one thing is for sure: life doesn't end at birth.
 * CP: That a vote for (yea) or a vote against (nea) is an absolute position
 * I can once again explain this by example. I probably would vote for some anti-abortion legislation and against others.  Does this mean I absolutely support or oppose abortion rights?  Things are relative, there are very few absolutes in this world.  Things are too complicated.
 * CP: That you can be held accountable for the statements uttered
 * And apparently if Tom DeLay says this country was created for the purpose of propagating Christianity and we hold him accountable, we're "Discriminating against Christians." This is conservative hypocrisy at its finest.
 * CP: That climate forecasts 50 years from now are as inaccurate as 15 days from now
 * If this is about global warming, being a conservative doesn't mean you should deny global warming. It means there should be ways to solve it other than government regulation.
 * CP: That politicians that proclaim 'Change' actually do not break with policies of the past
 * You don't know until you find out, so give it a chance.
 * CP: That removing Saddam Hussein from power was a good thing.
 * And you don't seem to care about the likes of Kim-Jong Il, Hu Jintao, King Abdullah, Robert Mugabe, Than Shwe, Omar Al-Bashir, Idriss Derby, Fidel Castro, and many others. You also supported people like Agusto Pinochet and Mobutu Sese Seko.
 * CP: That eating meat and dairy is important for physical and mental health.
 * Hey, I'm a carnivore and proud of it. Not all liberals are vegan.  Hell, most aren't.  A lot of us try to eat animal products that are raised from free range grass fed animals.  That's not unethical.
 * CP: That marijuana use has no lasting psychological effects.
 * Here is a classic example of conservatives banning a drug, then having the drug supporters blame liberals for doing it. This is one of my favorite jokes of all time.
 * CP: That illegal immigrants contribute to crime and poverty in the towns and cities they occupy.
 * I agree with you here, but we actually try to help them because they are PEOPLE. Yes, they should be deported, but it's not as simple as put together a posse and round 'em up.  You have to tell them that there is still a way.
 * CP: That English will cease being the language of the United States in 20 years unless it is protected as the official language (and that this would be a loss if it happened).
 * I could start singing "Glory, Glory Paranoia" here. It is very important for new immigrants to learn English.  But there are some people who will always struggle with it (and not just lazy bums), so you have to help those willing to learn.  And they shouldn't have to abandon their culture.  They should contribute it to the melting pot and make a culture that combines theirs and ours.
 * CP: That President Bush didn't cause Hurricane Katrina.
 * Some of these are just too funny. President Bush didn't cause Katrina.  Dick Cheney  big oil  urban sprawl the weather caused Hurricane Katrina.  But President Bush obviously didn't care about the inner city people of New Orleans (of all creeds and races).
 * CP: That President Clinton was responsible for Rwanda inaction.
 * How about Reagan and apartheid? Pretty much everyone and Mobutu?
 * CP: That the Democratic party discriminates against African-Americans.
 * The Democratic party doesn't discriminate against African-Americans. The Republican party doesn't discriminate against African-Americans.  Individual Democrats and Republicans do.  And often.  As sad as it is to say, Avenue Q was right.