Below is a link to a very small portion of a great speech that I heard at a college commencement that I attended a week ago. I mentioned it on another thread, but felt the message was so well delivered that it deserved a thread of its own -

Fareed Zakaria: Liberals think they're tolerant, but they're not - CNN.com

The entire speech can be heard here -

Fareed Zakaria Gives Bucknell University's 2017 Commencement Address - YouTube

I hope both sides on this forum will at least take a look at these links. It presents a great guideline for how we should be engaging with one another on this forum - and that goes for both parties, not just one.

Happy Memorial Day to all. An important day to come together, despite our differences, to celebrate this great country and the many who served and gave their all.

Originally Posted by Guest

Below is a link to a very small portion of a great speech that I heard at a college commencement that I attended a week ago. I mentioned it on another thread, but felt the message was so well delivered that it deserved a thread of its own -

Fareed Zakaria: Liberals think they're tolerant, but they're not - CNN.com

The entire speech can be heard here -

Fareed Zakaria Gives Bucknell University's 2017 Commencement Address - YouTube

I hope both sides on this forum will at least take a look at these links. It presents a great guideline for how we should be engaging with one another on this forum - and that goes for both parties, not just one.

Happy Memorial Day to all. An important day to come together, despite our differences, to celebrate this great country and the many who served and gave their all.

Thanks for the link. My views on life have changed quite a lot from when I was 22 or so though which is probably the age of many of these undergraduates. And most universities and colleges are liberal at least the ones I went to-- U of Nevada, Reno; U of Denver; and especially the U of MN. BYU was not but that is a special case. And the College of San Mateo was a Community College but the Spanish teacher I had was quite liberal. Various other universities and colleges I visited were also quite liberal like Arizona State U, the U of Texas at El Paso; U of CA SF, SUNY at Buffalo, North Carolina Central U., etc.

Originally Posted by Guest

Below is a link to a very small portion of a great speech that I heard at a college commencement that I attended a week ago. I mentioned it on another thread, but felt the message was so well delivered that it deserved a thread of its own -

Fareed Zakaria: Liberals think they're tolerant, but they're not - CNN.com

The entire speech can be heard here -

Fareed Zakaria Gives Bucknell University's 2017 Commencement Address - YouTube

I hope both sides on this forum will at least take a look at these links. It presents a great guideline for how we should be engaging with one another on this forum - and that goes for both parties, not just one.

Happy Memorial Day to all. An important day to come together, despite our differences, to celebrate this great country and the many who served and gave their all.

I believe this to be true.

I do not believe it to be something new at all, certainly as some on here would try to make it "Trump related". Those of you who were fortunate enough to attend college can certainly relate.

I attended college later in life, after service time, and was a bit older, thus I could clearly see a difference. It is simply a fact that universities are more liberal.

I do think however, that the divide between liberal and conservatives is wider. Both sides have moved to the extremes, thus that liberal attitude early in college life will be more pronounced.

University life helped me a lot, as I had a lot of questions after my military experiences, and while each answer I got was not easily accepted, I did learn how to search for truth and to honor truth.

If a professor lied to me, that was it. If he/she even colored the truth, I was very upset. I am not speaking of opinions...opinions normally generated more discussion and I honored that.

Originally Posted by Guest

Thanks for the link. My views on life have changed quite a lot from when I was 22 or so though which is probably the age of many of these undergraduates. And most universities and colleges are liberal at least the ones I went to-- U of Nevada, Reno; U of Denver; and especially the U of MN. BYU was not but that is a special case. And the College of San Mateo was a Community College but the Spanish teacher I had was quite liberal. Various other universities and colleges I visited were also quite liberal like Arizona State U, the U of Texas at El Paso; U of CA SF, SUNY at Buffalo, North Carolina Central U., etc.

I think there were quite a few liberal leanings back in my college days as well. I believe much of it escaped me because I spent 4 of my college years in a professional school where there was little time for professors to even talk about such things. The sheer volume of material that they had to teach left little time for any other type of discussion. However, friends of mine in other fields of study experienced more of that than I did, so it definitely was an influence even 40 years ago.

We have posters who will jump on the headline and never ever read the links provided. Two things about the OP...first, the comment "It presents a great guideline for how we should be engaging with one another on this forum - and that goes for both parties, not just one.". This is true....

I get sickened with the generalizations on here..."all liberals" are this or that.....my problem is not with any ideology, but with the man who is President, thus my criticisms are of that person. Condemning groups of people is just horrible.

Secondly, PLEASE NOTE the definition of liberal in the link. It is not aimed at Democrats, progressives, or any of the such. Comments on this thread which is a great thread should keep this in mind.


""The word liberal in this context has nothing to do with today's partisan language, but refers instead to the Latin root, pertaining to liberty. And at the heart of liberty in the Western world has been freedom of speech. From the beginning, people understood that this meant protecting and listening to speech with which you disagreed," Zakaria argued.
That means, he said, not drowning out "the ideas that we find offensive."

To come on this forum and dismiss millions of fellow Americans is, to me the epitome of being totally UN American

Originally Posted by Guest

I believe this to be true.

I do not believe it to be something new at all, certainly as some on here would try to make it "Trump related". Those of you who were fortunate enough to attend college can certainly relate.

I attended college later in life, after service time, and was a bit older, thus I could clearly see a difference. It is simply a fact that universities are more liberal.

I do think however, that the divide between liberal and conservatives is wider. Both sides have moved to the extremes, thus that liberal attitude early in college life will be more pronounced.

University life helped me a lot, as I had a lot of questions after my military experiences, and while each answer I got was not easily accepted, I did learn how to search for truth and to honor truth.

If a professor lied to me, that was it. If he/she even colored the truth, I was very upset. I am not speaking of opinions...opinions normally generated more discussion and I honored that.

If you get a chance to listen to the youtube video, he starts out by praising the virtues of a liberal education and then explaining what it really means (much like what you expressed in your response in bold above), which is very different from the liberalism of politics today.

I totally agree with you about the extremes in both parties. I really like his ideas in how to deal with it though, not by intolerance, but by asking questions, listening, and expecting to learn something from that exchange. We at least owe that much to one another.

Originally Posted by Guest

If you get a chance to listen to the youtube video, he starts out by praising the virtues of a liberal education and then explaining what it really means (much like what you expressed in your response in bold above), which is very different from the liberalism of politics today.

I totally agree with you about the extremes in both parties. I really like his ideas in how to deal with it though, not by intolerance, but by asking questions, listening, and expecting to learn something from that exchange. We at least owe that much to one another.

Good post.

I personally find it disgusting to read all the nincompoops on here making the claims..."all progressives"...."all liberals"...."all conservatives" etc., etc.

It is an acknowledgement of their lack of reading and understanding of the real world.

Again, I criticize one person....the President....I could never generalize about people based on ideologies, color of skin, party registration, country of birth, and vent on millions of my fellow Americans.

You gotta listen, but you don't gotta listen to closed mind hate monger, and this forum has been taken over by a number of folks who fall into that category.

Originally Posted by Guest

We have posters who will jump on the headline and never ever read the links provided. Two things about the OP...first, the comment "It presents a great guideline for how we should be engaging with one another on this forum - and that goes for both parties, not just one.". This is true....

I get sickened with the generalizations on here..."all liberals" are this or that.....my problem is not with any ideology, but with the man who is President, thus my criticisms are of that person. Condemning groups of people is just horrible.

Secondly, PLEASE NOTE the definition of liberal in the link. It is not aimed at Democrats, progressives, or any of the such. Comments on this thread which is a great thread should keep this in mind.


""The word liberal in this context has nothing to do with today's partisan language, but refers instead to the Latin root, pertaining to liberty. And at the heart of liberty in the Western world has been freedom of speech. From the beginning, people understood that this meant protecting and listening to speech with which you disagreed," Zakaria argued.
That means, he said, not drowning out "the ideas that we find offensive."

To come on this forum and dismiss millions of fellow Americans is, to me the epitome of being totally UN American

Just seeing this post now and realizing you must have listened to at least some of his speech. Thank you so much for clarifying all of this for me (OP). I should have definitely given it a different title as it comes across very combative and it is not. It is the title that CNN gave the article and like most all the news networks today, the title is sensationalized to say the least. It is a good message for ALL. It's not meant to be a swipe against liberals and definitely not against liberal thinking. Thanks again!

Originally Posted by Guest

I believe this to be true.

I do not believe it to be something new at all, certainly as some on here would try to make it "Trump related". Those of you who were fortunate enough to attend college can certainly relate.

I attended college later in life, after service time, and was a bit older, thus I could clearly see a difference. It is simply a fact that universities are more liberal.

I do think however, that the divide between liberal and conservatives is wider. Both sides have moved to the extremes, thus that liberal attitude early in college life will be more pronounced.

University life helped me a lot, as I had a lot of questions after my military experiences, and while each answer I got was not easily accepted, I did learn how to search for truth and to honor truth.

If a professor lied to me, that was it. If he/she even colored the truth, I was very upset. I am not speaking of opinions...opinions normally generated more discussion and I honored that.

Perhaps my fault but I do not recall any student interaction on politics and government. I cannot comment about military service and vietnam for I did not EARN the right.
I had a legitimate 4F and they would not have taken me IF, I TRULY WANTED TO GO.

My first two years, I attended a community college AT NIGHT and worked a 40 hour a week job plus some weekends. I remember not having time to waste in the bathroom so I did some reading there.

I have no sympathy for the you owe mees of this country.

As to that speech. I am embarrassed that far too many of the people who recognize the great opportunity this country offers are foreign born.

This country was not built on equal standard of living but on equal opportunity. The concept of equal standard of living is communism. It is actually a great liberal thought-OTHER THAN THE FACT THAT IT DOES NOT WORK.
There are sooooo many examples-East Germany vs West Germany, Greece, N. Korea vs South Korea etc and while we turn more and more toward communism and socialism, the communist socialist countries turn more and more toward capitalism. In the real world, people work harder for themselves then for the collective. By working hard, they produce and all of the collective benefit.

The concept of FAIR is a term tossed about by liberals.
IT IS UNDEFINED two people look at the same thing and do not agree what is fair.

I do not recall who said it but,"The difference between success and failure is that the successful person keeps trying." For me failure was simply not an option.

When, I graduated college I received a note of congratulation and that my first college loan payment was due in ??????? two months????????

Financially, I did quite well. ONLY REASON WAS THAT FAILURE WAS NOT AN OPTION.

Originally Posted by Guest

Perhaps my fault but I do not recall any student interaction on politics and government. I cannot comment about military service and vietnam for I did not EARN the right.
I had a legitimate 4F and they would not have taken me IF, I TRULY WANTED TO GO.

My first two years, I attended a community college AT NIGHT and worked a 40 hour a week job plus some weekends. I remember not having time to waste in the bathroom so I did some reading there.

I have no sympathy for the you owe mees of this country.

As to that speech. I am embarrassed that far too many of the people who recognize the great opportunity this country offers are foreign born.

This country was not built on equal standard of living but on equal opportunity. The concept of equal standard of living is communism. It is actually a great liberal thought-OTHER THAN THE FACT THAT IT DOES NOT WORK.
There are sooooo many examples-East Germany vs West Germany, Greece, N. Korea vs South Korea etc and while we turn more and more toward communism and socialism, the communist socialist countries turn more and more toward capitalism. In the real world, people work harder for themselves then for the collective. By working hard, they produce and all of the collective benefit.

The concept of FAIR is a term tossed about by liberals.
IT IS UNDEFINED two people look at the same thing and do not agree what is fair.

I do not recall who said it but,"The difference between success and failure is that the successful person keeps trying." For me failure was simply not an option.

When, I graduated college I received a note of congratulation and that my first college loan payment was due in ??????? two months????????

Financially, I did quite well. ONLY REASON WAS THAT FAILURE WAS NOT AN OPTION.

I believe you seriously, and within a very wide margin just did not comprehend what is a genuinely good thread, and you need to reread what this is about before showing your lack of comprehension

Originally Posted by Guest

We have posters who will jump on the headline and never ever read the links provided. Two things about the OP...first, the comment "It presents a great guideline for how we should be engaging with one another on this forum - and that goes for both parties, not just one.". This is true....

I get sickened with the generalizations on here..."all liberals" are this or that.....my problem is not with any ideology, but with the man who is President, thus my criticisms are of that person. Condemning groups of people is just horrible.

Secondly, PLEASE NOTE the definition of liberal in the link. It is not aimed at Democrats, progressives, or any of the such. Comments on this thread which is a great thread should keep this in mind.


""The word liberal in this context has nothing to do with today's partisan language, but refers instead to the Latin root, pertaining to liberty. And at the heart of liberty in the Western world has been freedom of speech. From the beginning, people understood that this meant protecting and listening to speech with which you disagreed," Zakaria argued.
That means, he said, not drowning out "the ideas that we find offensive."

To come on this forum and dismiss millions of fellow Americans is, to me the epitome of being totally UN American

This was an INTERESTING election.

As to Trump-HE IS YOUR PRESIDENT. I do choose to remind you that when Obama was elected he was the chosen president of all the people including those who did not vote for him. IF THAT IS NOT SO, THEN I WHO DID NOT VOTE FOR HIM SHOULD NOT OWE HIS TEN TRILLION DOLLAR OVERDRAFT. It is not, it was not the republicans blocking speakers who opposed their view. It was not the Republicans at Harvard smashing school property. It was not the republicans creating a news story of Trumps people beating up on that female reporter? when the video showed she was full of ........ Reminder-It was Hillary clearly caught mishandling government e-mails. If, you have not put it together Hillary's government e-mails were found on a computer shared by DISGRACED Anthony Weiner and Huma Aberdeen. Do a little READING and you will find Huma Aberdeen's family is in Saudi Arabia AND SHE HAS NO SECURITY CLEARANCE. Hillary approved the sale of 20% of the US uranium reserves to RUSSIA. For that deal Hilary pocketed 145 million. You want to complain about Trump talking to Russians.

You object to Trump-that is your right. But, do you really believe Bill Clinton stopped Loretta Lynch on the tarmac to discuss grand kids.

Had Hillary Clinton won the election she would have been immediately impeached for her many criminal acts. Oh, and we have a two term limit on the presidency. From his own words when Bill Clinton was elected we got two for the price of one. Had Hillary won it would have been an illegal third term for the CLINTON GANG.

Trump is certainly not as SLICK A LIAR as the Clinton gang is. Hillary is actually even more of a socialist than Obama.
This past election was capitalism vs socialism. There is nothing wrong with socialism-EXCEPT THAT IT DOESN'T;T WORK. There are so many examples: East Germany compared to West Germany, North Korea compared to South Korea, GREECE. Trump crudely announced that ONLY four countries have paid what they owe: the US, Brittan and two other small countries I do not recall, I don't know your history but I've many times had people owe me money. Depending on how much it can cost you more to collect than makes sense. If, someone owes me money I ask nicely a few times and then I will not only send a collection agency, an atty after them but I will do my best to make it public. As to Brittan, if I recall they only paid after Trump asked them nicely?

As the PROGRESSIVE LIBERALS scream for more socialism the socialist/communist countries Russia/China are moving toward capitalism and more rights for their people.

fREEDOM IS SOMETHING YOU EARN. IT IS NOT SOMETHING YOU EXPECT GOVERNMENT TO GIVE YOU.
LOOK AT ANYTHING YOU RELY ON GOVERNMENT FOR-THE PRICE IS YOUR RIGHT TO CHOOSE.

Do you really claim to have an opened mind?

Originally Posted by Guest

This was an INTERESTING election.

As to Trump-HE IS YOUR PRESIDENT. I do choose to remind you that when Obama was elected he was the chosen president of all the people including those who did not vote for him. IF THAT IS NOT SO, THEN I WHO DID NOT VOTE FOR HIM SHOULD NOT OWE HIS TEN TRILLION DOLLAR OVERDRAFT. It is not, it was not the republicans blocking speakers who opposed their view. It was not the Republicans at Harvard smashing school property. It was not the republicans creating a news story of Trumps people beating up on that female reporter? when the video showed she was full of ........ Reminder-It was Hillary clearly caught mishandling government e-mails. If, you have not put it together Hillary's government e-mails were found on a computer shared by DISGRACED Anthony Weiner and Huma Aberdeen. Do a little READING and you will find Huma Aberdeen's family is in Saudi Arabia AND SHE HAS NO SECURITY CLEARANCE. Hillary approved the sale of 20% of the US uranium reserves to RUSSIA. For that deal Hilary pocketed 145 million. You want to complain about Trump talking to Russians.

You object to Trump-that is your right. But, do you really believe Bill Clinton stopped Loretta Lynch on the tarmac to discuss grand kids.

Had Hillary Clinton won the election she would have been immediately impeached for her many criminal acts. Oh, and we have a two term limit on the presidency. From his own words when Bill Clinton was elected we got two for the price of one. Had Hillary won it would have been an illegal third term for the CLINTON GANG.

Trump is certainly not as SLICK A LIAR as the Clinton gang is. Hillary is actually even more of a socialist than Obama.
This past election was capitalism vs socialism. There is nothing wrong with socialism-EXCEPT THAT IT DOESN'T;T WORK. There are so many examples: East Germany compared to West Germany, North Korea compared to South Korea, GREECE. Trump crudely announced that ONLY four countries have paid what they owe: the US, Brittan and two other small countries I do not recall, I don't know your history but I've many times had people owe me money. Depending on how much it can cost you more to collect than makes sense. If, someone owes me money I ask nicely a few times and then I will not only send a collection agency, an atty after them but I will do my best to make it public. As to Brittan, if I recall they only paid after Trump asked them nicely?

As the PROGRESSIVE LIBERALS scream for more socialism the socialist/communist countries Russia/China are moving toward capitalism and more rights for their people.

fREEDOM IS SOMETHING YOU EARN. IT IS NOT SOMETHING YOU EXPECT GOVERNMENT TO GIVE YOU.
LOOK AT ANYTHING YOU RELY ON GOVERNMENT FOR-THE PRICE IS YOUR RIGHT TO CHOOSE.

Do you really claim to have an opened mind?

Again, maybe these threads are over your head.

You, like most Trump supporters want to make every thread and every conversation about Hillary Clinton and/or progressives.

Attention.....the election was over 6 months ago. Get over the election.

But, having said that, this thread had to do with LISTENING, being open and haVing discussions, and BASICALLY THE VERY OPPOSITE of what you post.

It is about sharing, learning and respect.

All your threads are designed to knock off millions and millions of Americans, put them in a bundle, label them and move on.

Sorry, you just need better comprehension skills to understand this thread. It is not about Trump....it is not about Clinton...it is not about Obama.

Now that may restrict your ability or desire, but the thread is about being open on either side of the aisle. You obviously disrespect the OP and didn't even take the time to understand what it was

By the way, I have an extremely open mind. My complaint is not, nor has it ever been with any conservative policies, but with Trump personally. Instead of explaining that, which you will not understand anyway, I will respect the OPs intent in starting this thread.

Indeed the progressive have completely redefined the meaning of liberalism. There are a number of notable authors who have written on how this came about.

One author argues that a communist element entered via colleges and universities.

One author argued that liberal intellectual elitist believe they always have the high moral ground and as such that they dismiss out of hand others opinions.

From a pedestrian point of view the democratic party of my father is no where to be found .

My father a dye in the wool liberal democratic was angered that I moved to the Repbulican Party during the 1960's but as I told him I didn't move the democratic party's platform moved

Personal Best Regards:

Originally Posted by Guest

Indeed the progressive have completely redefined the meaning of liberalism. There are a number of notable authors who have written on how this came about.

One author argues that a communist element entered via colleges and universities.

One author argued that liberal intellectual elitist believe they always have the high moral ground and as such that they dismiss out of hand others opinions.

From a pedestrian point of view the democratic party of my father is no where to be found .

My father a dye in the wool liberal democratic was angered that I moved to the Repbulican Party during the 1960's but as I told him I didn't move the democratic party's platform moved

Personal Best Regards:

Another who didn't read, listen or understand the thread, but quickly reads a headline and attack. Not a very bright person

WOW!!!!! What an honest, rational viewpoint. A liberal calling out his own people.

I rarely listened to this guy in the past because his broadcasts are usually so biased. But it's good that he's recognizing this. If more people on both sides recognized this problem, perhaps we could stop the name calling and start solving some of todays' problems.

In the same context, here is a great speech by Speaker, Paul Ryan given on the House floor the day after police were killed in an ambush attack in Dallas.

“We are all stunned by the events last night in Dallas. We are all outraged. An attack on the people who protect us is an attack on all of us.
“Our hearts are with the Dallas Police Department. Our hearts are with the victims, and especially with their loved ones. They wear the badge too. I know that to be a cop's wife or a cop's husband is to prepare for the worst, but who could fathom such horror as this.
“There is no cause or context in which this violence—this kind of terror—is justified. None at all.
“There will be a temptation to let our anger harden our divisions. Let’s not let that happen. There’s going to be a temptation to let our anger send us further into our corners. Let’s not let that happen. That script is just easy to write—it’s too predictable. Let’s defy those predictions.
“A few perpetrators of evil do not represent us. They do not control us. The blame lies with the people who committed these vicious acts, and no one else. And as the president rightfully said, justice will be done.
“We also have to let the healing be done as well. This has been a long week for our country. It’s been a long month for America. We have seen terrible, terrible senseless things.
“Every member of this body—every Republican and every Democrat—wants to see less gun violence. Every member of this body wants a world in which people feel safe regardless of the color of their skin. And that’s not how people are feeling these days.
“Sometimes we disagree on how to get there. Sometimes we disagree passionately on how to get there. But in having this debate, let’s not lose sight of the values that unite us. Let’s not lose sight in our common humanity.
“The values that brought those protesters to the streets in Dallas, the values that brought those protesters to the streets in Washington last night—respect, decency, compassion, humanity. If we lose these fundamental things, what’s left?
“We need to take a moment here. For reflection, for thought, for prayer, for justice, for action. Right now, let’s let justice be done, and let’s also let some healing occur, too.”