I’ve been racking my brains trying to come up with a “reasonable” way of presenting how liberals differ from conservatives without resorting to the arrogant, presumptuous “we know more, because we experience more” argument.

I decided to write this “piece” because for one, I like these cerebral sorts of arguments. If you look at my past posts about similar topics (politics, religion, you name it), I try to exhaustively explain my thought process – because everything has a context, and if you are aware of the context, it’s easier to “understand.”

Before we begin, I’d like to invite you to watch the TED video I posted in the past – which discusses conservatives and liberals – and their dynamics in a society.

Both sides certainly have to exhibit a certain degree responsibility when interacting with the other – however, I will have to be honest in saying that from my observations, it’s always a matter of our side having to “water down” our actions. As far as I have seen, there has never been a case where the other side had to “compromise.” If ever they “did,” it was not nearly as close to the degree we’ve always had to exert. I guess such is the fate of minorities.

What bothers me though, is that even the mere “acceptance of things as they are” seems to be so far from what they are willing to do. Either we step in line with their views, or we are labeled as destructive forces in any social structure.

As such, I personally believe there should be a limit as to how far our side has to “bend” for the other – because God knows we’ve been bending enough. We bend any more and we would not be true to ourselves… we can’t have that now can we?

There is so much more we are capable of doing to truly be “fulfilled,” but we keep that in check because we know we’re in the minority. It would’ve been good if people simply accepted others as they were – lock stock and barrel. It would’ve been good to recognize that each individual has his or her own way of seeing/dealing with life. And while each of us are broken in our own way, each one of us also has something valuable to contribute – and that’s precisely because of who were are… not who we “try” or “want” or “ought” to be.

You may ask me why I’m so firm in my resolve – a resolve that, by conservative standards, may very well damn my soul to hell (an exaggeration of course, but you get the picture). The answer isn’t that complex at all, and I will attempt to show you in the form of a photograph.

Color Theory

We all know that the world isn’t black and white. We can at least agree with that right? Right. So that thought, when applied to a simple subject, we have a photo like this:

That’s black and white – specifically #00000 “black” and #FFFFFF “white” in hexadecimal values hehehe. We get an “idea” of what is being represented. For most of us, it’s simply not enough. Assuming we transpose “context” in the form of color frequencies, this hardly an accurate rendering of life. Thankfully, both sides still are in agreement with this, so let’s move on…

We now go to the favorite saying “It’s not just black or white, there are a lot of grays.” This is certainly a fair assumption – as you get a much more accurate representation such as this:

Personally (as a photographer) I’d stop here, as this sort of scene is perfect for high-contrast grayscale treatment. And you get to see the details of the picture, the drops of water, etc. etc. For all intents and purposes, for this particular picture, this is actually enough to get a really good idea of what the photographer was trying to “capture.”

The way I see it, it is at this point is where most conservatives stop; it’s enough for them. It shows the subject matter, gives enough information to make [hopefully] decent assumptions about it – some may even think it may be beautiful this way. Like I said, visually speaking, I as a photographer would’ve stopped right here as well.

When interpreted as life, this picture is perfectly fine. it will stand on it’s own… it’s “real” in that sense.

However, to me as a liberal, there’s even more to it:

This perhaps is not as “visually appealing” as the former (your mileage may vary). You have other colors in the mix which disturb what is technically a steel fountain. You got rust at some places… “imperfections” as it were.

I would agree that converting to grayscale would make it look better – and it certainly would still be “real.” But to me, it’s not the true picture. To me, it’s not the true context of life.

This is the difference I see with conservatives and liberals.

The former [to me] want a beautiful life – void of imperfections, willing to go whatever lengths to “correct” what they see as out of the norm. It’s a steel fountain, it should be silver (all shades of gray)… anything else is unexpected, ergo extraneous – and and something must be done to eliminate it.

I on the other hand, see life as beautiful precisely because of those imperfections. It is indeed a steel/metal faucet – and visually, should only have shades of gray. But I accept that metal oxidizes, hence there is rust. To me, the rust is a testament to how much water and air it has gone through during its “lifespan” – and not how it “taints” the metal.

Should you have some smart-alecky answers such as “but rust is demonstrably destructive to metal, how can that be good?” – then I will answer with a similar asshole-ish response “Shit happens. Evertying dies. Get over it.”

But on a more sincere note; I personally do not experience any “dilemma” when relating, or caring, or even loving ¹ My girlfriend is a conservative if you must know. And apart from the usual “jealousy” issues, we don’t really find the differences in our views “deal-breakers” as far as relationships go. It’s precisely how those different views constantly negotiate that makes us grow. You simply can’t have that type of growth with a one-sided view of things. others that are very different from me. To me, I treat most “disagreements” as professional ones (with a few exceptions). I cherish individuals precisely because I embrace their mystery – life is so beautiful (and just downright FUN) because of such variance.

My Mom and I are polar opposites when it comes to beliefs, but do I respect or love her any less? Quite the contrary; I carry crosses I would normally have every right to refuse precisely because of that love and respect. Fortunately, I’ve never had to compromise who I was to achieve it – and let me tell you, it’s really something else hearing a parent say that they’re so proud of the person you’ve become despite being so different from them.

Anyone and everyone is welcome to view anything the way they want to. If your happy with the grays, then fine. But what you should understand is that for people such as me, we have found “more.” I have come to realize that the view is much better for me here rather than “there.” I’ve have taken the red pill. The view may or may not be as rose-colored as you guys see/want it to be, but I appreciate and prefer it nonetheless.

I could’ve stayed “there” – but I know that I wouldn’t be as fulfilled as I am now that I’m “here.” It doesn’t matter if “my way” will end terribly or will come to be the best thing that ever happened to me. I simply allow life to reveal whatever it has in store – because for me, that’s precisely what makes life worth living.

Most conservatives can never understand those sentiments. In fact, I’d go out on a limb and say that they refuse, and will continue to refuse to understand. What they would probably do at best is tolerate… but never understand… never accept… and I’m at peace with that fact. I try my best to be Zen about it, because when I think about it; it’s not worth the sadness it entails. I could be doing so much more productive, interesting, and fun things with my life instead of trying to please everyone.

The only way to understand us, is to be like us, to experience yourselves the reasons why we feel this way about “life.” “Testing the waters” is not enough to make you ² The collective conservative camp. grasp what it is to be “open.” And because we respect your views, we do not expect you step into our “world.” We just request that you accept us for who we are – because, as much as we disagree with your views, we accept you as you are, as we’ve always done – and will continue to do.

We can’t please everyone, and we all have to be true to ourselves. If you don’t agree with us, then simply don’t live your lives the way we do… don’t follow our lead.

Just as well; don’t expect us to follow yours. If you want to dictate how people should live their lives, I highly recommend starting a family, then you can start imposing all the rules you want to your offspring.

I was born into the same conservative culture, raised in the same conservative schools, similar conservative family values. So I know exactly where a conservative is coming from. By default, we all start as conservatives, this much is true (especially if you’re born in the Philippines)

But the truth of the matter is, at one point in my life, I looked at it, and thought “there must be something more to this.” Being “open” has made my life so much more meaningful and interesting because of it. Any step “back” is just that… it’s going “backwards” for me.

What saddens me is that when conservatives start antagonizing us ³ Admit it, we tend to mind our own business, not so with the other side. – it’s always in the hopes of us compromising what makes us… “us.” Like I said earlier, they have an unfair advantage of being in the “status quo” – no mater how far we bend over, no matter how much of ourselves we have already compromised – they will always remain safe, secure, and “in the norm.” They, by default will not be judged – they cannot be judged; as most are on their side. But let me make it clear: it never had anything to do with being the right or wrong side.

We never demanded that they step out of the norm. We were never that unreasonable with them, why do conservatives feel they have the right to be that unreasonable with us? Is it some sort of messianic complex to fix something they see to be “broken” when it’s actually working just fine – and probably even better than usual?