ANSWERS: 16
  • I wish I knew. When I was growing up Conservatives were the lower class; the least caring, sharing and thoughtful of the political stances. I still see them like that. While I do not particularly see myself as Liberal, I do see myself subscribing to some liberal attitudes and ideas.
  • I'm not sure but they don't like it any more. I have noticed most liberals now chose to call themselves "Progressive". I guess with all the negatives associated with liberalism they are looking for something that sounds better but I really don't know the root cause for this recent change.
  • oh my god you said liberal Im telling :)
  • Probably it has been associated with libertine!
  • There are many factors involved, but I think the dominant factor is the conservative/Right successfully 'framing' the political discourse in such a way that nearly every mainstream left-of-center political view became lumped under the same label ("Liberal") as the most extremist far-left illogical no-hope-of-ever-happening wingnut political positions. http://www.amazon.com/Moral-Politics-What-Conservatives-Liberals/dp/0226468054/ Or, in simpler terms, if you agree with Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter, you must also agree with PETA or Andrea Dworkin... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Dworkin Thus, we ended up with situations such as polls showing that the majority of Americans strongly disagreed with Ronald Reagan's *actual* policies, but if asked what they thought of Reagan overall, a substantial majority were favorable. Or women being asked about feminist principles (equal pay for work, access to higher education, etc.) and agreeing with them, but when asked if they are feminists getting replies like "Hell no!" Of course, those on the Left didn't do a very good job of responding. Nor did the increasing concentration of media in the hands of fewer and fewer corporations whose economic interests fundamentally favor conservative political positions help. . . .
  • Living languages change, and with them, the nuances of words change. Gay was once happy, then it became homosexual, now it is shifting again to "stupid". Liberal is another word that has changed meaning. When it was first promoted, it meant the opposite of conservative ie free thinking, active in change. Now, however, it has come to stand for someone who stands for nothing. At least that is where it is in Australia.
  • Thanks to Conservatives being so well-equipped at playing the PR game, whether through actual skill or merely having more money, Liberals are associated with all of the ills in our world. Teens are getting pregnant? It's because the damned Liberals insisted on sex education being taught in schools. They are immoral. We don't have an all-powerful intelligence/enforcement agency that can act with unfettered impunity in "the best interests of national security" like the old SS? It's because the Liberals want to put federal money into social programs like food stamps instad of keeping our citizens safe. They are unpatriotic. Hell, they probably FUNDED 9/11! Women have the right to abortion? Liberals are baby-killers and eat the aborted fetuses with a side salad. Basically, they are the victims of bad spin. Personally, I believe it no worse than "Conservative" as it is merely an identifying label. Unfortunately our post-9/11 country seems to be easily swayed by the promise of safety and retribution and it is SO much easier to demonize Liberals and marginalize Moderates by buying a loud megaphone and telling people what they want to hear instead of what is actually best for them, or what would actually work, or the truth.
  • I personally am a Conservative, but I don't think people find Liberal to be a bad word. Afterall, you guys do run the media. I think that Liberalism is a bad thing, as it has contributed to the collapse of the social structure.
  • I thought "Liberal" was a good word and "Conservative" was a bad word.
  • It's become synonymous with the breakdown of traditional family values which has led to breakdown of societal values. And they did it to themselves.
  • Its a good word. I know because it upsets anti-vaxing wacko's and Trumpanzees. -Actually there is a difference. Younger kids wanted a word to separate them from their parents so they came up with the word Progressive. Its the same thing but Liberals are over 60, progressives younger That's all.
    • Army Veteran
      The word "Liberal" doesn't upset me. It's a funny word. To me, it means a person who actually thought Hillary and Biden were good Presidential material as we watch our country disintegrate into a cesspool of Marxism.
    • Beat Covid, Avoid Republicans
      1465-You have social security and Medicare because of liberals and Groucho Marx, btw would have loved you. lol.
  • It isn't. Just as "socialist" or "Jew" or "Muslim" aren't bad words. But listening to some hick muricans you'd think it was a new line of cuss.
  • After you've dealt with a few of them, you'll quickly figure it out.
  • Party politics, political rancor, and party over country ideology is how Liberal and conservative became bad words.
  • when liberals who are Democrats, started doing corrupt, seditious and treasonous things is when the term went bad.
  • When western civilisation took a turn for the dumber and weirder. I use to vote Labour, and I've voted Liberal Democrats, but now I share Conservative values in order to sustain our civilisation and not let it go down the plug hole, while still despising the take over of the public sector, by Conservative. It's a balancing act, but the biggest problems are the organised Liberals that we see in the media, they are like a circus I'm afraid, added to a strangely middle class liberal hypocrites in this country, against working class roots. Of course a lot of this agenda came from the Tavistock Institute and the Frankfurt School.

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