Posted by
NancyVidedo on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 2:42:35 PM
Conservatives are not allowed in Los Angeles. At least not in what is termed 'polite society." I found this out the hard way.
I spent 33 years calling Los Angeles home. Most of those years were spent blindly accepting the assumptions portrayed by the spare headline or sound bite on the nightly news: Christians are bad, government is good, perception trumps reality and America is the cause of all the world's woes.
Advocating the spending of tax dollars for any and all social problems was the mark of a good and moral person. Professing concern for those less well off was mandatory for financially successful people and it was de rigueur to have a least one 'best friend' of color. Wearing an AIDS awareness ribbon, at that time, signaled your inclusion in the community of man.
In return for inclusion in this community, members had a free pass to substitute intentions for actions. One was free to indulge in hedonistic behavior under the guise of empowerment. Discovering one's 'inner self' validated what used to be termed sexual promiscuity. Labels were confining so members had license to create their own. Who wouldn't prefer being labeled a free spirit instead of a selfish tramp? And in LA, labels, not substance, determined the social pecking order.
Any opinion at variance with the herd was considered judgmental, which was a definite no-no. Debate was redefined as argument, which was also a no-no. These rules were made clear to me only in the breach.
At age 39, six words spoken on TV changed my life forever. In 1992, I chanced ..
http://rightbias.com/News/081808la.aspx