slightly ashamed of being a liberal right now

[smileyeagle1021]

Gay Parent's bashed

ABC did a show "what would you do" in Texas where they had an actress in a very conservative small town diner bash a gay couple (also actors).
24 of 58 bystanders stepped in to help the gay couple.
A year ago they did it in liberal new york... only 12 of over 100 bystanders stepped in.
For fucks sakes, liberals are supposed to be better than that. We got shown up by conservatives from a state that is famous for hating gays. Hell, I bet we'd get more than 12 out of a hundred in Provo, one of the most anti-gay cities in America.

While it brings me great hope that our long time enemies will show us compassion and support, it brings me great despair that our long time allies will leave us high and dry.

[Greenday]

You forgot the quotation marks around liberal. Which part of NYC was this in? NYC is not liberal. According to websites I'm finding, NYC is somewhere between 55-60% democrats. That's not a big majority. I'm not sure NYC is the same city you are thinking of.

You are also forgetting some of the local stereotypes. People from this area want to just get on with their business and not be bothered.

This isn't a liberal/conservative issue. This is a rural/urban issue. From what I've noticed, people are more likely to give a crap about people they don't know in rural areas.

[AdminAssistant]

Besides, New Yorkers are infamous for having 'city vision.' If it isn't happening directly to them, they aren't interested. Texas also isn't as bad as you may think it is. Parts of it are very conservative and homophobic; I have a friend in Lubbock, apparently it's really bad there. But just as you find assholes and racists anywhere, you find good people anywhere. Austin and the surrounding area is famously liberal. Besides, being involved in your neighbor's business is the status quo in rural communities, and people generally aren't afraid to get in someone's face and tell them to GTFO of town. Even if people don't like homosexuality ideologically, they aren't willing to sit there and let anyone take abuse for any reason. Make sense?

[Boozy]

^ What she said.

Maybe I'll just add that "city vision" sounds like it should translate into "people from the city are dicks", but that's not true. Good small town folks can develop city vision in very short order after relocating. That is, the same person acts differently depending on where they are living.

"Minding your own business" is what allows cities to exist. That many people living together in such a small area would otherwise tear each other apart. There are bad sides, but there are also good sides.

[Andara Bledin]

This has much less to do with the political or sociological ideologies of the people involved as it does the speed at which they live their lives and the number of people with whom they are already involved.

^-.-^

[RecoveringKinkoid]

While it brings me great hope that our long time enemies will show us compassion and support, it brings me great despair that our long time allies will leave us high and dry.

Well then I reckon maybe you ought to redefine what you consider an "ally" and what you consider an "enemy".

[AdminAssistant]

Good small town folks can develop city vision in very short order after relocating. That is, the same person acts differently depending on where they are living.

I know I did. I was only in KC for a few months before I figured out that if I were walking somewhere it was head up, no eye contact, no time to stop and listen. Acting empathetic makes you a target for panhandlers, of which there are many in KC, and some of them are aggressive. I've relaxed it a bit since moving to a smaller town, but still switch it on downtown (again, panhandlers). Actually, I also switch that on in shopping malls to avoid kiosk salespeople (no I don't need sea salt scrub from Israel, tyvm.)

[kiwi]

I do think that most people in NYC have a mind your own business attitude. You don't know what kind of crazy is at the next table or what they might do if you confront them. In bigger cities people do stay to themselves more, I know that the smaller the place I have lived the more "friendly" people are. They lookout for those in their communities because if they dont know you, they know someone who knows you. You arn't just another body in the shared space.

[smileyeagle1021]

Well then I reckon maybe you ought to redefine what you consider an "ally" and what you consider an "enemy".

I think not, the sentencing for the attackers of DJ Bell was just announced, the conservative sentencing board sentenced the ringleader of the attack (charged with first degree felony aggravated assault) with 6 months in prison. Under a liberal hate crime law she'd rot for years, not months.

While I may be ashamed of my side for failing to step up to the plate on this issue, I know that in the overall scheme of things, I'm still batting for the right team.

eta- also, the only reason they were charged with felony aggravated assault was because the conservative DA refused to file attempted murder charges, both men who were attacked were literally within an inch of dying and have permanent injuries because of the attack... that was after the conservative DA was forced to admit that it actually was an attack and not a rescue of a kidnapped child (because there was a child involved and since the men were gay they were obviously attempting to kidnap the child... even though the child had told police officers she was at their house of their own free will because their parents were neglecting them and they knew Mr. Bell and hoped he would help them). Conservatism is a disease, one which can't be eradicated soon enough.

[Rapscallion]

How much do you think was Kitty Genovese syndrome?

Rapscallion

[Andara Bledin]

Also, one might wonder how many saw someone else dealing with the issue and left them to it rather than putting in their oar?

Without full exit interviews of all involved, the data is, honestly, mostly useless.

^-.-^

[HYHYBT]

In some places, too, "making a scene" is a worse sin than any other, even being gay.

[Hyena Dandy]

I'd consider anyone who steps up to defend you to be an ally. Choosing your side and viewing everyone through the lens of 'my side' and 'their side' will just end badly. It'll blind you to the good people on 'their side' and the bad people on 'our side'.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Exactly. I'm thinking the beautiful young Christian man from Texas (I had to watch that part a couple times, it brought tears to my eyes, too.) was most likely an ally to the persecuted family in the vid, or to anyone he saw being wronged in this manner.

Maybe I'm using the word "ally" wrong.

Personally I thought this experiment had less to do with how conservative or liberal their political views are and more to do with their culture. In other words, a bunch of small town Texans brought up on respecting your mama and apple pie and chatting with strangers in the Piggly Wiggly are going to be more likely to stand up to a bully on a stranger's behalf than a bunch of New Yorkers who are brought up to mind their own business and don't make a scene or eye contact.

Southerners in general are not as isolated socially as northerners. It's not considered odd in the least for us to stroll up to a total stranger and talk casually to them. A New Yorker would have to break all sorts of ingrained taboos to do what the Texans did without thinking about it.

I took the Silver Star (a train that runs up and down the eastern seaboard) from Boston to Columbia one winter. I observed that once the train crossed the Mason Dixon line, the conversation in the car I was in got livelier and more relaxed and everyone was chatting casually with everyone else. The reason? All the northerners had gotten off by then. Bunch of southerners trapped in a car with a bunch of northerners are going to unsettle the northerners if they do what they do naturally, which is hang out and be social with whoever's around. Once the northerners all got off, the dynamic in the car changed dramatically.

So I think putting a liberal/conservative spin on it is irrelevant and misleading.

[BlaqueKatt]

Conservatism is a disease, one which can't be eradicated soon enough.

A government big enough to give you everything you need, is big enough to take everything you have.-Thomas Jefferson

Personally I'd be more upset about this

that's right, the Democrats agreed to extend the patriot act another four years, I really think we only have one party......

The Patriot Act was contentious enough for then Senator Obama to make the law an issue in his presidential campaign, promising reform. No such reforms have come and last year President Obama signed the law authorizing its extension.