Are there Liberal traits that you DON'T like?

[Prism]

115. I live and work around Berkeley, so, oh yeah, I have a list

Maybe my list isn't "liberals" as much as Berkeleyites, but these people drive me batty.

1. Alternative medicine. It's as anti-science as anything I see out of the Right.

2. Elitism from monied liberals. Por ejemplo, lecturing everyone else about what they're eating. Which is wonderful. But some people can't pay $20 for a carrot. But hey, let's all shop at Andronico's, where everything is marked up 500%.

3. Wacky spiritualism. Yeah, they'll gnaw your ear off about the evils of Christianity, meanwhile they need to attend their shamanistic yoga Gaia workshop and try to recruit you into it *facepalm* Usually goes hand in hand with #1.

4. Environmental hypocrisy. "Save the planet! What? Of course I need three bathrooms in my home and four cars. Why do you ask?" Everyone friggin drives here to everywhere. And it's totally unnecessary.

5. The weird idea that being liberal/Democratic is an automatic intelligence badge. That's more of a larger point, to be honest. There's this idea "Well, I'm liberal, so of course I'm really smart." No, not so much. And I find people who badge-wear like that are least likely to be intellectually curious enough to examine their own ideas and to educate themselves deeply. They think the label is sufficient.

6. Willful blindness to faults. This thread is a good example. It's like the bad job interview. "My main flaw is that I just care so damn much." Where the "fault" is actually something good. But also blindness to bigotry and hatred. That's my big one. The hate. We have little campaigns like "No H8," when what a lot of people mean "You can't hate my particular cause. I can hate you and your cause with absolute freedom." And then you get a whole load of nastiness. That drives me nuts. Hate is hate. The reason to oppose hate is not only because of what it does to others, but because of how it poisons ourselves. A little self-awareness is never out of order.

Whew. Yes, Berkeley is driving me crazy. I think it's because I'm Midwestern. Or maybe nonpartisan. I have a good buddy/co-worker. Incredibly partisan. He gets so worked up about politics, spittle starts flicking from his lips when he talks to me. To me, who is a Democrat and agrees with him 90% of the time. One errant word and "Rawwwwwwwwwwwwwwr!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's right-winger talking point!!!!!!! Rawwwwwwr." Fucking chill, bro.