Another idea stolen from an on-line friend's page, this one being kazul (aka Rabi). I am ...
A liberal
I'm a registered independent, but I nearly always reluctantly vote Democratic. I supported Al Gore in both the primaries and general election in 2000, Howard Dean and John Kerry respectively in 2004, and Obama in 2008 (but with no favorite in the primaries). I'm more against the extreme nativism, corporation-coddling, and irrationality of the GOP than for the moderate nativism, corporation-coddling, and irrationality of the Democrats.The political philsophers I agree with most include Jürgen Habermas, Seyla Benhabib, John Dewey, Jane Addams, and Iris Marion Young. A commitment to openness and accountability in government and society, the importance of a robust civil society, the importance of diversity and disagreement, and an effort to preserve self-determination in the face of the necessary shaping of each person's life situation by others are the central themes. I also have a broadly pragmatic orientation, willing to experiment but skeptical of grand social engineering and totalizing ideologies.
You can get a better sense of where I stand on specific issues from my commentaries and my blog.
I don't often identify myself as a vegan, perhaps because I came to it so gradually. But I don't interntionally consume animal products, so I guess it fits. It began in 2001 because I was afraid my vegetarian ex wouldn't respect me if I ate meat around her (though she reassured me otherwise). By the time she broke up with me, I found that I'd gotten used to eating vegetables and didn't know how to cook meat. Via a similar process (coupled with the fact that I do all the cooking in our house), I seem to have converted my wife.I find the animal welfare and environmental impacts arguments to be the most persuasive, while I disagree with the health argument and claims about the "naturalness" of veganism.
Of some sort. I've spent fairly little time in UU churches, so I'm not an institutional member, but I identify with UUism (in both the modern-church and classical-theology senses) more than any other religion. In the modern-church sense, I like the UU value of openness to experimentation and exploration in an active community context (as opposed to traditional religious doctrinalism or purely individualistic spirituality. In the classical-theological sense, insofar as I find Christianity plausible, I see it as Unitarian (no Trinity -- the Father and Holy Spirit are the same thing and Jesus is more prophet/agent than deity) and Universalist (everyone gets saved). On a cultural level, I identify with the symbols and rituals of Protestantism.At the moment, this is where I stand: I believe that God is love (1 John 4: 16-21) (in a rather stronger sense of identity than the expression is often used). I believe that modern Christians spend too much time proclaiming their faith in words (Matthew 6: 5-6), forgetting that the real measure of faith is the love shown in what we do (Matthew 7: 16-21, Matthew 25: 34-45) -- deeds that need not include adherence to Christian mythology (Galatians 5: 22-23, Romans 2: 14-15). I believe that the physical world is good (Genesis 1: 31) and that we ought to enjoy it (Ecclesiastes 3: 12-13). I believe that worrying about the afterlife is a distraction (Ecclesiastes 3: 9-22).
The seeds were probably sowed by Calvin & Hobbes, as well as lots of camping with the Boy Scouts. After reading one of my stories, the professor of my Science Fiction class told me she saw a real environmentalist message in it. I objected to this characterisation, since environmentalists always seemed like left-wing wackos. But I have come to terms with my green side. In fact, the final story I submitted in that class was based on an ecological disaster scenario with acid rain and salinisation and ruining Peru. I've since gotten a PhD in human-environment geography.I think environmental issues are inseparable from social justice issues. As much as we like to think we have, we have not (and cannot) mastered nature. I don't exalt nature at the expense of humans, or expect to preserve "pristine" (not that there is such a thing) environments from humans' evil clutches. I only aim to stop one part of the system from bringing the whole thing crashing down, to its own detriment. The demands of a sustainable human society require broad protections for ecosystem processes and an ability to live with nature.
I am not part of any demographic that has ever been the target of substantial discrimination. I'm male, white, a U.S. citizen from birth, heterosexual, middle-class, neurotypical, body-typical, thin, cis, and probably other things I'm forgetting. I'm neither proud nor ashamed of this -- it's just a thing.Back to
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