vanilla

Had a long, deep and incredibly meaningful... chat (d'ohhhhhh!) yesterday evening. Was with old pal Nicola (a PhDist from Far Far Away). She started asking questions that allowed me to pontificate and gently preach. Having asked 'Shane, would you say that you're a liberal?' I explained four categories which had to be considered in response to that question. You see, the popular uses of the terms 'liberal' and 'conservative' frustrate me. Nicola already knew this as I had recently berated her for believing our mutual pal Tom to be - in the 'small c' sense - 'conservative'. Tom is a Tory (Conservative Party supporter) but he is also socially 'and' economically liberal. His friends are religiously, sexually, politically and nationally diverse (there are even one or two of us who he hasn't slept with). Under the influence of Veronica Vodka (a foul she-beast), he once explained to Nicola, self and Ken (hurrah!) the good sense in the lowest paid workers operating outside of the formal and visible (read 'legal') economy. At this time his brother was dealing ecstacy (a phase that he was threatened out of). Tom explains his own being a Tory with the simple line 'I hate paying tax'.

In answer to Nicola I expalined that as I see it, at the level of the individual, we have:-

Social liberalism – Whoever you are and whatever views you hold, I will sit down and listen to you without interrupting. I will hear you and share tea with you without imposing my worldview – local or global.

Economic liberalism – I’m willing to trade and/or accept others' trade that occurs in ways that diverge from what is deemed to be standard economic practice.

Social conservatism – Social change and diversity need to be carefully controlled. There are ways of life that need to be protected and ways of life that need to be guarded against. I will hear you and share tea with you as long as our worldviews are in approximate accordance.

Economic conservatism – Existing forms of trading need to be secured and maintained. Alternative forms of economic activity are undesirable.

My main point was that when we hear reference to a person being 'liberal', I believe this is often a gross simplification and far too often a weakly tested label. Ultimately, I said that Nicola should choose for herself whether she thought I was a liberal, however, I did mention that I'd slash her bike tyres for not knowing me well enough if she deigned me to be broadly conservative.

(...)

Now, this may have seemed like a more than usually odd (if not entirely up my own arse) sort of post, however, it was just something that I had to get out of my system.

Bidding you wellness.

*****
I love vanilla milkshake... rock 'n' roll!