Even the enlightened ones who choose a “liberal” authority…
When you and your allies swarm to the defense of the boss (and each other) you reveal yourself. When you treat a contrary opinion as a threat or an enemy to be defeated you show your fear. When you assign motivations which you then attack and ridicule, and when you create an image of a person in your mind and then attack it, you follow the conservative blueprint for dealing with challenges which they have no other answer for.
When you defend and call for fairness for the boss, you imply that you believe the boss is fair to you. The boss wants you to believe that, and you will be rewarded for believing that. You’re playing by the rules. And keeping your eyes closed. And being a good conservative.
The more hysterical your defense, the more tightly you cling to the status quo and fear the lonely wilderness of thinking for yourself.
Your method of adapting and participating in a liberal environment (when you encounter people who don’t share your loyalty or respect for established authorities and institutions) is to attempt to appear moderate, call for fairness, attempt to add balance to a discussion; but you still swarm and turn conservative when your chosen narrative is challenged or disrespected – that is – spoken of truthfully. Some of you just swarm a little more gently and moderately.
It’s actually all quite transparent and amusing.
Maybe you think I should give you some credit for trying to live outside your comfort zone a little. Well, I’ve lived my whole life outside your comfort zone, and received the punishments for doing it (those that you've spent your life fearfully trying to avoid) so I don’t find it all that impressive.
I’ve mainly contented myself with being mildly amused when I recognize you. I don’t spend time in many discussions, especially not the ones you and yours tend to frequent. The preaching in those is usually to a little different choir than the one I sing in.
But I tend to recognize patterns and contemplate them when I do, and look closer if it catches my interest. The patterns I here refer to are the swarm and the “balanced” approach, and the defense of the boss – in some cases even of republicans. The implication suggested for me (and which caused me to put commentary into the ether regarding) was that you’re all conservatives. It makes me wonder about your motivation for being here as you’re obviously not comfortable with the scope of the discussion. (For purposes of this essay I don’t include consideration of simple trolls) I’m not sure liberal politics and conservative minds are truly compatible.
The questioning of authority and rejection of the status quo are what I believe define me as liberal. The opposite of those are what define you as conservative. Whatever politics you claim to espouse, your response to contrary viewpoints reveals you in spite of your efforts to appear liberal.