“Libtard".... “Teatard".... and so on and so forth.
If we flatter ourselves that we are “better” than the other side, that illusion is completely dissipated when we start insulting people who disagree with us.
If they wish to insult us, let them; let them have their moment of pleasure, but do not sink to their level, because this makes us every bit as bad as they are.
This is especially true when we insult people with the suffix “-tard”, to which refers to people with special needs who have done nothing to deserve this.
It's time, way past time, to stop insulting people on the other side of the political divide, because this only makes the division even more severe. We must remember that these people are our neighbors, our countrymen, and that after the election we must live with these people. It therefore behooves us do fight as hard as we can, but to fight fair.
And the most unfair thing of all is to insult people with the suffix “-tard", because in doing so we insult not only them but many other helpless people whose only fault is that they are differently minded from ourselves.
Niccolò Macchiavelli, an excellent political philosopher if there ever was one, had some very good things to say about insults:
"Contempt and insults engender hatred against those who indulge in them. without being of any advantage to them." - The Discourses. 1517.
"I believe it very prudent to abstain from menacing and insulting anybody with words, for neither of them takes any strength from the enemy. Menaces make him more cautious; insults make them hate you more and plan with greater zeal to harm you."
Basically what he said was that insulting someone makes you feel good for a moment, but the ill feeling engendered by the insult lasts a lot longer and strengthens their resolve to defeat you.
I would like everybody on this site to resolve to be better, to raise our consciousness, and to finally put an end to the useless insults that are being thrown about.
There's an old French proverb: "Bien faire et laisser braire." What it means is “do well and let others bray.”
Thank you for listening to the ranting of this old hippie.