Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to If that is all you got from his performance, then that is very sad...

Sad
Robert — (archived)

Archie Bunker is a kind of litmus test for political orientation, I guess. I remember his most defining personal trait as bigotry, and conservative political views was a distant second. Archie's tirades were directed at minorities, and at politicians associated with them; he was a reactionary in the purest sense. It would have been seriously inconsistent with the Bunker persona if he'd launched into an impassioned defense of laissez-faire capitalism or fiscal conservatism.

I'd say, on balance, that Archie Bunker was actually an apolitical character. His attitudes could have mapped as easily on to a working-class urban Democrat (a realistic character of the 70s; over the next couple of decades those were the disgruntled Democrats, including their rural brethren, who switched sides and became Republicans). Bigotry isn't the exclusive property of members of either party.

Better to ask: Why do Conservatives consistently perceive other people as making a connection between bigotry and Conservativism? Why are Conservatives so hypersensitive on this issue?

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