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> As someone who falls on the Liberal side of the spectrum, this bothers me more than almost anything else regarding modern day politics. If you fall in line with the "right" (left) side, you are allowed to say any number of disparaging, mean, hateful, or ignorant comments without fear of consequence - as long as it's aimed at the political right-wing. If you mention you are a conservative or hold conservative views, you are aligned with the worst of the worst and anything you say is inherently wrong.

It has a name: double standard

I like to think of it like weak minded people who love to dish out insults but accuse you of being the most indecent person on the planet if you repeat their exact words back to them.

> The liberal echo chamber is just as bad, if not worse, than the conservative's version of the same thing.

I'd lean towards worse. I don't recall anyone attempting to publicly shame me for not being "conservative enough". I'd wager that most liberals have encountered some version of that.

> I like to think of it like weak minded people who love to dish out insults but accuse you of being the most indecent person on the planet if you repeat their exact words back to them.

Yeah, but you'll always have rationalization on why one side thinks it's okay: "It's okay in my case because I'm intolerant of intolerance" "It's okay in my case because I'm bigoted against bigotry"

Today, the right is stereotyped as tolerant of intolerance and the left is stereotyped as intolerant of intolerance. Both are untrue, but anonymity on the internet makes it seem like one vile person you disagree with is following you around spewing hate. When people are experiencing a rush of adrenaline from an argument, even online, many lose the ability to distinguish the words and actions of individuals from those of groups or to recognize subtlety and shades of gray. Everyone is arguing all the time these days, everyone has an opinion on everything, this huge adrenaline bubble is forming and it's going to pop one way or another...

> I don't recall anyone attempting to publicly shame me for not being "conservative enough".

Proof that you did not grow up in a very religious community.

> I'd lean towards worse. I don't recall anyone attempting to publicly shame me for not being "conservative enough". I'd wager that most liberals have encountered some version of that.

Odd. Just an observation: conservatives in the US have a commonly used name for that - RINO - Republican in Name Only - and there is no equivalent name among liberals.

They're called limousine liberals/champagne socialists.

> limousine liberals

Oh, thanks, THAT is one that I had heard and subsequently forgotten.

> there is no equivalent name among liberals.

DINO: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_In_Name_Only

Nope. In order to be equivalent it would need to be used as frequently as the corresponding term (the textual similarity of the terms is not the point).

Has anyone here ever actually been called a "DINO?" My personal sphere is populated largely with Democrats, Leftists, and Libertarians of various stripes and I've never seen this phrase written or spoken in conversation. (the only one I've seen on that page you linked to is "Blue Dog Democrats," and I'm pretty sure I've never heard that one spoken in person. I wasn't aware it was a pejorative.)

I am not at all sure that means Democrats are more accepting of dissent in the ranks, but they haven't got such a commonly used term for it.

Google search for DINO democrat and RINO republican indicate that the terms are used with similar frequency (340k vs 417k).

This coincides with my experience hearing the terms, so perhaps your experience is simply different based on where you live or who is in your social circle. FWIW, I have lived in CA and PA, and my friends are a mix of liberals and conservatives.

Ah, thanks, that is interesting. (my background is actually similar - from OH but spent five years in Berkeley, where people won't use a simple term to dismissively label you when they could just talk at you until you fall asleep...)

> Has anyone here ever actually been called a "DINO?"

Not much since center-right neoliberals became clearly and solidly the dominant faction within the party, since “DINO” was largely what more progressive Democrats labelled that faction; the label also applied to actual conservatives in the party, though they mostly completed the migration to the Republican Party shortly after the Republican congressional majority in the 1994 election (since they had stayed in the Democratic Party largely for the organizational benefits of being in the majority, despite increasing ideological tension through the long post-civil-rights partisan realignment.)

And the result is just as predictable. People with conservative views will stay quiet and get more isolated and annoyed. They'll identity with other "underdogs" that are being attacked, even if they wouldn't otherwise really agree with their positions. Then everyone acts all surprised when a more extreme candidate shows up to overwhelming support.

Some of my saddest friends, at least when it comes to expressing themselves politically, are my liberal friends who have beliefs just a bit outside the left-norm. Things like owning firearms, or support for free speech even when it's ugly.

These folks are shunned by both groups. One guy told me once he had friends of 20 years that wouldn't let him in the house when they found out he owned a gun.

But the question one asked that I keep getting back to is this: would the Civil Rights movement stand a chance today in the world many in the left wants to set up?

Another commenter mentioned being assaulted by a ROTC cadet for expressing liberal views. As bad as that is, I'm much more supportive of open fisticuffs, along with a jail sentence for whomever started it, than creating systems of political suppression that many major SV corps seem intent on doing. It doesn't get more fucked up and evil than that -- and I have no doubt in my mind that the people doing it are nice and well meaning. All the worse.

I identify with your left-of-norm liberal friends.

Most of my views sit closer to the middle than either pole - but I can't actually discuss this with any of my "liberal" friends. If I say anything that isn't a complete regurgitation of a leftist facebook meme, I'm suddenly an "alt-right sympathizer" (real quote). It's made it so that whenever politics comes up at all I just check out of the conversation. It's hard because I really do enjoy debating and talking about politics, but nobody wants to debate anymore. Everyone wants to be correct and shame the other side into changing their views.

Those friends sound kind of terrible. Good friends can have rational, respectful discussions, even if they disagree.

The liberal echo chamber is a problem, but I don't think it's anywhere near the scale of problem as things like climate change, healthcare, consumer protection rollbacks, voter suppression, mass incarceration and deportation. These issues are more important than whether someone feels comfortable wearing a MAGA hat at Google.

Politics isn't baseball. The stakes are real, more so for some than for others. If you want to express a political view at work then the people to whom you are expressing it have a right to dislike you for it.

> If you want to express a political view at work then the people to whom you are expressing it have a right to dislike you for it.

Do those people have a right to take action to negatively impact your career/livelihood/ability-to-provide-for-your-family because of your political views?

If your political views negatively impact their career/livelihood/ability-to-provide-for-your-family then it would be a violation of the golden rule if they couldn't.

I feel like this is a strange position, because every single political issue does this to someone. Raise my property tax for schools? Time to blacklist you, I needed that money for elder care.

I don't think the liberal echo chamber is anywhere near as bad.