As far as I know, the smugness refers to a certain tendency amongst some liberals to bask in the fact that they are, in their opinions, objectively correct on all their issues, because they are backed by objectively correct science/history/etc. It leads naturally to a certain patronising style of discourse, where people that aren't liberals need to just accept that they're wrong because liberals are objectively correct.
That's an issue, and I don't deny that it exists. It's when people say that
most liberals are smug, just for saying that people are wrong, that I get mad because
that is so incredibly stupid. It's the Monroe effect - people are
wrong! On the
Internet!This is worrying because, amongst other reasons, no-one would hold an opinion if they didn't consider it correct. Conservatives believe that they are objectively correct on all their issues, but as far as I can tell the corresponding stereotype/appearance/whatever on their side is more 'frothing' than 'smug'.
Enlighten me if I'm wrong.
There are people like that on all sides of the political spectra. "Feminists," ferex, who call any criticism "sexism." I actually agree almost entirely with the ENEMY posters here, which is odd, because we're currently tearing each other apart. Isn't there a sociological theory that explains that?
snipstuff
Dude, chill out. Any time you want to belittle your opponent for an argument, reconsider your life that you're taking something on the internet so seriously.
First people were saying that liberals were generally smug, which I disliked because a. it was a generalization and b. it seemed like a personal attack. Then I realized that it wasn't a personal attack, and that people were sharing their
perceptions of the left, which mostly consisted of SJWs, so *meh* I was fine.
Then
this guy, LW, comes along and
actually starts making personal attacks. Seriously? And then he makes a
ton of logical fallacies, like false equivalencies and such, and then misinterprets my humor and demonizes me as this smug liberal who is using his "self-deprecating humor" to insult everybody in the world and expects everyone to treat him like a prince, what in the four hells LW?