A Desert Rose
Simply Charming Elsewhere
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2002
- Posts
- 13,997
Tuesday, October 01, 2002
By Neil Cavuto
Do you know Todd Werkhoven?
Probably not. But you should catch his My Turn column in the latest Newsweek out on newsstands now.
In it, this self-proclaimed conservative young man relates how difficult it is to be a conservative young man -- particularly in today's society.
He talks about being called a sexist, a racist, a homophobe and more.
Because he's against hate crime legislation, friends compared him to the nuts who killed Mathew Shepard, even though he abhors all harm done to humans.
Or because he's pro-life, pro-choicers called him a zealot -- one going so far as to say people like Todd were responsible for the Crusades and the Inquisition.
He talks about learning to just be quiet to keep his views to himself, "to keep a vacuous smile on my face," as he put it.
Some called him a Bible thumper simply because he believed in God.
Others, a nut for admiring Henry Hyde's work going after Bill Clinton.
He goes on to paint a pretty vivid picture of a very un-hip kid with very un-hip thoughts and extremely un-hip views.
Hip people call pro-life advocates, "anti-choice fanatics or religious zealots," he writes.
He goes on to say, "I can't remember the last time I read a newspaper article that used the word 'activists' to describe those working for conservative causes and 'extremists' for those working for liberal ones."
He finds it ironic that in a culture that supposedly values diversity, the ones who dominate that culture mean anything but. He finds it odd. He's not alone.
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Does this sound familiar to anyone? Just something to think about. Labels get pinned on and seem to stick, don't they?
By Neil Cavuto
Do you know Todd Werkhoven?
Probably not. But you should catch his My Turn column in the latest Newsweek out on newsstands now.
In it, this self-proclaimed conservative young man relates how difficult it is to be a conservative young man -- particularly in today's society.
He talks about being called a sexist, a racist, a homophobe and more.
Because he's against hate crime legislation, friends compared him to the nuts who killed Mathew Shepard, even though he abhors all harm done to humans.
Or because he's pro-life, pro-choicers called him a zealot -- one going so far as to say people like Todd were responsible for the Crusades and the Inquisition.
He talks about learning to just be quiet to keep his views to himself, "to keep a vacuous smile on my face," as he put it.
Some called him a Bible thumper simply because he believed in God.
Others, a nut for admiring Henry Hyde's work going after Bill Clinton.
He goes on to paint a pretty vivid picture of a very un-hip kid with very un-hip thoughts and extremely un-hip views.
Hip people call pro-life advocates, "anti-choice fanatics or religious zealots," he writes.
He goes on to say, "I can't remember the last time I read a newspaper article that used the word 'activists' to describe those working for conservative causes and 'extremists' for those working for liberal ones."
He finds it ironic that in a culture that supposedly values diversity, the ones who dominate that culture mean anything but. He finds it odd. He's not alone.
--------------------------------------------
Does this sound familiar to anyone? Just something to think about. Labels get pinned on and seem to stick, don't they?
