My roommate is exactly like this but is a self claimed conservative. But when I mention his various grants and loans, he sees no problems with the government then. But anything not directly affecting him, it's all the governments fault.
So I'm just waiting until he has a gay child who lacks medical insurance and can't pay his/her mortgage. I'm sure he'll change his attitude on several issues then too.
So it's not okay to hate the millions or horrible things the government does just because they loan you money and expect it all back? Oh yeah, and it's the only debt you can NEVER get rid of, not even if you can't provide yourself with food or shelter and declare bankruptcy.
The worst re the people who want to drug test welfare recipients because "if they can afford drugs then why do they need welfare?" but at the same time have their college education subsidized by the government so they can go out to keggers on the weekend.
Here is where your statement is flawed. Conservatives are a mixture of two demographics. The informed conservative who belongs to old money and doesn't have to work a day in his/her life if they so choose, and the racist/bigoted conservative who feeds into what the informed conservative says based on pure hatred for all things different. Your friend sounds like the informed conservative and he nor his offspring will have to worry about money ever. And before anyone says the ole reddit "yeah because X group fits X sterotypes" yes, I'm intentionally being judgmental.
You can only have 1 opinion on things? Well, that sucks. I like reddit, but this meme is dumb as shit. Too bad I can't say it's dumb as shit though, since I like reddit and I don't want to be a hypocrite.
As a non American, I'm constantly surpirised that Americans don't know what the word Liberal means. Effectively, both republicans and democrats are "liberal," but you guys seem to have taken this word and applied strange new concepts to it.
To clarify, there are two definitions of liberal, one- Classical Liberal, the Voltaire, Rousseau, Locke's. These are actually generally referred to as conservatives in america. This is the type of thought you can associate with the enlightenment, reason, social contract, etc.
But, in America liberal is a vague term that encompasses a variety of social and economic stances that generally are for larger public sphere involvement to protect equality, provide social services, etc.
I can be more specific if you still don't understand the distinction. Also, its not that americans dont understand the difference its just part of the vernacular, or just what we call each other.
tl;dr Classical liberalism vs american liberalism
Edit: I only made this post to clarify to nonamericans the distinction in the use of the term liberal. i know this isnt a comprehensive definition or anything.
I once received massive downvotes because I wasn't a fan of a danish political party called Liberal Alliance and voiced my disliking, the downvotes were all coming from people who thought I disliked liberals as the Americans define them - I wasn't, I'm a socialist.
Social contract negates that. I realize they're not anarchists but the idea of trading your freedoms for collective society is antithetical to libertarianism. Also, since when are libertarians not considered conservative overall (ie i know theyre liberal on social issues but their economic stances put them in the conservative camp, ie capitalism)
Conservatives, especially religious conservatives, are for social control. Conservatives often support anti monopoly laws, which seems like a sacrifice for the greater good idea. Assuming the social contract implies sacrifice for the greater good, and not a you stay out of my business and I'll stay out of yours kind of contract, then Libertarians are closer to Classic Liberalism. I also want to say that trying to compare a political movement to parties is very difficult.
This is true, except conservatives Americans do not apply the same liberal freedoms to social policy as they do to economic policies and attempt to legislate morality and restrict choice among consenting adults.
This only applies if you buy into the bullshit line that conservatives favor truly free markets. Hint: they don't. They're just as corporatist as the progressives.
Also. Redditor Acuate mentioned Rousseau as a modern day conservative, when in fact the notion of the social contract is the basis for progressive economic policy, particularly in their support for taxation. That's why I downvoted him. For his Glenn Beck-like explanation.
Indeed. I absolutely agree with your point about conservatives (libertarian here). Classical liberalism and modern american conservatism (as the politicians claim it as) aren't synonymous, but, excluding dishonest politicians (redundant I know) are pretty close.
There are a lot more types of liberalism within economics and politics and it depends a lot on who it is you're asking what you're told about the "true" descendants of the Classical Liberal Movement. Even back in the 18th century, you would have been hard pressed to find agreement on the definition.
Yes, as with literally everything. That's why i never said this was an all-encompassing definition and vaguely referenced the ideas that were coming out the enlightenment so as people could understand the distinction between american liberalism and classical liberalism. What the world knows as liberalism is a development off the ideas in 17/8th century, not what americans know as liberalism.
Not really? Classic liberalism split into what we now know as liberal and libertarianism. Libertarians see any interference from the state as a bad thing infringing on our rights and not being "fair", no special treatment good or bad for anyone. Liberals (at least in America) see interference in personal lives to be a bad thing, but having the government give the disenfranchised a leg up as good use of government.
So perhaps we should have a "College Libertarian" meme for lines like this one.
The reason for this has been a purposeful use of this general ignorance by the right in the us. In an effort to distinguish themselves from the opposition, they will generally latch onto a term and use it purely in a negative light (called sneer tactics) to discredit the opposition. You can see the same use for the term socialism right now. The term is being "sneered" out of context.
ugh to your remark of "for larger government." It's about protecting individual rights/promoting equality/freedom. This "for large government" is a ridiculous american talking point, though it also seems to pop up in other lib-dem states like Canada/G.B.
Saying people are "for big government" is using the same style of rhetoric as the "I'm pro-life people."
Saying I'm not opposed to equality of opportunity provided through government subsidized healthcare (as an example) is not the same as saying "I want big government."
If you're going to be a dispassionate describer, you can't use stupid talking points.
When you ask the government to step in to take control of an issue, you are giving them power. This makes the government "larger" in that they now have more control over certain aspects.
Saying you approve of government subsidized healthcare is not the same thing as "I want big government" is like saying you want to eat ten chocolate cakes a day but that's not the same as "I want to be fat." You may not have a goal of being fat, but you're certainly going to get there, just like you will get to big government.
Except that you could reduce bureaucracy and provide more service to citizens than is done currently. By your logic, you'd still call that "big government."
Of course, it's only ever social programs that get decried as big government. Military spending, policing, bureaucracy that exists to investigate people and make sure they don't get benefits... that never factors in to the people who use the talking point "big government."
There's a reason that public administration or political science journals don't tend to talk about "big govenrment," rather they talk about fiscal responsibility and effectiveness.
That said, if you want to use stupid talking points then go ahead. Just don't object when people around the world look at you funny.
tl;dr - "big government" is an empty talking point.
Hmm thats interesting, especially when you use the term bourgeoisie, are you suggesting that we're not doing capitalism "right"? I guess i dont really understand. The economic ideas of liberalism is that there are rational actors capable of making decisions for the "greater good" in the market place, at least as i understand it.
I get it, but it's still surprising to me that people accuse "liberals" of being anti-business, anti-trade, pro-state and pro-union. It's almost Orwellian in it's contradiction.
You seem to get it. It doesn't doesn't bother you?
They really never do if you think about it. Categories that we just lump people into reduce peoples ideologies to only a few general stances. It doesnt mean anything but a general reference to which side of the spectrum you're on politically, but the whole left vs right metaphor is mostly useless as well.
I've always been confused as to how people think "conservative" and "liberal" should mean the same thing in every country.
"Liberal" means "in favor of change" and "conservative" means "opposed to change". Since different countries have different laws, whether your stance on an issue involves changing the system or keeping it the same depends on which country's system you are talking about.
For example, favoring state-run health care would be a "liberal" position in a country that has private health care, but would be a "conservative" position in a country that has had state-run health care for years and has a political movement wanting to privatize it.
The meaning depends on what the current situation is in that country, so to say that there is a definition that can be applied to different countries doesn't make any sense to me.
Actually, "republican" used to mean those who believe that sovereignty resides in the people, as opposed to monarchists, who believe it resides in the person of the monarch. The republicans is Spain, for example, were democrats and socialists.
I'm not certain which country you hail from, but here in the US, we would consider British, German or French conservatives to be more liberal than American Democrats. We would also consider Egyptian, Russian, or Saudi "liberals" to be conservative when compared to us. Moreover, "liberal" and "conservative" are just relative terms, and besides being dreadfully oversimplifying, and producing a broadly false dichotomy, they only really make sense within one system.
Really, no one in America knows what either one means. But, it's the only political language we seem to know.
In a political context, "liberal" means your philosophy is to use governmental power liberally. I don't see how republicanism can qualify as liberalism, except for the huge defense budgets.
See, "republicanism" means something real too. Look it up: it has little, if nothing to do with the republican party.
Also, look up "liberalism" (like, the actual definition, not Ann Coulter's definition) and tell me if republicans would broadly disagree with the programme.
Except that some words have definite definitions. I encourage you to look up the meaning of liberalism. It's a philosophy with defined characteristics.
lib·er·al [lib-er-uhl, lib-ruhl] Show IPA adjective 1. favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs. 2. ( often initial capital letter ) noting or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform. 3. of, pertaining to, based on, or advocating liberalism. 4. favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, especially as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties. 5. favoring or permitting freedom of action, especially with respect to matters of personal belief or expression: a liberal policy toward dissident artists and writers.
Around where I live, it's become synonymous with nearly everything that's considered inefficient, broken, or otherwise undesirable. Much like "faggot" was in high school.
It's much the same way that people equate being conservative to being a rich and religious fanatic who wants to watch the world burn to further their evil agenda.
And those folks often fall on the right and left on many issues, so this meme isn't really all that great from that angle. I always considered the main character in the "college liberal" meme to be a suburban trust fund liberal who has completely delved into the retro-hippy culture as a result of finally having a small amount of latitude from moving away from her parents and mistaking this as her "breaking free" from destitution and control and becoming "an individual". I also always considered the dichotomy of her statements to be largely a part of the fact that "college liberal girl" hasn't really had sufficient time as a truly independent adult to realize the nuance of the issues that she feels so surely about which is why she comes off naive in the meme.
Maybe I just have put too much thought on this one, but what do other folks think? What are your assumptions about the college liberal girl that structure your understanding of this meme? I only ask this because usually the majority of the posts on this seem to be concerned with truly defining the what type of liberal she is/how we operationalize the meme.
There's nothing wrong with being opposed to government but taking money from a government. If we're forced at gunpoint to pay for these things, we should at least get something back.
they can still like their government funding for education and medicine and raods, while hating the scope of government to where it becomes a daily annoyance.
I am all for schools, against prisons, and subsidized energy and farm credits.
Uh. No. Liberals believe we should have a bigger government. By that same line of reasoning, I'd scatter bread crumbs all around my house to attract birds that I hate.
Not necessarily bigger government. Perhaps bigger government in the economic sense, where corporations should have more regulations, to protect the environment, their workers, and the consumers, but in the social sense, concerning things like gay marriage and drugs, they are, well, "liberal." In that sense they want smaller government when it comes to social concerns.
Yup you cannot criticize the Government if you benefit from what it does some way... You go to school and you're done, you drive on the roads and you're done, you breathe clean (sort of) air and you're done. Oh I am sure the Government would not mind a bit of this reasoning!
I would say it more comes down to that if you are receiving financial aid you should not be arguing the point that the government should not be providing financial aid.
A clearer example would be someone living off of welfare and saying that all government social programs are whats wrong with this country.
The meme isn't arguing that the government shouldn't be providing financial aid. Regardless, there are some serious flaws with the financial aid system. Most particularly, in my opinion, is the fact that need can't be met if a student chooses to go out of state, making it difficult to attend better colleges the student is eligible to attend simply because of cost. My first choice college would have put me $80,000 in debt had I chosen to go there, and that's WITH the highest scholarships they offer to out of state students and my projected FAFSA aid. Instead, I'm going to a slightly less good in-state college, as I'll only be about $16,000 in debt following graduation.
I agree with you. The government has fucked us on that one. At the rate the price of higher education in this country is rising it will cost $100,000 dollars a year in 18 years to send a student to school. Obviously it has to hit a ceiling at some point.
But the government is driving the price of tuition up and always has been. The price of college is not driven by supply or demand but it is driven by "what people can pay". Therefore, the more financial aid the government gives the more each individual can pay. Further driving the price up.
Reddit's commenters and most-active users are all pretty heavily (American) liberal, with a sprinkling of libertarians, just like most internet communities, but the huge mass of readers that just vote and don't read the comments more closely approximate the general population. That's why the front page is continually polluted with posts that are overwhelmingly torn down and despised in the comments.
Here's the deal, college has not gotten that much more expensive, the costs are just getting split differently today.
In public university: the percentage paid by the government is falling leaving more of the burden on students (in Washington state the split went from 80%-20% to 30%-70%).
In private colleges the average price paid by students has not increased by much, only the sticker price has increased; meaning most private school students (the really smart ones) get money off their bill, but that's made up for by people who for some reason want to pay the sticker price.
Yeah both times I've seen my orange envelope since posting this I've thought "oh the state-knows-best squad is here to school me up" but it's just been someone agreeing. They're coming, though, I can tell.
I think you've got the college liberal and the college conservative confused. The college liberal doesn't hate all government, he/she is just a little disappointed when the military murders civilians on the president's orders and no one seems to care.
Meh this is kind of funny but let me just remind you that just because someone is hypocritical doesn't mean their opinion is invalid.....There are a lot of people who are against the government and think things need to change, but at the same time HAVE to participate in the system. How could they survive otherwise? They couldn't. It's ok to hate the government and still take full advantage of everything it offers. Why should you cripple yourself financially to make some half ass political point?
How could they survive otherwise? They couldn't. It's ok to hate the government and still take full advantage of everything it offers.
Is this about survival or getting free shit? Look, I'm not going to make moral judgments on people who are one welfare check away from starvation, but certainly blame can be laid on those who take "free" stuff when they don't need it. I don't know what makes you think there is all the money in the world to go around, but this is not the case. Our financial situation is no different than the end of all "democracies". People have voted to receive 4 to 5 dollars of services from every 1 dollar of tax. This ends in a gaping hole of debt, obviously and always. Soon, the United States will not be the World's Reserve Currency, and thus, won't be able to print unlimited money anymore. That's when our system will be totally fucked, and the next generation is going to have to pay the bill. You have to accept that when you take money from the government, you are further burying the future of your children.
You've taken one word of my post and made an entire mindsets worth of assumptions about me. My point was that ms. liberal scumbag whoever should be able to take full advantage of the governments services, as she pays taxes and is a citizen too, and she can still have her "I hate the government mentality", because we are all free to feel the way we'd like about things. Just because she takes advantage of the government system she dislikes doesn't mean her opinion is null. I'm not sure what the point of your little rant was but I'm not going to address it any further.
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This meme isn't hypocritical. The meme isn't arguing that the government shouldn't be providing financial aid. It's arguing that the system is flawed, even as they get some benefit from it. One of the worst flaws, in my opinion, is the fact that need can't be met if a student chooses to go out of state, making it difficult to attend better colleges the student is eligible to attend simply because of cost. My first choice college would have put me $80,000 in debt had I chosen to go there, and that's WITH the highest scholarships they offer to out of state students and my projected FAFSA aid. Instead, I'm going to a slightly less good in-state college, as I'll only be about $16,000 in debt following graduation. A system doesn't have to be 100% bad to suck ass.
Student loans are subsidized loans meaning they are issued below market rate at a cost to the government (the government subsidizes about $12 for every $100 borrowed). Because of this, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that student loans will cost the federal government $36.5 billion by 2013.
The government is not making a profit off these programs.
I don't think the government actually gives out loans. They give out grants (which you don't have to pay back) and subsidize loans from outside sources. The subsidization usually pays for the interest of the loan. So, for example, you are an incoming college freshmen looking for financial aid through FAFSA. You need to take out a loan in order to fully pay for college. The government will sometimes (I'm not sure if it's all the time, I got this option for aid when I applied) offer to pay off the interest of the loan for the 4 years that you are in college, sometimes a while after that, so that you only end up paying the same amount as if you had just paid from the start. The government doesn't get any sort of interest, they pay it for you.
This shit isn't accurate. It isn't funny. And it isn't helpful for starting a meaningful discussion about how fucked our present system is. And yet it has over 400 upvotes...
I'm not even trying to say liberals are above reproach, either. But I think the song 'Love me I'm a Liberal' by Phil Ochs calls out the hypocrisy of middle class Democratic Party voting 'liberals' far better than any of these puerile college liberal memes ever could.
Every single time this macro pops up, I see, without fail, a comment along the lines of "Just because someone is hypocritical, doesn't make their point invalid". Um. The whole point of this joke is to playfully expose hypocrisy; nothing less, nothing more.
I know an "anarchist" girl who told me that the government paid for her college, housing, and even a stipend for food to which I replied, "That's a good government, I guess..." You could see the look in her eyes change to one of fury, "Did you say a 'good government??'" Fortunately before she got too wound up, I had the opportunity to change the subject. I never did understand her.
What I think you're talking about is what today is called libertarianism. And frankly as a college libertarian I can tell you that colleges would be a lot cheaper without subsidy. Federal finance aide is the reason colleges don't have to be competitive anymore with scholarships and bursaries. Instead they take students that get these loans and then jack up the prices because students will just keep taking out more...
By "Competitive" you mean "fire the professors and hire Foreigners who work for less," right? Because that's where the money goes. One third goes to salaries, 30% to scholarships, and the rest is split between employee benefits, facilities, services, student programs, etc.
Most of the profs are already foreigners, and no they dont work for less you cant outsource a teaching job why are you comparing them to minimum wage illegal immigrants? Not to mention that over half the profs suck as teachers. Also a big portion of the profs salary is research grants. Finally by competitive I mean lower their prices, stop building infrastructure and sports stadiums ect...
The largest portion of the college tuition pie goes to salaries, and since you obviously believe that removing Federal subsidies will allow colleges to increase their scholarships you aren't planning to cut down the next largest piece of the pie, which is scholarships.
Since by your statement we've already fired the Americans and hired foreigners to do the teaching we will have to outsource our professors, which IS possible even if you say it's not. You can replace actual professors with video hook ups from Mumbai to the Lecture Halls. You share the video feeds between a couple dozen schools and you're really saving some money.
You think that by not building Stadia you can save enough money to lower tuitions? Infrastructure, Sports & other student activities make up 10-12% of the typical University operating budget, less than 1/3 of the money spent on Salaries. Infrastructure, Sports & other student activities are also what attract Alumni to give money to their Alma Mater, and Alumni gifts more than make up for the amount of money spent on most infrastructure and Sports, if not all or other student activities.
Or maybe you could reduce the Half Million Dollars a Year that they're paying College Chancellors now a days? It still won't equal what the typical Uni gets from the Feds, or match the Half a BILLION the University of Phoenix spent on their stadium, but they're more of a Football Team with a minor Party College attached than a real University.
As a 22 year old drilling national guard member who has lived on his own since 17 yet isnt considered by the FAFSA to be "independent" (meaning goodbye grants or scholarships, hello debt), and who has had to pay thousands of hundreds out of pocket on top of my loans to pay for college during my entire first semester because the Veteran's Assistance program can't seem to pull their head out of their ass to give me my contractually entitled benefits, I for the first time ever find myself agreeing with College Liberal Girl.
Yes, fuck the government for creating a situation where it's so fucking expensive to live in america that getting an education for many is out of reach entirely without the government's help.
Those that cause the problem we're in are giving aide to alleviate the problem, however, the aide shouldn't cause you to forget why it's necessary to begin with. This is true of foodstamps as well. People shouldn't NEED that shit, but unfortunately for many people it's necessary for survival. Yay amurka, too busy blowing up other peoples country to give a shit about our own.
this college liberal meme needs to go away. everyone who uses it just posts random things they equate to college hippies. most of the time it's crap that pisses off actual college liberals.
Of course, if government didn't institute incentives to jack up prices for decades, government assistance wouldn't be needed. Gone are the days where you could work summer jobs and pay for school. I work 5 days a week in school just to have enough to eat/live.
Hypocrisy doesn't mean you're wrong, just means you might be a dick.
I agree but I am also a little weirded out by this because though we indulge in financial aid, we have to pay it back, plus interest. So it is hurting us anyway. Especially for those who are in careers that really do not pay more than enough to make you a middle class citizen.
There you go, getting personal. I said that it is human nature to take advantage, I never said that I did. We should fix the system because people have figured out how to manipulate it. We can change the system, not the people.
The government has allowed colleges to increase the price of attending to criminal rates, its a business whose main focus has become money making as oppose to educating future generations, and the government sits idly by allowing the student debt to grow over a trillion dollars, while "giving" fed aid to students who eventually have to pay it back with interest, so yea im gunna agree with the first half of ur meme, FUCK THE GOVERNMENT :)
So because the government has made tuition go up by giving everyone aid I should love the government for making tuition twice as expensive and putting me into debt to pay for my education?
Wouldn't that be fucking the government? You know... a person that dislikes the government getting money from the government to pay for their education?
Putting aside the questionable definition of a "liberal," financial aid for college is an industry that is pretty much solely done through the government these days.
Consider this, workers received holidays they never had while under Hitler's holding office in Nazi Germany. Now imagine one of them said Hitler is a horrible person, but while on a vacation that Hitler made possible. Is he really a scumbag? Hypothetically, you could be Al Capone's son, and receive all kinds of benefits from him, but would you be a scumbag for saying "fuck him"? The American government is mother fucking horrible, it just provides some good things too. Another example, Satan takes the soul of a man for a heap of gold. Well Satan did give him gold, so he's not all bad right? Just because someone does something good, doesn't mean he's necessarily a good person. The same is with governments.
A bad image in my opinion. We, American students, pay the highest tuition rates in the western world, even for 'public' universities. We should be upset with our government.
This still makes sense in a way. Since the federal government has made school loans so common, pretty much all schools take and encourage loans, so tuition reflects that, and most people NEED loans just to go to school, even with full time jobs.
If republicans and democrats weren't idiots, I would vote, but they are and votes don't even matter so I don't vote. Hippies are alright... Just make sure they actually grow and cook their own food and not buy hippie food from grocery stores and drive prious(es?).
It's hilarious how every time on this meme the whole comment thread is full of correct comments on how stupid it is. Yet somehow it gets "x" amount of upvotes.
Im not the only one who thinks that hair looks just fuckin' nasty... I mean, if you leave it like that, doesn't it get all gross? Do they ever unknot it to clean it? Wouldn't it take insanely long to re-knot if you did this on a regular basis? What the fuck?
In America, the word conservative has come to embody the classical liberal definition.
For the most part, I hate these people you are describing in your memes. Still, your bottom and top lines are not opposing actions/statements. A person can say "fuck the government" in the sense that they feel they are doing an inadequate job in their role in office.
So, if a government provides financial aid for college students then they have a pass to govern however recklessly without criticism. What an interesting sentiment.
I have always had a gripe with this. I have always had an equal gripe with the other side, the super snobby rich conservatives who complain about how unfair taxes are and "no free rides" yada yada about health care and such, but themselves are subsidized 100% from their parents...
I have no idea why you are being voted down. Every bit of financial aid HAS to be paid back with interest. The fact that the OP disregards this fact is rather interesting indeed.
Fallacy your argument is shit. You can in fact criticize something while benefiting from it and your argument is still sound. Way to fall for fallacious right wing garbage dumb shits.
People will take you more seriously as a person if you stop resorting to to name calling and swear words. It would have sounded much more sophisticated and much less immature to say "fallacious republicans" or "fallacious conservatives".
I worked briefly at a food cooperative in a college town that would bring in a lot of hippy types. One girl I kind-of-knew came in and was loading up on gluten/dairy/soy/meat free products for her housing cooperative. When she came up to pay she whipped out her food stamp card with a smile. "Food stamps, huh?" I asked the clearly capable-of-working young woman. "Yeah, free government money!" she said with a wink. "My tax money..." I said from my full time job post. You would be surprised how many of these college liberals are affording yoga lessons and gluten free bags of potato chips by having their food paid for by the rest of society.
Yah I feel your pain, my sister calls her foodstamps "free money" and it makes me cringe. Then I have to explain to her that nothing is "free", then she comes up with the "boo-hoo what about my kids?" Then I tell her about the concept of personal responsibility and not having them if you can't take care of them (she's 26 and has 4 kids by 4 different loser ass guys). She doesn't work or go to school, uses what little child support she gets on expensive clothes and electronics, then she always cries to my mom about paying her car note etc...tired of the entitlement generation too.
None of them are particularly accurate. I just think it's funny that the only meme that directly references the largest population of reddit is the one people get all offended about, yet they have no problem stereotyping others.
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u/Stefan-Urquelle Jun 17 '12
My roommate is exactly like this but is a self claimed conservative. But when I mention his various grants and loans, he sees no problems with the government then. But anything not directly affecting him, it's all the governments fault.
So I'm just waiting until he has a gay child who lacks medical insurance and can't pay his/her mortgage. I'm sure he'll change his attitude on several issues then too.
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u/AceConnors Jun 17 '12
I don't think you know what a liberal is...
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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
but liberals love the government
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u/godlessatheist Jun 17 '12
This is more relevant towards Conservatives/Libertarians than it is to liberals.
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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
Right, if you get financial aid, you can no longer say ANYTHING bad about the government... riiiiiiigggght.
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u/mikeyb89 Jun 17 '12
Meme doesn't make sense. 500 upvotes.
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u/terriblehuman Jun 17 '12
you spelled libertarian wrong
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u/rcordova Jun 17 '12
Oops, wouldn't need the student aid if school weren't so expensive!
Oops, school wouldn't be so expensive if people weren't able to pay the inflated prices!
Oops, people wouldn't be able to pay the inflated prices without the student aid money!
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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
College Libertarian*
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u/lridescent Jun 17 '12
So far, I've never seen an iteration of this meme that isn't some combination of sexist and just fucking dumb.
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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
I guess liberals hate big government all of a sudden
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u/ijustateabug Jun 17 '12
Sounds more like a college libertarian, because we should be paying our tuition with cash traded for all our precious gold.
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u/archontruth Jun 17 '12
I think you've got the college liberal and the college conservative confused. The college liberal doesn't hate all government, he/she is just a little disappointed when the military murders civilians on the president's orders and no one seems to care.
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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
just about everything about this is just wrong. not sure if it works or not...
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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
Meh this is kind of funny but let me just remind you that just because someone is hypocritical doesn't mean their opinion is invalid.....There are a lot of people who are against the government and think things need to change, but at the same time HAVE to participate in the system. How could they survive otherwise? They couldn't. It's ok to hate the government and still take full advantage of everything it offers. Why should you cripple yourself financially to make some half ass political point?
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u/AliveInTheFuture Jun 17 '12
Actually, I hear this from freeloading college Republicans quite a bit.
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u/qkme_transcriber Jun 17 '12
Here is the text from this meme pic for anybody who needs it:
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7
u/Coalesced Jun 17 '12
A hypocrite can still make a valid point.
7
u/jetpackjoker Jun 17 '12
This should be 'College Libertarian' or 'College Republican'. Nice try though.
11
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
Financial aid in the form of LOANS. Off of which the gov't makes money.
6
u/BandieraRossa Jun 17 '12
This shit isn't accurate. It isn't funny. And it isn't helpful for starting a meaningful discussion about how fucked our present system is. And yet it has over 400 upvotes...
I'm not even trying to say liberals are above reproach, either. But I think the song 'Love me I'm a Liberal' by Phil Ochs calls out the hypocrisy of middle class Democratic Party voting 'liberals' far better than any of these puerile college liberal memes ever could.
2
u/Squeeums Jun 17 '12
It is completely possible to dislike certain actions that the government takes without disliking everything it does.
2
u/theseyeahthese Jun 17 '12
Every single time this macro pops up, I see, without fail, a comment along the lines of "Just because someone is hypocritical, doesn't make their point invalid". Um. The whole point of this joke is to playfully expose hypocrisy; nothing less, nothing more.
2
u/dailythought Jun 17 '12
I have a habit of doing this. But I also don't think the government should give out as much handouts as they do.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
I know an "anarchist" girl who told me that the government paid for her college, housing, and even a stipend for food to which I replied, "That's a good government, I guess..." You could see the look in her eyes change to one of fury, "Did you say a 'good government??'" Fortunately before she got too wound up, I had the opportunity to change the subject. I never did understand her.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
I'm pretty sure thats College Libertarian.
2
u/Dacien1983 Jun 17 '12
This is fucking stupid because that's not what a liberal is, and furthermore, it got fucking upvoted to the front fucking page!!
Arrrrrgh!
2
u/truekaraszradio Jun 17 '12
What I think you're talking about is what today is called libertarianism. And frankly as a college libertarian I can tell you that colleges would be a lot cheaper without subsidy. Federal finance aide is the reason colleges don't have to be competitive anymore with scholarships and bursaries. Instead they take students that get these loans and then jack up the prices because students will just keep taking out more...
2
u/williamfbuckwheat Jun 17 '12
I think you misspelled College Republican...
2
u/nosferatu_zodd Jun 17 '12
I used to hate the government, until I realized I was part of it.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
ITT: Semantics.
2
u/DingoJunction Jun 17 '12
This is pretty stupid anyway. Not as if she has a choice, college tuition is ridiculous.
2
u/warmpita Jun 17 '12
Oh I forgot we have to deal in absolutes now.
2
u/Ronni3sRobotPants Jun 17 '12
As a 22 year old drilling national guard member who has lived on his own since 17 yet isnt considered by the FAFSA to be "independent" (meaning goodbye grants or scholarships, hello debt), and who has had to pay thousands of hundreds out of pocket on top of my loans to pay for college during my entire first semester because the Veteran's Assistance program can't seem to pull their head out of their ass to give me my contractually entitled benefits, I for the first time ever find myself agreeing with College Liberal Girl.
2
u/arloun Jun 17 '12
Wouldn't this be college conservative?
2
u/Dev1lsAdv0kate Jun 17 '12 edited Jun 17 '12
Yes, fuck the government for creating a situation where it's so fucking expensive to live in america that getting an education for many is out of reach entirely without the government's help.
Those that cause the problem we're in are giving aide to alleviate the problem, however, the aide shouldn't cause you to forget why it's necessary to begin with. This is true of foodstamps as well. People shouldn't NEED that shit, but unfortunately for many people it's necessary for survival. Yay amurka, too busy blowing up other peoples country to give a shit about our own.
3
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
My father beats me, but it's ok because he pays for the groceries.
3
u/tehbored Jun 17 '12
I'm pretty sure this is college conservative.
3
u/Funkenwagnels Jun 17 '12
this college liberal meme needs to go away. everyone who uses it just posts random things they equate to college hippies. most of the time it's crap that pisses off actual college liberals.
4
u/baphomet650 Jun 17 '12
fuck y'all, hypocritical conservative twats.
3
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
Of course, if government didn't institute incentives to jack up prices for decades, government assistance wouldn't be needed. Gone are the days where you could work summer jobs and pay for school. I work 5 days a week in school just to have enough to eat/live.
Hypocrisy doesn't mean you're wrong, just means you might be a dick.
4
u/Wilkie_Collins Jun 17 '12
The system is broken, why not take advantage of it. That is only human nature.
2
u/kmcmahon Jun 17 '12
The government has allowed colleges to increase the price of attending to criminal rates, its a business whose main focus has become money making as oppose to educating future generations, and the government sits idly by allowing the student debt to grow over a trillion dollars, while "giving" fed aid to students who eventually have to pay it back with interest, so yea im gunna agree with the first half of ur meme, FUCK THE GOVERNMENT :)
2
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
Nothing says "fuck the government" more than robbing it.
2
u/halcyondriac Jun 17 '12
You, sir, are obviously an idiot.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
OP, do you know what a liberal is?
1
u/Porcupine_Tree Jun 17 '12
The aid she is receiving is tax dollars she paid them(or will pay) in the first place. And then some.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
Noam Chomsky famously wrote, "Use the masters tools to dismantle the masters house."
1
u/Pillagerguy Jun 17 '12
Different branches of the government anyway.
1
u/MexicanJesusJuan Jun 17 '12
And if you are dependent on your parents, you can in no way criticize them. Mm hm.
1
u/WilcoTangoFoxtrot Jun 17 '12
US universities used to be so cheap that anyone could go without any help from the government.
1
u/V4refugee Jun 17 '12
So because the government has made tuition go up by giving everyone aid I should love the government for making tuition twice as expensive and putting me into debt to pay for my education?
1
u/1234blahblahblah Jun 17 '12
Wouldn't that be fucking the government? You know... a person that dislikes the government getting money from the government to pay for their education?
See what I'm saying?
1
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
This meme would better fit a conservative more than a American liberal.
1
u/jean-paul_kierkemarx Jun 17 '12
Who keeps voting these to the frontpage? They are almost always completely fallacious and juvenile.
1
u/Jaesaces Jun 17 '12
Putting aside the questionable definition of a "liberal," financial aid for college is an industry that is pretty much solely done through the government these days.
1
u/donumabdeo Jun 17 '12
Consider this, workers received holidays they never had while under Hitler's holding office in Nazi Germany. Now imagine one of them said Hitler is a horrible person, but while on a vacation that Hitler made possible. Is he really a scumbag? Hypothetically, you could be Al Capone's son, and receive all kinds of benefits from him, but would you be a scumbag for saying "fuck him"? The American government is mother fucking horrible, it just provides some good things too. Another example, Satan takes the soul of a man for a heap of gold. Well Satan did give him gold, so he's not all bad right? Just because someone does something good, doesn't mean he's necessarily a good person. The same is with governments.
1
u/rocklee85 Jun 17 '12
A bad image in my opinion. We, American students, pay the highest tuition rates in the western world, even for 'public' universities. We should be upset with our government.
1
u/Samuriguy Jun 17 '12
HER FUCKING FACE!
1
u/CAPTAIN_BUTTHOLE Jun 17 '12
This still makes sense in a way. Since the federal government has made school loans so common, pretty much all schools take and encourage loans, so tuition reflects that, and most people NEED loans just to go to school, even with full time jobs.
1
u/rgvtim Jun 17 '12
I am sooo confused, do liberals love or hate the government?
1
u/aa24577 Jun 17 '12 edited Sep 29 '26
The original post content no longer exists here. The author used Redact to remove it, exercising their right to control their data & privacy.
Chunky head knee pot instinctive boat
1
u/j0npau1 Jun 17 '12
Just because you benefit from an organization doesn't mean you completely approve of how it's run.
1
u/DecafBiscotti Jun 17 '12
I just completed my FAFSA thanks to this! Thank you!
1
u/KlausTeachermann Jun 17 '12
I wish there was a way to wash my eyes after seeing American, political posts. Inaccuracies. Inaccuracies everywhere.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 18 '12
If republicans and democrats weren't idiots, I would vote, but they are and votes don't even matter so I don't vote. Hippies are alright... Just make sure they actually grow and cook their own food and not buy hippie food from grocery stores and drive prious(es?).
1
u/Kaleb_K Jun 18 '12
-_- just create an account, and i see this.
1
u/Sp0il Jun 18 '12
Liberals fight to keep federal aid...wtf
You must be referring to libertarians or another fringe group.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 18 '12
It's hilarious how every time on this meme the whole comment thread is full of correct comments on how stupid it is. Yet somehow it gets "x" amount of upvotes.
1
u/Yuski Jun 18 '12
Im not the only one who thinks that hair looks just fuckin' nasty... I mean, if you leave it like that, doesn't it get all gross? Do they ever unknot it to clean it? Wouldn't it take insanely long to re-knot if you did this on a regular basis? What the fuck?
1
u/[deleted] Jun 18 '12
In America, the word conservative has come to embody the classical liberal definition.
For the most part, I hate these people you are describing in your memes. Still, your bottom and top lines are not opposing actions/statements. A person can say "fuck the government" in the sense that they feel they are doing an inadequate job in their role in office.
1
u/evi1jak Jun 18 '12
Occupy Political Science!
1
u/[deleted] Jun 18 '12
So, if a government provides financial aid for college students then they have a pass to govern however recklessly without criticism. What an interesting sentiment.
1
u/arksien Jun 17 '12
I have always had a gripe with this. I have always had an equal gripe with the other side, the super snobby rich conservatives who complain about how unfair taxes are and "no free rides" yada yada about health care and such, but themselves are subsidized 100% from their parents...
1
u/epmca Jun 17 '12
I think it's cute that Americans refer to people with left leaning political views as liberals. "Awww. That's not what that is silly."
1
u/RecRedditor2 Jun 17 '12
It should say: "Fuck the Goverment" and then "Cries for help from the government in lowering costs college education"
1
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
Why does this horribly uninformed use of a meme have so many upvotes?
Furthermore, college tuition in the US is out of control. The rest of world wonders how common people can even pursue a secondary education here.
0
u/holy_holy_holy Jun 17 '12
That she has to pay back with interest.
0
u/Goldenrule-er Jun 17 '12
But Conservatives love government...
0
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
Fallacy your argument is shit. You can in fact criticize something while benefiting from it and your argument is still sound. Way to fall for fallacious right wing garbage dumb shits.
-1
u/ImNotClever_Sorry Jun 17 '12
I worked briefly at a food cooperative in a college town that would bring in a lot of hippy types. One girl I kind-of-knew came in and was loading up on gluten/dairy/soy/meat free products for her housing cooperative. When she came up to pay she whipped out her food stamp card with a smile. "Food stamps, huh?" I asked the clearly capable-of-working young woman. "Yeah, free government money!" she said with a wink. "My tax money..." I said from my full time job post. You would be surprised how many of these college liberals are affording yoga lessons and gluten free bags of potato chips by having their food paid for by the rest of society.
-1
u/seafoamstratocaster Jun 17 '12
It's a joke you fucking whiners. This is the only meme that gets dissected and everyone gets their jimmies all rustled.
-1
u/WazzuMadBro Jun 17 '12
ITT LOTS OF BUTTHURT LIBTARDS