> _People who call themselves realists are often just dreamers who gottheir hearts broken somewhere along the way._
>
> -- [Ashley Stahl/TEDx talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRtBHF-WPpM)
>"People who call themselves realists are often just dreamers who gottheir hearts broken somewhere along the way."
This reminds me of another quote in a different context:
"Conservatives are liberals who've been mugged."
Usually said by conservatives who consider themselves to be realists.
@Pat Oooh, this wakes up so many thoughts. Very good shot there! Thanks!
I am sure this would instigate a "culture war", but I also truly believe that conservatism is primarily about fear.
Says somebody mostly voting for "center-right" in my geography 🙂
🇳🇱
@freemo Well, we can argue about nitty-gritty semantics here, but I think you;ve got the definition "liberal" wrong. Liberal, in my book has not much to do with right vs. left. It rather is about _freedom_.
_Conservative_, in my world, has the opposite in _progressive_. Which to me screams "embrace the change", or "do what _currently_ is the right the to do". In other words, _don't be afraid to step into the future!_
semantic arguments are boring. The definition of liberal you just gave I would call either classically liberal or libertarian. When I see liberal used on its own I see it as synonomous with the left and if a word is needed to be a bit more granular then liberal = neo-liberal.
That said semantics are stupid. Lets just replace the words I used with democrat and republican so there is no problem with quibbling over definitions.
BTW just a guess here but I suspect whatever side you are on are the "realists" and whatever the other side is is the "dreamers"?
@freemo
Well, if we take politics out of this, I think you can reframe the discussion towards some shared objective around recognising that realists are concerned primarily with existing constraints seeing them as potentially insurmountable obstacles on the path to the objective, while dreamers would probably focus more on the end-outcome somewhat disregarding the obstacles, which might as well turn to be insurmountable, but dreamers don't care too much.
In this sense, personally, I tend to be more of a "dreamer" than a "realist".
@Pat