Comments on: Spillin’ the Tea on Conservatism at ASIJ

By: Hannah L

Hannah L — Fri, 13 Dec 2019 03:24:21 +0000

I think these two responses to this topic were very well written. Each explanation covered all aspect of being “conservative” or “liberal”. I agree with the fact that being high school, your social life will probably be damaged if you spoke completely to your mind. Therefore, I believe that some students are afraid to share their personal thoughts and opinions out loud.

By: Bronson Boyle

Bronson Boyle — Thu, 12 Dec 2019 01:13:56 +0000

As a conservative, I fully agree with your analysis of this topic. Yes, the school does tend to lean towards the liberal side, and it can get tiring of having to explain why you believe in what you do. But, I’ve found that, for the most part, the only real harm that can come from this is when one brings politics into a non-political conversation, which just causes even more controversy. As long as you’re respectful of your beliefs, (not trying to prove someone wrong, or bringing them up when not related to the topic) students, while disagreeing with you, will still be fairly civil/respect your opinion.

However, I do think that there is some work to be done on both sides. I think both sides need to work on respecting each other’s beliefs. I think we need to understand why someone would call themselves “pro-choice” or “pro-gun”. After all, our experiences make up a large portion of our beliefs. We can’t make up assumptions solely based on one’s beliefs without knowing what led them to believe this in the first place, can we?

All in all, I think this common idea of “discrimination” that many conservatives feel is due to the lack of both sides not being able to see the other’s side, as well as understand why they feel that way.

Great take from both of you guys, It was very interesting to read.

By: mason

mason — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 23:18:41 +0000

very interesting

By: Kieran Kell

Kieran Kell — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 14:16:52 +0000

Wowow, really good takes, the both of you. I think the issue of “conservative vs liberal” in ASIJ is largely overblown, in part because we’re still in High School. Coming from the perspective of someone who used to be super opinionated, I think you’d be hard pressed to find a teenager with a sincerely held political belief. Most people have political inclinations, and I think these are much more informed by socio-economic background than by any deeply held intellectual conviction. This could be why ‘conservative’ students describe themselves as being discriminated; they feel a sense of alienation that goes beyond political difference. Nevertheless, I agree with Masa that ASIJ doesn’t have too much political diversity, and whatever political energy ASIJ does have is tempered by the fact that most of us are pretty similar.