At various times, I’ve rolled out my rule about how to interpret statements by liberals regarding non-liberals. That rule is the title of this post and it goes like this. Take whatever they say, assume the opposite and you will get close to the truth. When liberals said the Tea Party was “AstroTurf” and liberal groups were genuine grassroots, you could flip it around to mean their gang was a rent-a-mob and the weirdos in the 17th century outfits were just regular folks pissed off and making some noise.

That was in fact the case. The Left has well funded “volunteer” operations to bus in protesters when needed. Often they are paid by their union, like we saw in Wisconsin with the teacher unions. It is a form of projection, for the most part, but in politics it is a way to shift the focus away from whatever crooked stuff their doing. One of the oldest tricks in politics is to falsely accuse your opponent of something, so the story is about the other guy denying it, not about whatever you are doing.

A great example of this comes from a post by Steve Sailer. For as long as I’ve been alive, there have been theories about why there is a Left and Right in American politics. All of these theories claim the mantel of science and all of them come from the Left. The reason for this is, at some level, the Left knows they are not working from facts and reason, but rather a set of beliefs. Rather than confront that, they accuse everyone that opposes them of holding irrational beliefs and acting from emotion.

The formula goes like this. They assign to themselves qualities they wish they possessed, but don’t. “Open minded” always makes the list along with “smart” and “unconventional.” Who would not want to be a smart, open minded guy, who is a little off-beat? Gosh that sounds just like the protagonist of every cool TV show and movie! Then they usually assign some bad qualities to the mythical right-winger or conservative. Then they produce a “study” that confirms all of this as science!

I’ll note that liberals have a long list of words for the people on the other side of the hive walls. You never hear liberals talk about the differences between libertarians and paleo-cons or neocons and paleos. To the liberal, they are part of the undifferentiated other on the other side of the wall. Often they avoid this and rely on their cartoon version of the conservative, which is usually a blend of the 1950’s sitcom dad and a prison guard. It’s Ward Cleaver with a closet full of Nazi uniforms.

Once the basic descriptions are established, they lard it up with pseudo-science and rotten statistics. In a prior age, they would have psychiatrists put their stamp of approval on it. Today, the fake nerd is all the rage on the Left so they conjure up a few characters from the social sciences. Almost always a little digging finds that Doctor Nick Riviera relied on a handful of grad students he paid to answer some questions. But, he was kind enough to lard it up with jargon so the left can claim it is science.

It is not just the normal stuff you see in team sport politics. Liberals invest a lot of time and energy promoting things about themselves that are not true. In fact, the opposite is usually the case. Go look at that Sailer post and the qualities listed under liberal.  Liberals are the most dogmatic people with very narrow opinions on just about everything. Open minded is, unsurprisingly, the exact opposite of a liberal. They think that by embracing things that normal people hate, that makes them open minded. In fact, it just makes them dicks.

The fact that they tend to dress alike and repeat the same things is an example of their narrow mindedness, not their willingness to try new things or be unconventional. When was the last time a liberal surprised you with a non-liberal opinion on something? When was the last time the NYTimes or MSNBC was unpredictable? The people running around accusing others of narrow mindedness are always from this hive minded authoritarian cult that is viciously intolerant and anything that smacks of deviationism.

The most glaring example of the opposite rule of liberalism is how they describe themselves as highly individualistic. Put a liberal in a room full of non-liberals and they are a shrinking violet. Reverse the roles and the liberals will harangue the non-liberal like a group of Crips attacking a Chinese delivery guy. Liberals congregate like all herd animals. They seek protection in numbers. It is why they are over represented in politics, soft-sciences and journalism. These are activities best done in groups.They are also high conformity activities which appeal to the hive mind.

The most important facet of this rule is that whatever the Left is ranting about, whatever bogeyman or vice they see as a great threat, is most likely something they are doing or have recently done. For instance, when the Left is accusing Republicans of abusing government power, it means liberals have either been doing it or are planning to it. All of the vices the Left accuses others of doing are habits common on the Left. Properly understood, the hooting from the Left is both a confession and a warning.

There you have an expanded definition of the Opposite Rule of Liberalism.