This section is about my views that often get ascribed to Bleeding Heart Liberals. But, you don’t need to be liberal to be a fan of my work. In fact, my goal is to make fun and engaging stories for all, regardless of your political leanings, religious beliefs, or social sympathies. Just beware . . . the entire Bleeding Heart section of my website is highly focused on my personal social views. If you’re sensitive to these subjects or dislike liberal leanings, you may want to avoid this section altogether. The rest of the site is pretty clean of my social views.
Why Do I Write About My Social Views?
I’m so glad you asked! My stories all embed social issues within them and are intended to get people thinking, however, I take a moderate approach.
- The social issues are present as an underlying theme so readers can see the issues and develop their own opinions about them.
- Readers can also completely ignore the social issues and just focus on the main plot.
The long and short of it is, though subtly intertwined in the stories, social issues are a definite part of my writing platform so it’s appropriate for me to blog about the issues.
What Does Being Liberal Mean?
I struggled to understand what a liberal was during my young adult years, so to help anyone else who’s curious, I use these definitions:
- not opposed to new ideas or ways of behaving that are not traditional or widely accepted
- broadminded
- generous
Honestly, I’m not sure why some people think calling someone a liberal is an insult. In my opinion, being liberal means that you are willing to look at things honestly, with an eye for what is best for all people, disregarding what has always been done. What has always been done (tradition) is not necessarily the best. This way of looking at the world means you must be open to change. Change is risky, but so is doing the same thing over and over without incorporating new learnings. You risk missing many benefits you might otherwise gain.
Part of being a Liberal is being honest about the value of other viewpoints and to me that means acknowledging that being a Traditionalist has value too. Traditionalists advocate for things to continue as they are. There’s a very simple logic here that shouldn’t be ignored by us Liberals. Things that are, are proven to work at least as well as they currently do. New ideas are unproven and may not work as well as the current status quo. So us Liberals should always consider the merit of the arguments of Traditionalists.
What About the Bleeding Heart?
A Bleeding Heart is someone who is considered to be dangerously soft-hearted. I believe my views land solidly into the area some people see as “dangerously soft-hearted,” but honestly I believe this moniker is incorrect. Though empathetic, above all things, I consider myself a rational human being and employ a steely determination to identify and factor out personal biases when coming to conclusions. But even if the moniker were correct, the opposite of someone who is dangerously soft-hearted would be someone who is dangerously hard-hearted, and I’d prefer to be the former over the latter any day.
But, as with all things, balance is important. I believe that Liberals need Traditionalists to remind them to pay attention to what has worked in the past and why, and Traditionalists need Liberals to keep moving society forward.
Best,
Lilo