This is a good post for conversation. I am only going to one part for now. I do think that there is a concerted effort on the left to move the overton window of what is an acceptable political opinion. Such as stating that a biological boy is a boy, etc. I am certain that the intersectional left would love to close down that debate without trying to win the debate on the merits of science or fact. If the window moves or shrinks so that having the above opinion is no longer acceptable in public discource, it wins.

Liberals are dreamers , I believe we are all born Liberals in which we want everything handled by the government for us
But as you grow up and start paying for things with your hard earned you realize that if the government takes care of everything “YOU” for it and have less for the thing you want to stay independent
One might want a nicer house where another might want a ok house and a nicer car
Liberals don’t learn from history , it’s typically a class the slept through and have probably never watched a actual documentary

First - there is a difference between a liberal and a leftists. I consider myself a liberal in human rights, social interactions, and personal freedoms, but that doesn't mean I am not conservative in my respect for others to have their POV on these matters. Second - any person can be closed minded. Being open to new ideas, just b/c of the person, group, idealogy it comes from (or is against), is not being open minded - it's being a closed minded idealogue who doesn't think for themselves. I know that is not the classic definition of open/closed minded - but I think that distinction is far more descriptive of true openness in intelligence and intrepertation of facts.

No , liberals are the most verklempt whiners on God's green Earth

I think we all lie to ourselves about who we are. Heaven knows I think I am awesome.snickers But there have been moments in my life where something will occur that makes me see exactly how flawed I am. I don't think either side has the market corned on open mindedness. I often wonder what an election would look like if each candidate could only give one speech and were not allowed to provide a party affiliation. That outcome would interest me greatly.

The continued us and them conflict. There are several shades of gray between liberal and conservative. Far left and far right tossed aside, there remains people who have some of each tendency. The failure to understand the differences is a matter of principles in equality. One side puppets the words and only has a specific group in mind. The other wants to ensure equality for everyone and that the laws in place are not misquoted to fit any one group of people. I stand in the center and watch both sides trying to out do the other. The time has come for presidents and the government to stop lying to the people. Here you are trying show hipsters as sheep, and there probably are some who are, but sheep exist on the other side as well. Get over yourself.

I've been bombarded with this all my life. Trained into putting up with it by family and in some more subtle ways adopted the behavior myself. It's always masked fundamental issues covered up and discredited by family members unable to cope with their own lives or my problems they really were responsible for helping me with.

The patterns of language are very important, people who say language isn't important haven't been conditioned to think or respond contrary to their character or haven't noticed they have. Lately I've come to realize people have indeed seen me as a victim despite my perseverance through legitimate health issues.

I've never seen myself this way, and am honestly confused at how my work ethic and efficiency have not been enough to prove my lack of victimhood. I go the oposit way and tend to take on much more responsibility than I should because when things don't get done right the first time it's usually just more work for me to fix after the fact.

It's only lately, after decades of pushing myself far beyond what is reasonable to ask of my body that I've finally clued into the programming that has shaped peoples perceptions of me. When doctors and family can not help and your struggles really are invisible to everyone it's easy for people to look at you and think your experiences are pitiful. I was blind to this because I never understood what was wrong with my health, and thus never understood why my legitimate health issues appeared as victimizing excuses to healthy body people.

This insight has only been gained recently because despite being told I was healthy all my life I've finally started figuring out my problems and can see the perspective people thought I always had.

I've never pitied myself and having the opportunity to look back on my life with full clarity I still don't. So I'm pretty confident the conditioning of those around me and how physically hard my life has been where at falt for any behavior that did resemble such.

I think the behavior itself is not the problem, I think the problem is the language as this is not just how people talk to you but is also the story they are telling themselfs. Life becomes hard when you tell yourself it is and you belive it, but if you tell yourself it isn't hard that doesn't fix the problems you are blinding yourself to and this can appear the same to uninformed onlookers.

In a way I see this all as gaslighting, to an extent people even do it to themselfs. Some part of them feels they can't cope so they discredit themselfs and build up this self-defeating language to keep themselfs from trying and failing.

I've always had a silver lining kind of thought. Those that see my strugle or see me on occasions where I haven't been struggling always comment about how cheerful I am while those that see me burnt out from my disabilitys build up treat me like I'm not worth the effort to get to know. I doubt ether side could imagine me as the other does, I find it funny how little room people give to those with problems they can't see.

All this said I do agree with the other comments as well. I've had enough personal experiences with people not going through hardships that expect me to move mountains because from their perspective their struggles where unsurmountable.

I've also gained a more open perspective, it's hard for me to jump to conclusions that the other person isn't going through something I can't understand but the behavior is toxic and contagious so I do my best to stay away.

When people use a label like liberal or conservative they tend to pin it to their identity. Same can be said for gender, it's easy to argue and take a hard stance when something is believed to be apart of who you are, or is forced onto you, helping shape your consepts of yourself.

I belive ture open mindedness comes when a person is willing to acsept and change their perspectives while holding a strong sence of self that doesn't feel it has to be attached to a label to define themselfs.

I experienced this from a young age as I was frustrated at people turning away from things they didn't like without showing any opinion of their own. They seemed to think rebelling was enough to shape who they where and so hipsters to rebel, and think it gives them identity.

In truth it robs them of identity by only taking a stance aganst something you never end up taking a stance for something you belive in. And by limiting yourself within the constructs of labels you limit your growth by putting yourself in a box that others are helping you define. Most people don't take the parts that could serve them and try to grow from it, or if they do it happens very slowly while they dig their heals in trying to avoid change.

Just found this related article: Why Liberals Aren’t as Tolerant as They Think
The political left might consider itself more open-minded than the right. But research shows that liberals are just as prejudiced against conservatives as conservatives are against liberals. (By Matthew Hutson May 09, 2017) [politico.com]