Are Liberals stil supposed to feel sympathy because all I can feel is trying to suppress schaudenfreude
I'll take it further by adding that as liberals, it's like we get castigated whenever we show any trace of empathy toward a given marginalized group, but are then expected to become sjw's for downtrodden conservatives who either fall on hard times, or feel like they've fallen on hard times. And I'm not even citing the married couple in the NYT article.
Honestly, I don't know why we allow ourselves to be typecasted into one particular mold. We're not all lovey dovey hippies. We're an assorted lot, and some of us -- like myself -- can sometimes be prone to mood swings and what not.
It's like we're not allowed to be forceful when the situation calls for it. I think back to Hillary Clinton's infamous "basket of deplorables" from last fall. Well, what other word best describes those who either wave off or outright justify racist or misogynistic practices from a man who has a prolific record spanning decades? What would have been the preferred term to use, "band of nobles"? Maybe in this brave new world of alternative facts, I suppose. It was an explicit, unflattering term, but at least it was apt, unlike how conservatives have made it a regular practice of taking otherwise benign terms and poisoning them to the point of reducing them to put down and insults.
I just don't see the point in expecting liberals to grow a heart when conservatives expect us to. Fuck them. You get what you give. While I do feel that liberals should at least aspire to be better people, we shouldn't allow ourselves to be castigated for not necessarily measuring up to a Martin Luther King Jr..
Again, I speak as a liberal who grew up on a steady diet of ribald pop culture such as Benny Hill, Married....with Children, Sam Kinison, and the Howard Stern Show.