You keep using that word...

To paraphrase Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride, though, I know that it doesn't mean what you think it means.

Socialist.

A former colleague of mine actually used the word...to describe me.

Here's the context.  My colleague comments on seeing this "clever" bumper sticker, which I've previously commented on.  I point out the silliness of the logic behind the bumper sticker:

My gearshift doesn't have a "D" on it, *****. Besides, you can drive forward off a cliff :-)

Prompting this comeback:

Yes,*** , it is a good idea to protect the masses from driving off a cliff. I didn't realize you were so compassionate. Are you turning into a socialist?

Wow, right there is an insight into my colleague's viewpoint:  They're not people, they're masses.  Guess who else referred to them as "masses"?

Religion is the opiate of the masses

--Karl Marx

And apparently, compassion has suddenly become the purview of the Left?

Hardly.  I have plenty of compassion for people and for animals.  My colleague demonstrates how little he knows about me.  I don't go around broadcasting all of my volunteer work or the things I've done for complete strangers.  Why not?  Because I don't do it for recognition.  I do it because of values instilled in me by my family and friends.  Because at the end of the day, I can look in a mirror and acknowledge that I inconvenienced myself to help somebody else's day, knowing that some day I may rely on the kindness of a stranger to improve my day at the cost of his or her convenience.

But my compassion is tempered by what I've seen of some people in this world, who feel entitled to my unwilling compassion in the form of money.  They are able-bodied individuals who've never worked a day in their life.  Over the past 40 years, they've been inculcated to believe they are entitled to my money, that it's my job to take care of them.

To quote Judge Smalls from Caddyshack, the world needs ditch-diggers too.

But I digress.  Asking if I'm turning into a socialist because I care about what happens to this country?  No, of course not.  My colleague mistakes patriotism and motivated self-interest for near-worship of the State.  Doubtful that he's lived in a socialist country.  I have, by the way.  And let me tell you closet socialists that the reality never works as great as the theory.

So to it round it off, I shut down my colleague's feeble attempt at name-calling with this brief reply:

No need for name-calling, *****. I won't thread-jack *****'s status further, so anytime you feel like verbal jousting, my wall's available.

UPDATE:

So my colleague posted the following on his wall:

Easter canceled, they found the body.

Really?  What a prick!  What is it with these anti-Christian liberals and their need to tear down the Church?  It's not enough to exercise your right to not believe in a Supreme Being, you've got to demean and belittle people of faith.  Why is that?

My theory:  Liberals are control-freaks.

Think about it:  They think government controls of the economy is the way to prosperity.  They think speech codes on college campuses is the way to go.  They think we should throw our entire way of life into upheaval to try to counteract global temperature increases predicted with models based on severely flawed data.

I know in their mind, being jerks towards those of faith is their way of trying to drag "the masses" out of "superstition" and into "reason".

Just one question:  Who the fuck asked them to do this?

Oh, I get it:  They know better than us.  Riiight.

Next time one of these liberal pundits claim we conservatives are being melodramatic about the "War on Christmas" or the "War on Easter", point out all the "tolerant" atheists who insist on being dicks during the two most important times of the year for Christians.

Now, I expect to see similar "tolerance" shown for the Muslims during Ramadan.  Come on atheist pricks, let's see some consistency!