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A liberal to me is one who - and it suits some of the dictionary definitions - is unbeholden to any specific belief or party or group or person, but makes up his or her mind on the basis of the facts and the presentation of those facts at the time. That defines what I am.
Walter Cronkite
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Interpretation

What this quote means

A liberal is someone who evaluates situations based on facts, rather than being tied to a specific belief or group.

Walter Cronkite's quote emphasizes the importance of being independent-minded and open to evaluating information based on evidence rather than adhering to predefined beliefs or affiliations. It advocates for a rational, thoughtful approach to understanding the world, suggesting that one's principles should be guided by facts and circumstances rather than loyalty to particular ideologies or groups.

Themes

LiberalFactsIndependenceBeliefEvaluation

In practice

Example use cases

In a debate about climate change, one might use this quote to advocate for basing discussions on scientific evidence rather than political affiliation.

More from Walter Cronkite

Perhaps if all the peoples of the world understand what war really means, we would eliminate it.
Walter CronkiteRead
The death of Churchill at 90 was one of those watershed moments in which the obituary rises to a special calling beyond the sharing of remembered times. It gave an older generation a rare opportunity to explain something of itself to its children.
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I suppose popularity is measured by ratings. If a broadcaster is known as the leader because of ratings, then that's where people most want to be seen and heard, so there's no question that there's an advantage.
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Objective journalism and an opinion column are about as similar as the Bible and Playboy magazine.
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I feel no compulsion to be a pundit. As a matter of fact, I really don't have that much to say about most things. Working with hard news satisfies me completely.
Walter CronkiteRead
I think that our comfort is in our history.
Walter CronkiteRead

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