As a nation we seem to be polarizing. People are increasingly staking out positions on one end of the spectrum or the other on almost every political, religious and philosophical issue. I find this troubling. What I find even more troubling is that people seem to be buying the complete package of whatever they view as "their side". It is too much trouble for them to examine even the major issues of the day and make up their minds on individual issues. They just accept the "blue plate special" and take whatever is being offered up for general consumption. If this is truly what is happening, real democracy and the rights of the minority, face a perilous future. Another unsavory aspect of this group think mentality is that we tend to view others in general terms instead of individuals capable of diverse opinions.
I recently told an associate that I had a very low opinion of our current President and his administration. From that point on, I became, to him, just another "moonbat". Yeah, me and William F. Buckley Jr. Just a couple of liberal moonbats.
3 comments:
People are only buying the complete package for "their side" only because most folks have become too lazy to actually form an opinion. This is only amplified by the fact that the main stream media has gone so far from it's roots of journalism where the the facts and truth of a story were paramount to the current up to the up to the minute "if it bleeds it leads" mentality. All the major news feeds on television the heavy weights of print have now degraded to sensationalism "tit for tat" forum of swaying the public. Meanwhile, J Q beerdrinker public has gained an apapathy of " It really doesn't affect me so why should I care" attitude. Election participation has fallen to new lows every time there is one, people have a better grasp of who is on a given TV show than what is going on in their local, state or national govt. It isn't that we are polarized, we are just becoming easier to browbeat by who has the best graphics and argument.
What?! You said something bad about the President??!!
You must hate Freedom.
/sarcasm off
dave, the polarization isn't all that new. you and i were old enough to at least get a taste of politics in the early to mid 70's. you want polarization? that would be a good benchmark to measure against.
i too think most of the dust being raised is by irresponsible journalists of all flavors, trying to get their hands on that one story that will forever cement them in as a "serious journalist" ala woodword and bernstein. the latest case for that arguement can be found regarding the plame/wilson fiasco where many of the talking and writing heads pointed directly at the white house and shouted as loud as possible that the president and his staff were just trying to quash wilson's message. the message and the messager have so many flaws that a reasonably intellegent person couldn't help but question both. but since the message was on track with the "u.s. bad, bush bad" mantra, they ran with it. and barraged us with the story until many out there simply accepted that version because it had been so often and so loudly proclaimed. what can you lay the blame on? me, i think the fact we have so diluted our school system's basic goals that the product of our public schools are no longer capable of independant, critical thinking.
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