Wednesday, January 19, 2011
POLARIZATION...WHY
Recent discussion about vitriolic rhetoric has demonstrated that communication in this country has deteriorated to an all time low. Debates ,discussions and media hype about social and political issues are are at best inflammatory and at worst downright volitile and ignorant. There are several indications when one feels he is losing an argument or has no valid answer. One may revert to name calling, loud interruptive speech, dismissing other party such as hanging up on them, changing the subject or commenting on ones physical appearance such as calling someone fatso. Have u ever heard that done on radio? Talk radio has given us all the wrong rules of conduct for debate. The American people have been driven to polarization by the the politicians and the media. Look what they have done to our country while we were busy hating each other over social issues such as immigfation,abortion, race, guns, sexual preference and party affiliation. And it has come to the point that we would rather be dimissive to one another than carry on a logical even keel discussion. We have been conditioned to hate the messenger not the messge. People are branded over their opinions. Those who disagreed with the Iraq War were labeled unpatriotic. Americans who oppose the failures of our immigration laws are deemed racists. If we are to move forward in this country we need to learn how to communicate with one another and agree to disagree at times. While we have been practising hate down here in the streets politicians and corporations have been stuffing their pockets with our money and laughing at our ignorance.
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I have hard time why you keep bringing up talk radio, is it any worse than Bill Maher, it's not a news show , it's an opinion show,people like Rush Limbaugh are allowed their opinion just like Bill Maher or Joy Bahar, who are always calling the other side stupid or ignorant.Chris Christie, Gov of NJ was called out by his opponent because of his weight.George Bush, Sarah Palin , far back as Dan Quale have been called stupid , thats what the left does, labeling any republican they don't like as being stupid, Hatred comes from both sides, i've seen it more since G.W. Bush was elected Pres. never have i seen a man hated and attacked as him.As far as the war goes,, most of the Democrats voted for the war, they don't have the backbone now to tell you that, but it's true Sarah Palin ,like her not has been attacked and still to this day people can't keep her out of the news. I personally don't like talk radio, but it's a show and people should listen to what they want,Bill Maher shows more hatred than anyone, His last statement on Leno was , if the republicans don't agree with you, they kill you, that's nice, right after the Tucson shootings.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like the left thinks Rush Limbaugh leads the right by their nose, if so Keith Oberman or Bill Maher does so to the left.I can make my own decisions, just because you disagree with me doesn't mean i must listen to talk radio. Television for years leaned to the left, now the right has a station such as Fox News that happens to have conservative views are viewed as racist or haters.i never heard racist used more since Obama became Pres. if you disagree with him you're a racist or you don't want him to succeed, maybe the left just doesn't agree with him. We need debate in this country, wether you're to the right or left, doesn't mean your a bad guy, we all have different views.
I agree, Joe. When did we forget that words have consequences? We give way too much attention to bullies like, Palin, Beck, Limbaugh. They bring nothing to the national debate. No intelligence, no civility. They have the right scared to death...they bring RNC chiefs, Congressman to their knees. WTF? At least the left understand that our celebrities/comedians are just that- comedians. I never heard anyone on the right apologizing to Jon Stewart. Honestly, if you watched the coverage of the Stewart/Colbert rally in DC, you would have seen that we do still have people who don't need to carry hateful signs or guns..who can assemble, listen to famous speakers and ordinary persons talk about getting along. It was refreshing!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of bullies , here are comments from a Dem. Sen. yesterday.....
ReplyDeleteSo much for the new era of political civility.
Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., compared Republican attacks on the health care overhaul to Nazi propaganda advanced by Joseph Goebbels that led to the Holocaust.
Cohen, who is Jewish, made the remarks to a mostly empty chamber on Tuesday night as he argued against a Republican bill to repeal the health care law.
"They don't like the truth so they summarily dismiss it," Cohen said. "They say it's a government takeover of health care, a big lie just like (Nazi propagandist Joseph) Goebbels."
"You say it enough, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, and eventually, people believe it. Like blood libel. That's the same kind of thing," he said.
You want to give this guy a pass Joe?
maybe this guy is trying to scare the left to death.
Palin, Limbaugh or Beck aren't bullies , they just disagree with you.
No one on the left likes anyone who disagrees with them, they have to call them names, like bullies, stupid or ignorant.
I applaud Sen. Cohen for putting it out there. Seriously, Mike..you don't think haraguing and embarrassing a member of Congress to tears on the radio is not bullying? FemiNazis, Babykillers, Socialists, Facists, Communists, BigFoot,..sound familiar? Have you watched any of the coverage of the Tea Party rallies? See the signs? You really want to go there and accuse one side of more name calling than the other? Joe's piece says it all..it is coming from both sides and we will never come together until we find a way to stop it. You feel that it is more vicious from the left and I feel it is more vicious from the right... Truthfully, I really couldn't care less what those overpaid TV and radio celebrities have to say..they are truly irrelevant to anyone with any brains. They do not hold office, vote on anything or can change anything in my life. What I care about are the people who follow their every word and act upon it. Scary stuff...
ReplyDeleteCalling the President a liar in the front of the Congressional assembly .Not cool and not from the left side of the aisle.
ReplyDeletethe left side of the isle are nothing but ladies and gentlemen, they would never boo or make any comments at a republican president, would they.I'm tired of being told i'm led by my nose because of my conservative values, the tea party was peaceful., there were signs from the right and left, the glen beck rally was peaceful, the left started the race issue with the tea party and for god sake don't disagree with the president because if you do you're a racist, Rush limbaugh doesn't persuade the way i vote , i'm intelligent enough to vote for what i believe in.i can put down a lot of names the left called the right also Joe, big deal, Bush was called Hitler. Sarah Palin was blamed for shootings, How about Dem. Joe Manchin pulled out a rifle, cocked and shot it at the health care bill.If a republican would of done it wouldn't of missed the evening news would it.
ReplyDeleteWe have the most unqualified man ever as president, if i want to disagree with him, i have the right, and not be called a racist, ignorant, stupid or i was led by the nose by Limbaugh. that is totally uncalled for. How about the former senator from Florida Grayson, saying that the republicans want you to die, maybe that's why he's not a senator any more. you say that the right is scared of Palin she brings people down to their knees, it's the left thats scared of Sarah Palin, thats why they can't keep talking about her, every single day.I wouldn't vote for Sarah Palin for Pres. unless she ran againt Obama. pick your poison, but shes powerful and the left is scared to death of her they can't keep her out of the news. everybody has an opinion and debate is good for the country, you may disagree with opponents but you have to respect them also.
You applaud a man comparing Nazi's to the rebublicans, that's also cool.
ReplyDeleteI have evry little faith in either party right now. As youcan see they are toying around in Cogress and not trying to correct the problems at hand. Americans need jobs and the jobs have all left this country. Our disloyal corporations as well as our sell us down the river politicians have exported our jobs to avoid fair wages, environmantal concerns, healthcare and retirement packages that corporations offered and provide over the years in lieu of higher wages and cchild labor laws. But we an go on arguing and defending either side and play into their hands because while we think we are smmarter than each other they are walking out the back door with our cash in their pockets and laughing at us. We have to stop defending the crimes of our party by pointing out the crimes of the other party. This is how they do as they please by citing the smae stuff pulled by the opposite side of the aisle. Mike, I know how you feel about being called a racist for disagreeing with Obama because I felt the same way when I was called unpatriotic when I disagreed with Bush on his War in Iraq.
ReplyDelete