There’s never a dull moment in politics these days. As it should be. The Founders wanted spirited debate. But there’s just something wrong when it comes to political debate these days.
The other day a friend of mine asked me how I can stand the nasty and hateful comments directed my way by the lefties and Obamabots. I just told her I’m so used to it, and busy, that I barely notice them anymore. But it got me thinking about the rhetoric coming from both sides.
Our side has genuine policy differences and concerns about the current direction of our nation. We express those concerns in a respectful manner. Sure, we poke fun at them – if we didn’t we would lose our minds. But our rhetoric doesn’t come close the the rhetoric coming from the left. And they won! They are getting everything they’ve ever wanted, yet they can’t help but lash out at us in the most vile and abusive ways they can think of.
Am I the only one who has noticed this trend?
As long as the media continues to fail to do its job nothing will change. Sad.
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Excuse me Kate, but I’m going on a short rant here, not directed at you.
I’d like to know where people got the notion that “The Media” was some great advocate for the people? “The Media” has been a political tool since it was invented. Just where did we learn that the media was our advocate? How often do you pick up a paper, turn on a channel, surf into a news site, and find two or more articles presenting opposing views? And for that matter, when has this ever been the case? People seem to think that that blubber lipped idiot talking to you from behind the screen is somehow an expert and they accept their interpretation at face value.
The media is both shaped by public opinion and shapes public opinion, case in point, Y2K, I’m sure you can all remember back that far. Crashing computers, food and water shortages, failure of the electric grid. Yeah, that was one huge disaster, brought to you by? OH! How about the dreaded swine flu pandemic of 2009? PANDEMIC!! run for your lives, run where???
OK, done.
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Yep, AKA, right on.
We are on our own. There is no messiah or knight in shining armour “cept” for maybe AKA’s gravatar. We must stand up for ourselves. More and more it looks to me as if the options are citizen action. Either we take back government through constitutional convention, or we become more forceful. I vote for the former. No one wins if it’s the latter.
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I learned long ago through a first hand experience that “the media” is all about themselves—that idea of an honest journalist just reporting the news and not reshaping it has been long, long dead. If it ever did exist.
But what does seem to have changed is that they no longer are insulted if you call them on their prejudices; they are so certain that they are right, they wave us off. And frequently, as LC pointed out, in a hateful and bigoted way. They don’t even PRETEND to be unbiased. For all of this talk from the Left about “inclusiveness and tolerance”—they are largely EXclusive and intolerant! And that’s not just the media and politicians and Hollywood Reds like Garofolo and Perez Hilton. Even the “progressives” that I know personally (they have renamed themselves yet again to make it more palatable). For instance, a person on the Left who insists on discussing politics with me is deeply offended that I don’t support gay marriage (he is straight). I explained that, frankly, I really don’t care and I don’t believe in punishing people for what they are as long as they are not hurting anyone—but I will not give them that word. Pick any other beautiful word that means “marriage” and I have no issue. But no, I’m not giving up that word and what it has meant for ages, and the fact that to NOW it has described ME–there is no doubt, if I should marry, that I am marrying a MAN. Instead of discussing it, I was IMMEDIATELY a RIGHT WING EXTREMIST BIGOT AND JUST HATEFUL, ENGAGING IN HATE SPEECH! Why is it hate speech because I disagree? I have found that there really is no “meeting in the middle, compromise, discussion”. While I can frame my argument in the context of “I reject your basic premise, and this is why, and that is why we can never compromise on this belief or value” it is nearly ALWAYS met with angry, sometimes profane backlash.
The only effective thing you can do in that circumstance is exactly what Carrie Prejean recently did–call the attack exactly what it is, to that person’s face, and refuse to hand over your principles to “get along”. I am careful to never raise my voice or dip into profanity or mindless hatred—focus on the issue and tell them to their faces that “you are being extremely intolerant of a difference of opinion here, what happened to your value system? I thought you were inclusive and tolerant”.
And by the way, what happened to that respectful Liberal who was here briefly? Have I just missed further comments?
Off to work to see the Lib! Good day, everyone.
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