I must respectfully disagree. I believe that every opinion must heard no matter how outlandish it appears at first, and the reasoning behind it weighed in as fair a manner as possible so that its validity can be ascertained through respectful debate and argument. It is only once the basis for such an argument is reasonably debunked that an opinion becomes "invalid".
This because it serves no one to alienate, marginalize and condescend to people with differing views when, in my experience, most people are wiling to hear out and understand another person's POV as long as they are not insulted in the process. Yes, there is a minority who are too arrogant to back down or are la-la-la-I-can't-hear-you. But it is in engaging these people in fair debate that fence-sitters and others more reasonable will be able to judge and evaluate for themselves.
Liberals accuse the media of leaning too right-wing and Conservatives claim, as they did during Obama's run for presidency, that the media has become extremely left-leaning. My problem is that the media should be neither - journalism should be about reporting facts, not feeding speculation and opinions. As someone on metaquotes said: I'd really like the U.S. Mass News Media, as a whole, to remember that their job is to tell me that the dog bit the man, not to speculate on the dog's Nazi German Shepherd descent, or that maybe the man smelled like bacon at the time.
The trouble today is that there is NO fairness and balance. We simply have extreme liberals and extreme conservatives shouting themselves hoarse and completely unable to establish any kind of dialogue on either end with a confused and disillusioned majority who have given up trying to listen to either one.
I believe in The Middle Way, as explained in Buddhism. I don't think that all arguments have merit, but I believe that they must all first be fairly heard to be judged. Otherwise you stop growing as a person and become quite as narrow of mind and intolerant as the people you claim to oppose. That is after all, the one shared characteristic of all extremist factions - they cannot tolerate, and they unconsiously condition themselves to hear none but their own voices.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2009-08-18 05:10 am (UTC)This because it serves no one to alienate, marginalize and condescend to people with differing views when, in my experience, most people are wiling to hear out and understand another person's POV as long as they are not insulted in the process. Yes, there is a minority who are too arrogant to back down or are la-la-la-I-can't-hear-you. But it is in engaging these people in fair debate that fence-sitters and others more reasonable will be able to judge and evaluate for themselves.
Liberals accuse the media of leaning too right-wing and Conservatives claim, as they did during Obama's run for presidency, that the media has become extremely left-leaning. My problem is that the media should be neither - journalism should be about reporting facts, not feeding speculation and opinions. As someone on
The trouble today is that there is NO fairness and balance. We simply have extreme liberals and extreme conservatives shouting themselves hoarse and completely unable to establish any kind of dialogue on either end with a confused and disillusioned majority who have given up trying to listen to either one.
I believe in The Middle Way, as explained in Buddhism. I don't think that all arguments have merit, but I believe that they must all first be fairly heard to be judged. Otherwise you stop growing as a person and become quite as narrow of mind and intolerant as the people you claim to oppose. That is after all, the one shared characteristic of all extremist factions - they cannot tolerate, and they unconsiously condition themselves to hear none but their own voices.