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'm afraid I don't agree with this statement at all. It's just this sort of thinking, pleasant and conciliatory though it may be, that has gotten us in trouble. It's on a par with the usual false equivalencies, for example, that Rush Limbaugh is "just like" Keith Olbermann. Whether you like Keith Olbermann's blustering style or not, his program usually presents the truth. Rush Limbaugh, and others like him, present lies and spin, and spew violent, bigoted rhetoric designed to inflame the passions of a certain segment of the population. There is no equivalency.
I often hear this stuff about "extreme liberals" who are just as bad as their conservative counterparts, and I always wonder -- where are they? If you can find me an example of an "extreme liberal" with a huge national audience who is doing exactly the sort of shouting (and deliberate lying) that Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh and more than a few of our elected Republican officials engage in on a daily basis, please do so. And Jeremiah Wright doesn't count. Please show me an "extreme liberal" with a national forum who has been formulating and spreading liberal lies that are equal to death panels and where's the birth certificate and national healthcare is fascism, etc.
This because it serves no one to alienate, marginalize and condescend to people with differing views
There are "differing views" and then there are lies. It truly serves no one to present a bold-faced lie such as "global warming is a myth" or "healthcare reform = death panels" as merely "differing views." These sorts of opinions have no validity. Views and opinions of this sort deserve to be marginalized straight out existence. People who promote them deserve to be scorned, not provided with a national platform on which to engage in "debate" that bestows an air of legitimacy upon pure bullshit. You might say these opinions should be aired precisely so they can be debunked, but it just doesn't work that way. The birth certificate story has effectively been debunked and yet something like half of all Republicans in a recent poll still believed that Obama was not born in the United States. There are things so ludicrous and pernicious that even giving them enough time to debunk them lends them more credibility than they deserve.
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.
Once again, I would like to know where are these "extremists" on the left because they seem to be keeping quite a low profile. I'd also like to know which conservative voices of late deserve this tolerance of which you speak. The Democrats have repeatedly tried the "Middle Way" in the form of bipartisan outreach and allowances and continually get kicked in the teeth for it -- and the American people suffer as a result. The Middle Way has become a dead end, and Democrats and liberals are absolute fools if they keep traveling it.
no subject
I'm afraid I don't agree with this statement at all. It's just this sort of thinking, pleasant and conciliatory though it may be, that has gotten us in trouble. It's on a par with the usual false equivalencies, for example, that Rush Limbaugh is "just like" Keith Olbermann. Whether you like Keith Olbermann's blustering style or not, his program usually presents the truth. Rush Limbaugh, and others like him, present lies and spin, and spew violent, bigoted rhetoric designed to inflame the passions of a certain segment of the population. There is no equivalency.
I often hear this stuff about "extreme liberals" who are just as bad as their conservative counterparts, and I always wonder -- where are they? If you can find me an example of an "extreme liberal" with a huge national audience who is doing exactly the sort of shouting (and deliberate lying) that Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh and more than a few of our elected Republican officials engage in on a daily basis, please do so. And Jeremiah Wright doesn't count. Please show me an "extreme liberal" with a national forum who has been formulating and spreading liberal lies that are equal to death panels and where's the birth certificate and national healthcare is fascism, etc.
This because it serves no one to alienate, marginalize and condescend to people with differing views
There are "differing views" and then there are lies. It truly serves no one to present a bold-faced lie such as "global warming is a myth" or "healthcare reform = death panels" as merely "differing views." These sorts of opinions have no validity. Views and opinions of this sort deserve to be marginalized straight out existence. People who promote them deserve to be scorned, not provided with a national platform on which to engage in "debate" that bestows an air of legitimacy upon pure bullshit. You might say these opinions should be aired precisely so they can be debunked, but it just doesn't work that way. The birth certificate story has effectively been debunked and yet something like half of all Republicans in a recent poll still believed that Obama was not born in the United States. There are things so ludicrous and pernicious that even giving them enough time to debunk them lends them more credibility than they deserve.
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.
Once again, I would like to know where are these "extremists" on the left because they seem to be keeping quite a low profile. I'd also like to know which conservative voices of late deserve this tolerance of which you speak. The Democrats have repeatedly tried the "Middle Way" in the form of bipartisan outreach and allowances and continually get kicked in the teeth for it -- and the American people suffer as a result. The Middle Way has become a dead end, and Democrats and liberals are absolute fools if they keep traveling it.