The problem with politics in our country today has nothing to do with who’s in charge and everything to do with how polarized the discussion is. As if anything could possibly be as black-and-white as Dave makes it.
People like Dave ruin discourse by saying things like this:
[T]he thought of more people dying, Americans and Iraqis, so [McCain] can hold on to a sliver of hope that he might win an election someday, suggests that he never really had any morals
Think of the litany of assumptions that Dave has to make to reach that conclusion.
- That McCain believes that staying the course will cause more death (pretty fair).
- That he believes that more people will die by staying than going (still not bad, but getting worse).
- That, long term, the war will do more harm than good (now we’re in ‘reasonable people can differ’ territory).
Dave assumes that he knows the “truth”, that it’s “obvious” to everybody, and that anyone who doesn’t agree with him is wrong, stupid, or lying. This type of lunacy takes place on both the left and the right day-in and day-out.
I’d rather read a blogger who disagrees with me on every issue but understands that reasonable people can differ than one who agrees with me about everything but thinks that everyone who disagrees is stupid.
“Dave assumes that he knows the “truthâ€, that it’s “obvious†to everybody, and that anyone who doesn’t agree with him is wrong, stupid, or lying. This type of lunacy takes place on both the left and the right day-in and day-out.”
Well said! Though I would add to the list “wrong, stupid, evil, or just plain lying”. It saddens me to see people on all sides of most politcal debates these days who believe that opponents are not just wrong, but the very incarnation of Satan. Puh-lease! There are some evil people in the world, but most folks are decent, albeit (if they disagree with me) misguided or misinformed.
You can hold a contrary view to mine without wanting to sacrifice babies on an altar during a Black Mass. And you can agree with me, and still be a disagreeable person.
I would love to see a political debate forum where folks representing both sides of an issue were not allowed to demagogue, or resort to unsubtantiated claims, or to shouting their opposition down, but rather just engaged in a reasonable discussion, laying out the reasons they believe the way they do, and the reasons they find their oppositions reasons unacceptable. Das ist alles! On the other hand, I’d also like a laptop computer with 4 4-core processors, a 4TB HD, 64GB of RAM, a 4096×2520 display, weighing less than three pounds, and capable of being folded up and put in my pocket when I wasn’t using it. But I doubt that I will get either, any time soon.
Check out Dave’s post here:
http://www.propinions.com/opinions.php?s=11222253
Zooooom!