Flame — HabitableZone

Flame » in reply to re: Yes?

Yes
Robert — (archived)

Hey Martha,

First, I want to tell you, you're following the path of most new arrivals in being hesitant and a little apologetic in advancing your opinion. Don't be. Passion and standing up for what you believe counts. This is a place dedicated to the free expression of ideas.

That said, to me the issue on the table is passion and conviction taken to an extreme that overshoots its value and becomes a negative. I believe that American politics is founded on the principle of arguing your heart out in order to reach the right decision for all. But arguing to make it hard to reach a decision, to obfuscate the information on which good decisions are based, to suppress opposing views...all of these things undermine the democratic process.

The history of the HabitableZone has shaped my views. A while back an individual accused unnamed members of this community of committing treason by opposing the war in Iraq. And my head exploded...not the incident I mentioned in my tongue-in-cheek post, but earlier. Guess my head's exploded multiple times, but that's the price I pay for holding strong convictions on the centrality of freedom of speech. Without it, none of our other rights matter, and so I'm willing to man the barricades when freedom of speech is under attack.

What I mean by "polarizing rhetoric" is argument with the hidden agenda (and often an unconscious agenda promoted by True Believers) of interfering with our duty as citizens to think clearly about the issues and to be able to make decisions with full information. Politicians use it to set groups of Americans against each other so that we're too distracted to see what else they're up to; and to lead us by the nose to the decisions they want us to make. That's wrong. America is a country of the people, by the people, and for the people. It does not belong to politicians.

One example, but not the only one and not by only one political party, is the use of social hot-button issues to enrage a section of the populace and to incite its hatred against another segment of Americans. This is a pure example of demagoguery, and has been used throughout history. To step delicately into the minefield, if you compare the things Hitler said about the Jews, to the things that modern RightWing extremists say about Liberals, you see a chilling similarity. This isn't to say that RightWingers are the same as Nazis, but rather to point out that they're using the same ancient techniques of manipulation. Techniques that have no place in a free society.

A fundamental part of my thesis is that the real battle lines in America aren't drawn between Left or Right or any other segmentation of the people. The real battle line is us versus the politicians. I think we have to "take back the country", and my thinking on ways to do that is reflected further down this branch in my conversation with Fox. Fox is generally pigeonholed as a Liberal, as I am, but it's worth nothing that I've had similar discussions with Conservatives about this. A lot of us feel that right now we have a duty to set aside ideological differences and join together in a common cause.

The politicians are doing a shitty job. We have a responsibility to take over when they fail.

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