I really don't want to have a political blog. I don't hate many things in this world, but I genuinely HATE most of the political discussions I read on the Internet. It seems that anyone who offers an opinion, no matter how well reasoned, on either side of any issue is immediately buried by an avalanche of obscenity filled attacks on their intelligence, character and integrity. Even more irritating is the tendency to call someone a "Nazi" or a "fascist" and voila, whatever they say is no longer valid or important enough to be heard. I doubt that most of the people who use those terms so freely even know what they really mean.
There was a time, not long ago, when I subscribed to a fairly decent newspaper - The Dallas Morning News. One of my favorite sections was the Opinion Page and the Letters to the Editor. I enjoyed the give and take on the issues of the day. Even though I am politically conservative I learned to respect (but not agree with) the opinions of some leftward leaning columnists like Richard Cohen, Ellen Goodman and Leonard Pitts. Letters to the Editor were vetted by the editorial board and the really nasty ones weren't usually printed. Also, the letter writer had to include their real name and address. I know this because I wrote a couple of letters over the years and the paper sent me postcards asking me to verify that I had indeed written them.
The Dallas Morning News no longer delivers to my little town so I'm reduced to getting most my news here on the Internet (I refuse to watch TV news. It sucks in so many ways - but that's another post). It seems that every other website has a "comments" section which I suppose is to encourage feedback. Even You-Tube has a comments section, though I can't for the life of me understand why. I finally stopped reading most comments because they are a ridiculous waste of time. Besides being barely literate, most of them are downright foul. It's hard to believe how much enjoyment people seem to get from insulting one another. I'm not afraid of controversy but so called "flame wars" are just a depressing waste of time.
After reading (and commenting) on Martha's blog I'm happy to say that I am pretty impressed by the civility of the discussions. Her readers respect each other enough to refrain from personal attacks even when they strongly disagree with each other. There was a fairly passionate debate with Candy Minx over socialized health care and nary a harsh word or epithet was hurled. When it was over I felt like we were all a little smarter and we certainly had a lot to think about. That's not a bad result.
Whenever I read the harsh invective that passes for political discussion on the web I have to wonder what people are thinking. Have you ever persuaded anyone by pissing them off? I know I haven't, and I've certainly done my share of pissing people off (right Martha?). Instead of winning them over to my point of view it usually results in the other person tuning me out and never listening to me ever again. And even worse, insulting someone because of their opinion (no matter how misguided that opinion may be) is like reading Shakespeare to a pig. It's a complete waste of time and it annoys the pig (I think Mark Twain said this).
Some of the things I've learned (the hard way, of course) over the years: 1) Don't argue with an angry person. You will only make them angrier. 2) Don't argue with a stupid person. It will only drag you down to their level. I've found that when a stupid person tries to stir up controversy it's best to just smile and nod, then change the subject. 3) If you lose your temper, you've probably lost the argument too. 4) You don't win debates by shouting down your opponent. 5) Never ask someone to share their opinion and then attack them for it. This is extremely bad form. 6) If you have to resort to angry personal attacks to make your point then you are probably wrong to begin with. 7) If you question another person's deeply held beliefs, especially their religious (or anti-religious) beliefs, do so with great care and respect, otherwise you will probably lose a friend and you may create an enemy.
If you think about it, isn't the ultimate goal in a debate to win other's to your point of view? What is really the best way to do that? How did you arrive at your own opinions? I think old Socrates had the right idea. He just kept asking questions and let the other person come to his own conclusions. I sincerely wish I had the patience and wisdom to emulate him.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Things Are Not So Bad As They Seem
I just read an article on Yahoo about how terrible everything is and how so many people feel helpless and discouraged. It was so stupid it almost made me laugh. To anyone who regularly reads the news the mere presence of that article is an indication of a slow news day. The article says that only seventeen percent of Americans think the country is moving in "the right direction", whatever that means. If you think about it, it's a pretty silly question to begin with. If you put a hundred Americans together in one room, ninety-seven of them wouldn't have a clue where the country has been, much less where it is going. They don't know and they don't want to know. They know all about Britney and Paris' latest escapades but they couldn't name the Vice President or Secretary of State if their lives depended on it. The other three know where we've been, but they violently disagree about which way we should go.
We live in a culture that is saturated by news every hour of every day. Since most journalistic enterprises live by the creed "If it Bleeds it Leads" most of the news we see and hear is bad. You hear all about the droughts and floods, but pleasant weather never makes the headlines. The so-called war in Iraq hasn't been a war for years. The actual war was over in a matter of weeks. It's been an occupation ever since and seems to be going pretty well in the last few months but you'd never know it by watching the news. You would think that most people (even if they opposed the invasion) would want things to go well there. God knows the Iraqis have suffered terribly under the dictatorship of Saddam and since the invasion began. You would think most people would wish them peace, prosperity and the freedom to live their lives as they see fit. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case. There appear to be many in the journalistic community that equate peace, prosperity and freedom for the Iraqis as a victory for George Bush and that is simply unthinkable. So they keep stirring the pot.
High gas prices are probably the leading cause of doom and gloom lately. Americans are woefully ignorant of how the oil and gas business works and, as usual, we are poorly served by our news media. If a situation really bothers me or makes me mad I try to learn as much about it as possible so I can support the politicians and policies that are most likely to change it. I'm afraid that most Americans would rather just find someone to blame. The oil companies might not be at fault (Learn all you can and then judge for yourselves) but they make easy scapegoats - sort of like the Jews during the Black Plague. I don't pretend to be an expert on economics but common sense tells me that the law of supply and demand is probably more to blame than anything else. If we want the price to come down we either need to make more or use less (or a combination of the two). Perhaps we should allow the oil companies to drill offshore and in ANWR. Maybe we should all ride bicycles or drive electric cars. One thing I know for sure and that is if politicians get involved it will only get worse.
In the meantime, the sun still rises every morning. I watched several professional sporting events on television this weekend - soccer, baseball and arena football - and all the stadiums were full in spite of the terrible economy. I checked the latest unemployment stats - hovering around 5% - and they are better than just about anywhere else in the world. Last week I read that Americans' life expectancy had gone up yet again, in spite of all those dreaded chemicals and genetically modified foods and awful diseases floating around out there. My office looks out on a four-lane highway and as far as I can tell there is as much traffic as ever, in spite of the high gas prices. I went to the grocery store in San Angelo yesterday and it was full of customers with carts overflowing, in spite of high food prices. I know a lot of people, but I don't know anyone who lost their home to forclosure, in spite of the sub-prime lending fiasco. Those folks in Iowa who've suffered through the flooding will come back stronger than ever, because that is their nature. You don't hear them whining about FEMA or Bush or crying for help. They are used to adversity, hard work and taking care of their own.
The bottom line is this: There are over six billion people on this planet insuring a constant abundance of bad news. There will always be disasters both man-made and otherwise. Bad news is what sells. Sometimes it's best to trash the newspaper, turn off the tv, shut down the computer and just go fishing.
We live in a culture that is saturated by news every hour of every day. Since most journalistic enterprises live by the creed "If it Bleeds it Leads" most of the news we see and hear is bad. You hear all about the droughts and floods, but pleasant weather never makes the headlines. The so-called war in Iraq hasn't been a war for years. The actual war was over in a matter of weeks. It's been an occupation ever since and seems to be going pretty well in the last few months but you'd never know it by watching the news. You would think that most people (even if they opposed the invasion) would want things to go well there. God knows the Iraqis have suffered terribly under the dictatorship of Saddam and since the invasion began. You would think most people would wish them peace, prosperity and the freedom to live their lives as they see fit. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case. There appear to be many in the journalistic community that equate peace, prosperity and freedom for the Iraqis as a victory for George Bush and that is simply unthinkable. So they keep stirring the pot.
High gas prices are probably the leading cause of doom and gloom lately. Americans are woefully ignorant of how the oil and gas business works and, as usual, we are poorly served by our news media. If a situation really bothers me or makes me mad I try to learn as much about it as possible so I can support the politicians and policies that are most likely to change it. I'm afraid that most Americans would rather just find someone to blame. The oil companies might not be at fault (Learn all you can and then judge for yourselves) but they make easy scapegoats - sort of like the Jews during the Black Plague. I don't pretend to be an expert on economics but common sense tells me that the law of supply and demand is probably more to blame than anything else. If we want the price to come down we either need to make more or use less (or a combination of the two). Perhaps we should allow the oil companies to drill offshore and in ANWR. Maybe we should all ride bicycles or drive electric cars. One thing I know for sure and that is if politicians get involved it will only get worse.
In the meantime, the sun still rises every morning. I watched several professional sporting events on television this weekend - soccer, baseball and arena football - and all the stadiums were full in spite of the terrible economy. I checked the latest unemployment stats - hovering around 5% - and they are better than just about anywhere else in the world. Last week I read that Americans' life expectancy had gone up yet again, in spite of all those dreaded chemicals and genetically modified foods and awful diseases floating around out there. My office looks out on a four-lane highway and as far as I can tell there is as much traffic as ever, in spite of the high gas prices. I went to the grocery store in San Angelo yesterday and it was full of customers with carts overflowing, in spite of high food prices. I know a lot of people, but I don't know anyone who lost their home to forclosure, in spite of the sub-prime lending fiasco. Those folks in Iowa who've suffered through the flooding will come back stronger than ever, because that is their nature. You don't hear them whining about FEMA or Bush or crying for help. They are used to adversity, hard work and taking care of their own.
The bottom line is this: There are over six billion people on this planet insuring a constant abundance of bad news. There will always be disasters both man-made and otherwise. Bad news is what sells. Sometimes it's best to trash the newspaper, turn off the tv, shut down the computer and just go fishing.
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