Yes, We Hate Each Other

One hand washing the other.

 

I'll probably take this over race, class, generation, religious denomination or regionalism. Every one of those has led to actual coordinated multiple blood murders, politics hasn't unless combined with the above.

 

Hey man, you did't have to comission a poll. All you had to do was ask me.

 

I hate how people are defined as democrats or republicans... can't we be Americans? I mean the world isn't black and white, and this isn't 1900, the country is more diverse then ever and there is no way one freaking party is smart enough to have the right solution for everything. If everyone could accept that fact the country would be in a much better place.

 

This polarity is exactly the problem. The right has gone so far right since when I was young. When I was young, the left and right would still come together and make decisions because America needed to move forward. Both parties had respectable people, respectable views and opinions, and would eventually find a resolution for the virtues of the United States. Now the right has a "my way or the highway" attitude on everything and Congress is at standstill. I honestly believe the polarization of the left is a reactionary response. Either way, this mentality is dangerous and an eventual dominant left or right government is to no ones benefit. The OP's study shows it clearly in repeated studies. The right has become more polarized, more insular, and less likely to even bother listening to other opinions compared to the left.

I do put large blame on Fox and related media. Who thought it was good idea to put personalities like Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and O'Reilly on the news to represent the right? So many right-wings have decided to mimic them. It's harder and harder to find a right-winger that doesn't respond with vitriol, emotion, and heavy bias and one that is able to focus on the issue in a rational manner without interjecting strawmen or red herrings whenever argumentation doesn't fall in their favor. What those media outlets do are the oldest tactics in the books when it comes to consumer psychology and ensuring they preserve traffic retention. It's not much different than the WWE.

The state of the US govt is in a poor position on both sides, but the right is definitely leading the way. What happened to the respectable Republican party I would support that I knew when I was young?

 

Blah, blah, blah. Blah.

What exactly do you expect this thread to accomplish? You guys thin I am a whacko. I think you are whackos. There is no middle ground, as what you want and what I want are two completely diiferent things. (I must say, at least what I want has existed in the real world at one point, what you want is still in the realm of sci-fi)

Sorry, but The Next Big Thing is not going to happen here. Just deal with it.

 

You're proving exactly what I just posted treeman. You have already washed yourself of any inclination to listen. In the other thread on gun control, you eventually just stooped to calling people arguing against you "libtards" and posted what you believed to be a good statistic when it wasn't even logically definitive enough to prove any argument on your side...

The thing is, I don't think you're a whacko and I'm willing to listen and digest any argumentation you may have to offer. Furthermore, I respect a lot of what you represent and the ideas you believe in. I'm sorry if this if you feel disrespected by this, but you're exactly the example of how far the Republican party has fallen.

 

Republicans and Democrats are no different anymore. All they want to do is get reelected.

 

Who benefits from this trend?
(hint: follow the money)

But partisanism is the natural state of groups of people, it's me, then us, then them, until groupings are forced to unite against a common foe. It's just where you draw the line i.e. The Tea Party opposes the slightly less conservative Republican candidates at the primary level but will vote for them in the election.

At the national level the US doesn't really have a common outside enemy to focus on so we fracture internally. That's why the leadership of other countries create enemies, it allows them to overcome internal factions through nationalism.

The sad part though is that the ACA was probably the last meaningful legislation that will be passed for a generation or until something really radical happens from the outside to unify the country. Look at all the big changes that were precipitated by 9/11.

Back to my original premise, who is making out great in this status quo?

 

The difference is that at least most of the time those of us on the left like to post things that have analysis, data, and evidence to back it up. You also post evidence much of the time.

But sometimes you post delusions with zero evidence to back it up. You posted that people on the left really want to put people like you into education camps. You posted that people on the left want to confiscate every single gun that you own. You regularly post that various people both on this board in politics are Marxists. None of that has any evidence in practice or stated intent. It's something that somebody fed you and you bought into it, or that is simply a paranoid delusion that you came up with.

That along with your constant name calling of people who disagree with you tend to make discussions with you boring once the initial laugh factor is over. At least those aren't the kinds of discussions I find fun or enlightening. Others may have a different idea of what makes these boards worthwhile and that's fine.

 

Here's the problem: the media.

If you're a liberal and want to find a liberal media source to spin anything and everything in a way that paints liberals in a good light, you've got it: HuffPo, DailyKos, The Guardian, BBC, CNN, etc. are there for you. If all you do is read those sources, you'd think that liberalism is always right and the only possible party to vote for.

If you're a conservative, you can listen to Rush and Ann Coulter to only get a conservative view, leading to you believing that's the only right party to vote for.

So essentially today's media gives both sides what they're looking for -- any bit of news gets spun by the left and right leaning media to cater to their viewers -- which of course is media's objective -- to increase eyeballs and advertising money.

 

WOW! texxx almost sounds rational.

 

A large chunk of people like to be defined, categorized and put in boxes. It gives them a sense of identity and makes them feel comfortable. I think this is more true of "conservatives" than liberals because they prefer things defined as black and white, right vs. wrong and believe you have character flaws if you disagree with them. Also, if you don't agree with them on one thing, their instinct is to label you as the enemy. They tend to enjoy political warfare and the lack of civility associated with it. Faithfulness to orthodoxy, rather than considering issues individually, is easier for them. But this is evolving.

 

Good post texxxy.

 

But assuming that all conservatives are close-minded is itself a misrepresentation of reality. Based on your argument, I can apply the same logic to liberals and claim that liberals "are leading the way" in negative discourse. For example, liberal posters on here have compared Christians to the Taliban and called conservative posters monkeys. Others have a deep-set hatred of all religion. And it does not make any sense to claim the right itself has gone further to the right. Wasn't the right on the right still the same right back when you were young? Even 10 years ago, the majority was not considering giving homosexuals the right to marry.

 

This. (Except equating BBC & CNN with Rush & Coulter.)

The advent of bias-as-business-model "news" and the internet allow the modern media consumer to bathe in a neverending loop of confirmation bias.

 

If only people could realize that its more likely they are wrong than likely they are right... so instead of trying to prove everyone else's ideas wrong they should try and prove their ideas right.

 

Very true my friend!!!! I would rep you but I already did recently and it will not let me do it again so soon!!

 

I agree...except to add that it's outrage in particular that sells, it isn't conservatives or liberals selling ideas, it's more often content that's designed to provoke anger, and the more over the top, the better. This in turn, makes people more inclined toward confirmation bias and seeking out more news sources that indulge that, which makes news sources compete for outrage. It often leaves me, no matter what I read or watch, with a feeling that I'm being talked down to.

The only major news source in America that seems to be free of that is PBS, which I remember in the past is where you said you most go for news.

The only conservative news source I read regularly is the Weekly Standard, and even that less than I used to. I used to really like William Safire, and I used to like the Wall Street Journal. It used to be common to read well-informed commentary and hear a good defense of policy that didn't square with me.

But the old guard is dying off and there are very few pundits left I can think of that do a satisfactory job of arguing ideas, whatever those ideas are. It doesn't sell as well as fringe ranting, even if it sounds totally forced, dumbing down the rhetoric to work up to a punchline.

I think the worst offender is Bill Maher, who invites all kinds of people onto his show, but if anyone of any political stripe starts talking too eloquently or addressing a subject with enough meaningful engagement to make the audience start thinking too much, he'll interrupt them to make a smug quip about the celebrity gossip of the day and steal the audience back to applause.

And then I'm back to Deutche Welle...