“Well, that’s the problem with liberals: they attempt to make a point without knowing the FACTS. They are uneducated and brainwashed and just vote the way the liberal media tells them to.”
This has been the basis of most exchanges this election year in what is quickly dissolving into the Divided States of America. You can make some substitutions here, changing “liberals” to “conservatives,” and “liberal media” with “Fox (or Faux) News.” When faced with an unbudgeable member of the opposition (they used to be neighbors, now they are opposition), words and accusations get thrown around, along with the inevitable “We both want the same things for our children,” before we start fuming hatred and statistics and spit words like guns, abortion, George W, debt, jobs, Reagan, Clinton, and finally separate, shaking our heads at the stupidity of the other party person.
I know that this isn’t just me. What used to be warned against as impolite topics for dinner are being hurled at each other as fast as our fingers can type, thanks to social media giving every ordinary Joe (even Plumbers Joe) a platform from which to spew. YouTube clips set to Coldplay are edited and cut together to provide damning evidence against both parties and are shared with lightening speed. They are lapped up by those of like mind, and dismissed by those who think, ahem, different. And in the face of what seems to be inarguable arguments, dissent still happens. Of course it does. And then comes the statement: these other people, they don’t believe facts.
Whether or not you support Obama or Romney, live in a red, blue, or battleground state, or consider yourself in the center, your voting habits and thought process surrounding whom you cast your ballot for probably has little to do with your intelligence level or a willful dismissal of factual evidence in lieu of ignorance, despite what others might try to make you believe. The truth is, how we vote is a deep part of our identity. It’s how we consider ourselves to ourselves, often as indelible as the sports teams we support and the brands that we show loyalty towards.
Now, a lot of what’s out there on the blogosphere and the twitterverse and on status updates are the echoes of the senseless blather of the talking points of the powers that be, who are often media and not the candidates themselves. Yet, the suspension of one’s own critical thinking when it comes to these talking points is what I’d like to discuss here. Why does it happen? I recently posted on my personal Facebook page the video of Jill Biden’s hilarious accidental reference to Joe’s penis size. In light of Rush Limbaugh’s recent comment about how “feminazis” were responsible for the shrinkage of the collective penises (peni?) of the world, it was enormously prescient. Despite your political views, it was a funny couple of minutes devoid of political arguments. Yet, those friends of mine on the right failed to see the humor. In fact, they seemed to believe that the video showed idiocy not only of the second couple, but of all liberals in general. My question is this: how can two sides interpret the same thing in such disparate ways? The truth to that, and to the filtering of information from all sides, has to do with how we view ourselves and how we process information to coincide with what makes us feel comfortable. If we are predisposed to be angry at Joe Biden, then that video will reflect that. The same with CNN, Rachel Maddow, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. Does this make us stupid?
Well, undoubtedly, some us are actually stupid. But most of us have enough intelligence to get us through the day. No, what shapes our political preferences and how we interpret what we hear on the campaign trail is how we identify ourselves. Our identity encompasses so much of who we are sexually, racially, socio-economically, geographically, religiously. Most of us have our politics so engrained in us for generations: we are who we are because our fathers were who they were and so on. They come coupled with history and tradition in a very personal way. I have no doubt that my liberal views stemmed from a rebellion against my father, who was a conservative republican with whom I loved to argue. And so when we hear things that directly challenge our deep-seated personal beliefs, that suggest that our way of thinking is wrong, stupid, or ignorant, we change the channel to something that relieves that discomfort. It is a literal relief to hear like-minded people say the things we do and have always believed. It’s hard to change, grow, and learn new things, especially when they go against the grain of who we are.
This is why it is so dangerous to dismiss the people with whom we disagree with a swipe of the hand and the accusation that they are stupid, ignorant, and don’t know facts when they hit them in the face. That’s the core of the divisiveness that we find ourselves in as a country. What we need is to find the common ground that unites us and allows us to celebrate the individuality that this country was founded on. We can start by understanding that the views so entrenched in the opposition are not simply a dismissal of facts, but an affirmation of who they are, just like yours are. Now, let’s find something we can agree on.
Republicans: Chik-Fil-A
Democrats: Whole Foods
Common Ground: Chipotle. Who doesn’t like a burrito bowl?
Republicans: Bain take-over Dunkin’ Donuts
Democrats: gay rights advocate Starbucks
Common Ground: Pumpkin spice k-cups
Republicans: Nancy Reagan
Democrats: Michelle Obama
Common Ground: The near universal first lady worship of Jackie O
Republicans: Pro-Iraq war Christopher Hitchens
Democrats: Marxist Hitchens
Common Ground: How can you hate Mother Teresa?
Republicans: Clint Eastwood
Democrats: Scarlett Johansen
Common Ground: Christopher Walken is still the coolest guy ever.
It's a start. What do you think?
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Yvonne Johnson
Arlene Green
Emily Conyngham
Susan Mihalic
Jan Wilberg
David McClain
Salon.com
Comments
I believe that the Internet and cable news are responsible for much of the rancor today. There have always been divisions and sharp elbows in campaigning, but now it's in your face 24/7. Yet most of us have the same needs and participate in the same activities; the differences between us are much smaller than our commonalities.
r.
My father was a Republican, and a conservative, and he was brilliant. He wouldn't like what is happening now.
Great observation. Unfortunately, this seems to be what passes for political discourse these days. What would have been shocking and unacceptable not so very long ago - like calling the President a liar - is run of the mill. And shuts down further discussion.
when alot of the ground has been washed away or
made otherwise inhabitable by acts of a vengeful mother nature.
maybe there is still time.
this would actually be the time for mental and spiritual
common ground, before mother nature makes
us survivors.
banding together in a tempest.
It's also a false equivalency to blame both political parties equally. It's clear to me the Republican Party is mostly to blame for how bad things have gotten politically. The once Grand Old Party's slide began when it welcomed into its ranks defecting Dixiecrats and racist reactionaries, and that slide went straight down hill with the addition of Kindergarten Kristians and Neocon warmongers.
To that sorry list, you can add political vermin like Lee Atwater and Karl Rove, men without a soul and with no goal other than winning at any cost. Thanks to political operatives, a pathological liar now stands an even chance of getting elected President, presumably because half the country can no longer tell the truth from a lie -- or else they simply don't care that he's a pathological liar.
There is no way to find common ground with sociopaths and pathological liars, and to do so is not only foolish, it's dangerous.
"Thanks to political operatives, a pathological liar now stands an even chance of getting elected President". That should be re-elected.
With all the facts coming out about Benghazi and how in real time the administration knew what was happening how can you still vote for them. Now the father of one of the dead Seals is saying that his son requested three times for assistance for the now dead Americans and was told to "stand down".
Then to add insult to injury, Sec. Clinton, while meeting with this dead man's father told him that they would get the man who made the "movie" and bring him to justice. All this in a hanger while he was picking up his son's body.
Then add Obama's lies like during the debate where he said that sequestration WON'T HAPPEN. Heck he signed the law.
What about forcing the national debt over 16 trillion, annual deficits over a trillion dollars each year, unemployment that stayed over 8 percent for all but the last couple reports. What about it will be in the 5's now?
Look, everything that happens President Obama has to sign off on. Congress can't do crap without his signature and they have not used their power to override his veto. So everything has his blessing. EVERYTHING!
But, you people keep voting against their own self interest and putting everyone in the country in harms way. So you keep listening to MSNBC news. That way you can be told only what the White House wants you to hear and believe.
Half the population is not below average. Half the populations is below the median, but you keep on believing what you want.
"When modern IQ tests are devised, the mean (average) score within an age group is set to 100 "
Do the math -- that means half the people are below average.
I think the following sums up how the Right feels about the left.
"Nowhere at present is there such a measureless loathing of their country by educated people as in America. "--Eric Hoffer
Jonathans view of the Republicans is typical, there is a love of America's potential but, as presently constituted we are far short of where we should be thanks to the knuckle draggers on the right.
"Believe in America. Romney 2012" is a common theme on the right.
The Tea Party is a result of those that believe in America but, were disgusted by the Bush years. Yet, the Left hates them.
"Hope and Change" on the left. We were promised a deficit cut in half and a roaring economy if we took our medicine. We took three pills and we are still on life support. Now we are to go "Forward" and the deranged and deluded march on lemming-like into the abyss.
Pretty hard to find common ground.
When this kind of thinking happens in politics, it's easy to lump everything together. If you don't support the Kyoto protocols, you probably think Obama was born in Kenya and women can't get pregnant from rape. In short order, your conversation is not about the best way to curb global warming, but the lunacy of Todd Akin.
As does flavored coffee of any kind. Just morally wrong.
I wonder how you must feel when you see a few idiots jump in here and do just exactly what you just said they ought to understand isn't helpful at all.
I feel for you. You might be heartened by the responses I got to a somewhat similar blog a short whole ago. I asked.....
Whose Side Are You On?
Rated for a well thought out essay of more importance than some would give it. ;-)
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Trying again.....
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The question is, who wins in this scenario? My answer would be the puppet masters, those who don't want dialog, who love gridlock, and status quo. Specifically, I see corporate consolidation, look at media ownership over the last 30 years. as the great evil. If we're fighting each other, no one sees the great evil that unfair corporate influence has on us all.
So we fight each other, scoring wins, and getting approbation from our peers, while Rome burns.
No kidding. But they both illustrate your point perfectly.
"This study investigated biased message processing of political satire in The Colbert Report and the influence of political ideology on perceptions of Stephen Colbert. Results indicate that political ideology influences biased processing of ambiguous political messages and source in late-night comedy. Using data from an experiment (N = 332), we found that individual-level political ideology significantly predicted perceptions of Colbert's political ideology. Additionally, there was no significant difference between the groups in thinking Colbert was funny, but conservatives were more likely to report that Colbert only pretends to be joking and genuinely meant what he said while liberals were more likely to report that Colbert used satire and was not serious when offering political statements. Conservatism also significantly predicted perceptions that Colbert disliked liberalism. Finally, a post hoc analysis revealed that perceptions of Colbert's political opinions fully mediated the relationship between political ideology and individual-level opinion."
in the rare moments i bump into FOX i see not news, but news about news - that is, looking over the shoulder to see what the others are or are not saying.
Without ideas, a person is little more than a shell filled with water, blood, muscle, and bone; what makes us unique are the ideas that drive our opinions and decisions. Is it fair to suggest that Gandhi was separate from his ideas? Or Thomas Jefferson? Or Ted Bundy? There is little doubt that we all share commonalities, but it is that difference of ideas that marks who we are, what we stand for, and how we will embrace, or reject, the world around us. Critical thinking, a lost art in my opinion, is only grounded in reality when one questions the sources of information. Whether perpetuated by the left or right, information today is gleaned through the warp speed of the internet, often with little or no citation of source, minimal regard for truth/facts, and vicious disregard of context. None of this promotes a viable medium for critical thinking.
For many people, even those who are practiced in critical thought, the disseminators of information have created a world where sound bites and deception are the rule rather than the exception. In-depth analysis is limited to panels of hyper partisans that repeat talking points until whoever is shouting the loudest wins -this is neither honest nor helpful. The hard work of pulling the nuance and detail from this discourse is typically beyond the patience or time available to most individuals. Viewers/listeners of this analysis typically take the side most agreeable to their own positions, and tune out the rest. The end result is null; everyone believes what they believed before listening and takes the occasional "gaff" or "outrageous remark" and immediately re-posts on some form of social media. Again, this neither useful nor honest. But it has become who we are.
Ultimately, I believe that the solution exists only in the long term. If we can focus on educating our upcoming generations to understand the value of critical thinking - the value of questioning the powers that be, and themselves - then the day will come where rational and civil discourse may emerge. In his epic poem, "Paterson", William Carlos Williams left us with the warning that there are "no ideas but in things". Let us hope we have not already reached this point as we work on shifting toward a more reasoned and civil approach to solving the difficult issues facing our nation.
As an obviously intelligent woman with a free spirit, you may be interested in "Mothers Little Helper is Killing Her" . . a piece I just wrote about women who are suffering, and quite deeply at that.