Hi There, Am Pam
01-15-2006, 12:07 AM
Some of this is obvious, but is worth talking about for the sake of it happening.
After reading and posting in many, many political discussions, and after learning more & more about the media and the way information is presented, it's obvious that people are more focused on justifing their ideology and how it interacts with the world, more than focused on trying to better understand an issue.
Yeah, pretty obvious, right? Well most political discussion have people from both "sides" (a term which only helps to reinforce the idea that there is a right side, and a wrong side) posting arguements other people made in editorals/bloggs that match their own political ideology, without actually trying to understand the arguements and situation itself. From there, it digresses into each person trying to find reactions to each one of the previous op-ed pieces in order to "prove" something. End result, everyone remains polarized and non-critical.
The idea is not to admit to anything as it is a sign of weakness, and to try to "prove" the other person wrong. So in other words, it has nothing to do with trying to change things for the better by becoming more informed and sharing ideas, but a way to stroke the cock of the ego until it shoots out a giant load of spooge.
The last thing I'm suggesting is for people to take the middle road just to avoid confrontation or expressing themselves. Really, that's just as bad. The way I see it, the real format of a discussion is to state how you, as an individual see things as a result of the information you have, and to see how other people interpert your presentation of the information, as well as presenting their own knowledge.
The real problem is the way current news programs tend to operate, which is by the above formula. People latch onto that thrill of competition, and the actual issue is meaningless.
The question is how will this stop, if it will stop? Really, this post is just an excuse to pay tribute to Jon Stewart for blasting the people on Crossfire. He's got fucking guts, and I wish there were more people willing to take that chance, aside from Kanye West and Fred Durst.
After reading and posting in many, many political discussions, and after learning more & more about the media and the way information is presented, it's obvious that people are more focused on justifing their ideology and how it interacts with the world, more than focused on trying to better understand an issue.
Yeah, pretty obvious, right? Well most political discussion have people from both "sides" (a term which only helps to reinforce the idea that there is a right side, and a wrong side) posting arguements other people made in editorals/bloggs that match their own political ideology, without actually trying to understand the arguements and situation itself. From there, it digresses into each person trying to find reactions to each one of the previous op-ed pieces in order to "prove" something. End result, everyone remains polarized and non-critical.
The idea is not to admit to anything as it is a sign of weakness, and to try to "prove" the other person wrong. So in other words, it has nothing to do with trying to change things for the better by becoming more informed and sharing ideas, but a way to stroke the cock of the ego until it shoots out a giant load of spooge.
The last thing I'm suggesting is for people to take the middle road just to avoid confrontation or expressing themselves. Really, that's just as bad. The way I see it, the real format of a discussion is to state how you, as an individual see things as a result of the information you have, and to see how other people interpert your presentation of the information, as well as presenting their own knowledge.
The real problem is the way current news programs tend to operate, which is by the above formula. People latch onto that thrill of competition, and the actual issue is meaningless.
The question is how will this stop, if it will stop? Really, this post is just an excuse to pay tribute to Jon Stewart for blasting the people on Crossfire. He's got fucking guts, and I wish there were more people willing to take that chance, aside from Kanye West and Fred Durst.