Robert F. Kennedy once said, “What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents."
If your political heroes spend more time vilifying their opponents than they do explaining the virtues and examining the costs and benefits of their own philosophy, you should probably look for a different set of heroes.
And to make it perfectly clear, I'm talking to conservatives and liberals.
Turn off the negative radio shows. Turn off your side's negative news channel. Look in the mirror and do some homework on yourself.
1 comment:
They give us the fear and division because we demand it. When people genuinely try to discuss the issues and devise workable solutions, we find it boring. That's why meaningful stuff gets stuck on C-SPAN. But name-calling and demonizing bring ratings. And ad revenue. It's no coincidence that so many of the biggest talk radio and TV pundits - from Limbaugh to Olbermann to Beck - are ex-sports radio shock jocks. They built a career stirring up arguments about ball players, pitting fan bases against one another. They do the same thing now only with bigger "teams" - one half the country against the other half. Whenever they are cornered on their credentials they always say, "Hey. I'm just an entertainer!" And that's the bottom line. We use our political affiliation as an attempt to bring the illusion of some order and control to a scary world. Good guys versus bad guys. Black and white. Us versus them. But we're really all on the same team. And only when we allow the other side to be human do we see that each side has key pieces that will help solve the puzzles.
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