Saturday, August 18, 2012

Civil discourse

On Facebook this morning a friend and neighbor said she is tired of the snarky mud-slinging and name-calling that so often passes for political discourse, and she is omitting from her list of Facebook friends people who engage in this kind of bad behavior.
Good for her! You may dislike a candidate, but please don't call him or her "an idiot." Totally inappropriate. Show some respect and civility. Every day I see otherwise intelligent people, of all political persuasions, using just plain mean terms that would get the Young Relative in trouble for bullying at his school.
And before you share sensationalist, scare-mongering malarkey about "war" on this, that, or the other group or "he will gut" this, that, or the other program ... please remember that most of it's trumped-up spin concocted by highly paid political operatives.
I've been "on the inside" in a few community controversies and I'm always astonished and appalled at how much total balderdash is put out there as fact, and how many people believe the hyperbole without questioning it.
All that the nasty slogans and immature caricatures (say, making fun of President Obama's ears or comparing Paul Ryan to Eddie Munster) do is contribute to poisonous polarization and mask the truth that most of us, actually, agree on quite a lot of the issues.
And why do so many folks quote TV comedians, actors and celebrities as if their opinions are gospel? Since when are they experts? They're entertainers, people! HELLO!
OK. Carry on. Less than three months til the election.

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