Frustrated by extremism....

[emilybh]

Originally Posted by eastwesteastagain

I'm posting here in response to some inflammatory name-calling by both left- and right-leaning folks in one of the state forums. I thought this would be a more appropriate forum for my question, which is this:

Are there still Americans out there who can have a serious disagreement without resorting to "name-calling"?

I am really concerned about the future of our country if we can't get it together enough to talk TO and not AT each other (and I think the extremes on both right and left, not to mention the media, are all guilty of this).

It frustrates me to no end when we spend so much time bickering with each other that the substance of problems can't be addressed. Am I alone in this? Is there anyone out there who shares my frustration?

I agree with you. It is very difficult to be direct and honest these days without offending someone. Heaven Forbid someone's precious feelings would be hurt for a few seconds! It is one of the ways we are losing our freedom of speech. We arene't supposed to utter a word that isn't politically correct. The moderators always seem to side with the person who complains so the person with the good idea never gets a chance to express it.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by emilybh

I agree with you. It is very difficult to be direct and honest these days without offending someone. Heaven Forbid someone's precious feelings would be hurt for a few seconds! It is one of the ways we are losing our freedom of speech. We arene't supposed to utter a word that isn't politically correct. The moderators always seem to side with the person who complains so the person with the good idea never gets a chance to express it.

So we're supposed to feel free to tell everyone their ideas are stupid, the party they support is lazy, or heartless, etc? We're talking about trying to be more civil, not less. Sometimes it's not what you say, it's how you say it.

[eastwesteastagain]

Originally Posted by TnHilltopper

Extremism is the logical result of binary thinking. When we condense the world down to left and right, black and white, good and evil, this and that, what else could the result be?

As I just recently posted in another similar thread and I'll offer to you as well, my own thoughts on discourse in America and some of the responses we came up with.

//www.city-data.com/forum/polit...e-america.html

I could not agree with you more. Thank you for posting this. I also believe that basic education must include skills such as critical thinking, reasoning and logical debate, if we are to evaluate information for ourselves rather than blindly parrot what we hear.

Particularly in light of the access of information at this juncture in history, I believe it is essential that people be able to evaluate the quality of an information source and differentiate between fact and opinion.

I love that as Americans we can hold and express strong and disparate beliefs. It's not as though this is a new phenomenon in our national history. I just think longingly of a time when mud slinging involved saying things like "you are not a gentleman" rather than the circus of vitriolic insults we seem to have now.

Edit: As an afterthought, I wonder if discourse included more identification of facts as facts and beliefs as beliefs (both of which I believe are important), we could begin to have more civilized disagreements.....