Only an idiot would think......

[SavannahMann]

We all have several things in common. Left and Right. Liberal, Libertarian, and Conservative. We all believe in our hearts we are right.

That is fine. It is what makes spirited debates. In the old days, we used elections to show who the people agreed with. The person who lost the election used to say something along the lines of the people have spoken and did not agree with us.

Times changed. We were fair losers and perhaps a little gauche as winners. But the people deciding was no longer the end.

As with most of our political problems we go back to Bill Clinton. After the impeachment of Clinton the Liberals were outraged. It began the era of strident talk. The denigrating of people who disagrees with you. The people of the South need to stop voting God, Guns, and Confederate Flags.

It began the era of anyone who disagrees with me is not just wrong. But evil, socialist, fascist, racist, or determined to destroy America.

Since that time we have added other ist to the labels of our fellow Americans we disagree with. How did this happen? Easy. We began to hate.

A truth that has been proven time and time again in history is this. Be careful what you hate. You will become that which you hate.

The problem is that we don’t hate the reality. We hate the fiction we created about the opposition. Liberals decried some who voted against Obama as Racists. So it became anyone who opposes any policy of his was racist. Conservatives hated the caricature of the Left and soon anyone who is left of the Kaiser was a socialist goon. We hate the reality because we want to believe the fiction.

We isolate ourselves and insure we hear only news and opinions we agree with. The most strident among us anxiously awaits the chance to prove our beliefs. Anti gun and pro gun scour the news for proof that guns take or save lives. Guns don’t do either. It is people.

We used to be Americans first. Not anymore. Now we are politically identified first. Americans if only because the courts won’t let us throw them out. They are traitors. They disagree with me.

 

[MarathonMike]

What is profoundly sad to me is debate itself is dead. Over the years I've seen a tendency for people to become emotionally attached to their political beliefs. That is what IMO killed debate. Who wants to discuss a topic when it deteriorates into a yelling contest?

 

[Bo Didleysquat]

We all have several things in common. Left and Right. Liberal, Libertarian, and Conservative. We all believe in our hearts we are right.

That is fine. It is what makes spirited debates. In the old days, we used elections to show who the people agreed with. The person who lost the election used to say something along the lines of the people have spoken and did not agree with us.

Times changed. We were fair losers and perhaps a little gauche as winners. But the people deciding was no longer the end.

As with most of our political problems we go back to Bill Clinton. After the impeachment of Clinton the Liberals were outraged. It began the era of strident talk. The denigrating of people who disagrees with you. The people of the South need to stop voting God, Guns, and Confederate Flags.

It began the era of anyone who disagrees with me is not just wrong. But evil, socialist, fascist, racist, or determined to destroy America.

Since that time we have added other ist to the labels of our fellow Americans we disagree with. How did this happen? Easy. We began to hate.

A truth that has been proven time and time again in history is this. Be careful what you hate. You will become that which you hate.

The problem is that we don’t hate the reality. We hate the fiction we created about the opposition. Liberals decried some who voted against Obama as Racists. So it became anyone who opposes any policy of his was racist. Conservatives hated the caricature of the Left and soon anyone who is left of the Kaiser was a socialist goon. We hate the reality because we want to believe the fiction.

We isolate ourselves and insure we hear only news and opinions we agree with. The most strident among us anxiously awaits the chance to prove our beliefs. Anti gun and pro gun scour the news for proof that guns take or save lives. Guns don’t do either. It is people.

We used to be Americans first. Not anymore. Now we are politically identified first. Americans if only because the courts won’t let us throw them out. They are traitors. They disagree with me.

Anyone who "believes" anything is lost in hubris and arrogance, which this society rewards. I would suggest giving up believing for thinking.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

We all have several things in common. Left and Right. Liberal, Libertarian, and Conservative. We all believe in our hearts we are right.

That is fine. It is what makes spirited debates. In the old days, we used elections to show who the people agreed with. The person who lost the election used to say something along the lines of the people have spoken and did not agree with us.

Times changed. We were fair losers and perhaps a little gauche as winners. But the people deciding was no longer the end.

As with most of our political problems we go back to Bill Clinton. After the impeachment of Clinton the Liberals were outraged. It began the era of strident talk. The denigrating of people who disagrees with you. The people of the South need to stop voting God, Guns, and Confederate Flags.

It began the era of anyone who disagrees with me is not just wrong. But evil, socialist, fascist, racist, or determined to destroy America.

Since that time we have added other ist to the labels of our fellow Americans we disagree with. How did this happen? Easy. We began to hate.

A truth that has been proven time and time again in history is this. Be careful what you hate. You will become that which you hate.

The problem is that we don’t hate the reality. We hate the fiction we created about the opposition. Liberals decried some who voted against Obama as Racists. So it became anyone who opposes any policy of his was racist. Conservatives hated the caricature of the Left and soon anyone who is left of the Kaiser was a socialist goon. We hate the reality because we want to believe the fiction.

We isolate ourselves and insure we hear only news and opinions we agree with. The most strident among us anxiously awaits the chance to prove our beliefs. Anti gun and pro gun scour the news for proof that guns take or save lives. Guns don’t do either. It is people.

We used to be Americans first. Not anymore. Now we are politically identified first. Americans if only because the courts won’t let us throw them out. They are traitors. They disagree with me.

Why do you leave out the work that Bush II did to divide us? He was every bit as divisive as Obama.

 

[ColonelAngus]

I try to engage liberals on fact based debates on this site constantly.

All I ever get is ORANGE MAN BAD.

 

[berg80]

As with most of our political problems we go back to Bill Clinton.

Nope. We have to go back further than that. The radicalization of the GOP and thus the polarization of our politics began when Reagan repealed the Fairness Doctrine.

How policy decisions spawned today’s hyperpolarized media
The demise of the Fairness Doctrine played an underappreciated role in fomenting media tribalism.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outl...ecisions-spawned-todays-hyperpolarized-media/

"When President Trump finds himself under fire, he turns to Fox News. This past weekend, when the New York Times reported that the FBI had seriously investigated the possibility that the president had been a Russian agent, Trump spoke to his friends at Fox by phone. Host Jeanine Pirro asked sympathetic questions and let the president speak almost uninterrupted, airing his perspective directly to his supporters.

The interview was a stark reminder of just how partisan journalism has become. It’s now the norm. But it’s worth stepping back to remember that this is a recent development, and that the polarization of the media stems in large part from public policy decisions. Such polarization was not inevitable or in any way natural.

In the decades that followed World War II, the big three television networks dominated the news. Together with a few major metropolitan newspapers, they set the tone for the national conversation. On half-hour evening news shows, anchors informed the country as a whole, striving to offer little to no partisan commentary. Sunday morning programs featured interviews with different politicians; occasional specials offered a deep dive on a particular topic. But on virtually all these programs, journalists steered clear of a partisan perspective.

Much of this approach was shaped by the Fairness Doctrine. A policy of the Federal Communications Commission beginning in 1949, the doctrine was based on the notion that the television networks were “public trustees.” Licensed by the federal government, they ought to serve the entire nation, the argument went, by airing competing perspectives on controversial issues. While the policy had been intended to foster a full and fair debate, in practice it led networks to avoid employing anchors or reporters with obvious biases and to play most issues down the middle."

Reagan repealed it, setting in motion the rise of right wing talk radio and the introduction of Faux on to the TV "news" landscape.

 

[Bo Didleysquat]

And of course there's The Powell Memorandum.

 

[JustAGuy1]

The "Fairness" Doctrine was/is anything BUT "fair". Children are obsessed with "fairness"

 

[bluzman61]

I try to engage liberals on fact based debates on this site constantly.

All I ever get is ORANGE MAN BAD.

This is VERY true. Just mentioning Donald Trump's name triggers them. TDS is QUITE real.

 

[berg80]

The "Fairness" Doctrine was/is anything BUT "fair". Children are obsessed with "fairness"

And right wing ideologues are obsessed with being able to spew lies with impunity.

 

[berg80]

I try to engage liberals on fact based debates on this site constantly.

All I ever get is ORANGE MAN BAD.

This is VERY true. Just mentioning Donald Trump's name triggers them. TDS is QUITE real.

Yes, Trump Denial Syndrome is rampant among The Following.

 

[bluzman61]

I try to engage liberals on fact based debates on this site constantly.

All I ever get is ORANGE MAN BAD.

This is VERY true. Just mentioning Donald Trump's name triggers them. TDS is QUITE real.

Yes, Trump Denial Syndrome is rampant among The Following.

Oh, Bergy, you ARE a brainwashed liberal lunatic. Good luck with that.

 

[JustAGuy1]

The "Fairness" Doctrine was/is anything BUT "fair". Children are obsessed with "fairness"

And right wing ideologues are obsessed with being able to spew lies with impunity.

LOL, says the little boy who says he wants to shut down voices he doesn't like. You kids think you are SO "right" about everything that it justifies you using the Law to coerce everyone else into your way of thinking or else. You really are a sad thing to behold.

 

[Circe]

As with most of our political problems we go back to Bill Clinton. After the impeachment of Clinton the Liberals were outraged. It began the era of strident talk.

Nice OP! But I think you are implying that the left was so angry about Clinton's impeachment that they now are impeaching Trump on trumped-up grounds. Interesting. I hadn't thought of it lately, but at the time when Clinton was impeached, I knew this would happen. It's happening all over the world: opponents are all trying to get the "wrong" people out of office on the cheap with corruption charges, so they can overturn elections. Democracy is being fought by the Left.

We isolate ourselves and insure we hear only news and opinions we agree with. The most strident among us anxiously awaits the chance to prove our beliefs. Anti gun and pro gun scour the news for proof that guns take or save lives. Guns don’t do either. It is people.

Problem: your gun opinion there is a right-wing position. People are so sure they are right they don't even see what side they are on, sometimes. I don't disagree with you at all, but since 2016 and all the frenzied Leftists turning on me that year and next, even in person -- I no longer want to hear anything leftists have to say! The point is allies. Never mind who is right or what is true: the question is, what side are you on and with whom will you fight? I'll fight with the Right, and for Trump, and I am not interested in nitpicking or undermining anyone on my side. On my side, good enough. .

[auote] We used to be Americans first. Not anymore. Now we are politically identified first. Americans if only because the courts won’t let us throw them out. They are traitors. They disagree with me.[/QUOTE]

Sure. As for throwing them out, ah, that we only could. We have to be politically identified so we can find the side that isn't trying to destroy us. I suggest not being too nostalgic for the old days of discussion: that is gone, and there have been several times this has happened and one of them resulted in a civil war. (The near-misses were 1936 and Vietnam.) Let's just hope we don't have an external war ---- when this kind of division happened to France, the Blitzkrieg over ran them in ten days.

 

[Norman]

I try to engage liberals on fact based debates on this site constantly.

All I ever get is ORANGE MAN BAD.

This is VERY true. Just mentioning Donald Trump's name triggers them. TDS is QUITE real.

Yes, Trump Denial Syndrome is rampant among The Following.

Trump Derangement Syndrome, you have it.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

We all have several things in common. Left and Right. Liberal, Libertarian, and Conservative. We all believe in our hearts we are right.

That is fine. It is what makes spirited debates. In the old days, we used elections to show who the people agreed with. The person who lost the election used to say something along the lines of the people have spoken and did not agree with us.

Times changed. We were fair losers and perhaps a little gauche as winners. But the people deciding was no longer the end.

As with most of our political problems we go back to Bill Clinton. After the impeachment of Clinton the Liberals were outraged. It began the era of strident talk. The denigrating of people who disagrees with you. The people of the South need to stop voting God, Guns, and Confederate Flags.

It began the era of anyone who disagrees with me is not just wrong. But evil, socialist, fascist, racist, or determined to destroy America.

Since that time we have added other ist to the labels of our fellow Americans we disagree with. How did this happen? Easy. We began to hate.

A truth that has been proven time and time again in history is this. Be careful what you hate. You will become that which you hate.

The problem is that we don’t hate the reality. We hate the fiction we created about the opposition. Liberals decried some who voted against Obama as Racists. So it became anyone who opposes any policy of his was racist. Conservatives hated the caricature of the Left and soon anyone who is left of the Kaiser was a socialist goon. We hate the reality because we want to believe the fiction.

We isolate ourselves and insure we hear only news and opinions we agree with. The most strident among us anxiously awaits the chance to prove our beliefs. Anti gun and pro gun scour the news for proof that guns take or save lives. Guns don’t do either. It is people.

We used to be Americans first. Not anymore. Now we are politically identified first. Americans if only because the courts won’t let us throw them out. They are traitors. They disagree with me.

 

[BluesLegend]

What is profoundly sad to me is debate itself is dead. Over the years I've seen a tendency for people to become emotionally attached to their political beliefs. That is what IMO killed debate. Who wants to discuss a topic when it deteriorates into a yelling contest?

NO what killed debate is asshole Democrats breaking every compromise agreement first chance they get and laughing about how dumb Republicans were to fall for it. You CAN'T compromise with backstabbers like that.

 

[BluesLegend]

The "Fairness" Doctrine was/is anything BUT "fair". Children are obsessed with "fairness"

And right wing ideologues are obsessed with being able to spew lies with impunity.

^^^ liberal projection at its finest.

 

[JWBooth]

We all have several things in common. Left and Right. Liberal, Libertarian, and Conservative. We all believe in our hearts we are right.

I hold no belief that I am right, but it is clear that the rest of you assholes are wrong.

 

[bluzman61]

We all have several things in common. Left and Right. Liberal, Libertarian, and Conservative. We all believe in our hearts we are right.

I hold no belief that I am right, but it is clear that the rest of you assholes are wrong.

Says the asshole.............