Where we've been led

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

By Richard Anderson

I know I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, so maybe the following revelation is old news. On the other hand, maybe there are some who hadn’t thought of this or who maybe hadn’t thought of it in quite these terms. In any case, run this up the ol’ flagpole:

As you know, I have oft lamented the tone of the discourse on the so-called blogosphere, that electronic nether-place where anyone with a computer and an opinion (and who doesn’t have both of those these days) can chime in or shout out or rave on about everything from the latest 9/11 conspiracy to why they are superior to everyone else.

All too often, in my experience, anyway, the electronic conversation turns nasty. More often than not, anonymous readers and writers use this miraculous digital age tool to slice each other to ribbons, to excoriate one another for daring to voice an opinion, to find fault with their every electronic utterance, to try to make themselves seem so much better and smarter by cutting everyone else down.

Now, I like good, fun conversation. I enjoy being challenged intellectually. I have fond childhood memories of sitting around the dinner table with my family, arguing about politics, religion, art, science. But I have never been so shocked and horrified as I was by the meanness, the name-calling, the hubris and the just plain rudeness of the “dialog” I have encountered on the internet. What, I wondered time and time again, could explain this bile, the anger, the arrogance?

The rudeness, of course, is not confined to cyberspace. Writers of letters to editors do not hesitate to spew invective, resorting to crude insults rather than counter another’s argument with reason and fact.

And the media is full of such wags who have achieved celebrity status with such stuff  – partisan spin that thrives on a society in which readers don’t bother to check facts or question allegations; baseless vituperation that columnists and broadcast personalities pass off as entertainment or, worse, political analysis; blatant, empty rhetoric carefully designed to strike just the right nerve, to elicit just the right knee-jerk reaction, so that our response comes out of our mouth and is used against us before we even realize what we’ve said.

How on Earth did we get to this sad state of affairs? Well, it just recently dawned on me, duh! It’s our “leaders,” friend! Just look at the death spiral politics – and in particular political campaigning – is in. If there is a limit to how low a presidential candidate will stoop to discredit and destroy an opponent, we have yet to see it. Even members of the same party are not above attempted character assassination of their rivals. We call them our leaders and indeed, because they dominate the media to the extent that they do, they lead us. Unfortunately they are leading us – all of us: right, left, old, young, idealists, cynics – into the gutter.

Are there options out there, candidates who have claimed and successfully held the high ground? I’m sure there are. Do they stand a chance of winning high office? I’m fear their chances are slim given what passes for discussion and debate today.
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Where we've been led | Planet JH News Article: Editorial

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