Monday, January 7, 2008
Why are people afraid to deliberate?
It appears that people are afraid to think much less speak about tough issues that are all around us. We shelter ourselves with meaningless conversations about sports and pop culture. Perhaps I am in the wrong social circles or perhaps I do not pose the right questions to my circles, but participating in intelligent conversation and engagement with people about American politics is difficult. Take my blog for instance:)
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7 comments:
it's not that people are "afraid" to talk about these issues joe...what boils down to it,is that we are living out our american culture to the finest degree possible. haha. it's funny that you say that. how much is too much mental masterbation? seriously come on now. ps also you are annoying with your blog.relax. you are not going to waste away and have the world crush you in...smile for me. pps i am not editting this nor am i going to consider that i have slept 4 hrs in the past 24 hrs and have no language skills...
there is no such things as american politics, it is all for show...american politics is a joke. how can anyone really take it seriously..
First off, I do not think that American politics is dead, it may be dying in my estimation, but it is recoverable. I think American politics is worth the recovery. Our generation is tainted about American politics because we saw many before us pander to special interest groups that could show their weight financially, however, I challenge our generation to begin to speak out against special interest groups and have our voices truly heard. If we want an American President that properly speaks for us then we need to deliberate with our friends, our co-workers, and our politicians. Politics starts with you!
I am not sure what it means to live out the American culture. In viewing the Europeans they have deep rooted cultures shaped by hundreds of years. What is our country's culture? Jazz, blues, hot dogs, and hamburgers? I think our country is really come to terms with what are values are and we seem utterly confused. As much as I am an advocate for an end to mental masterbation, I do not think this is something so esoteric. I think it is real from people not being properly insured to a widening gap between poor and rich separated by education. Try again anonymous:)
Joe agree with you that apathy and distraction are major problems. People pay too much attention to Hollywood and not enough attention to Washington. I felt this in an acute way a few years ago when my brother-in-law was sent to Iraq. I was still dazed and upset after the send off ceremony when I got home. I flipped on the TV for lack of a better idea of what to do and the first thing I saw was some bad advertisement for some new stupid sitcom. The anger I felt was indescribable. Here people were watching some stupid show that should never have existed and my brother-in-law was going to Iraq. None of the pop culture stuff MATTERED at all. I think it is fine to enjoy some occasional recreation but it should NEVER be to the extent where people lose track of what is affecting their lives.
On a more positive note, I think people are figuring that out because voter turnout is increasing.
I did hear that voter turnout is increasing and I am happy. The next question has to be...is that electorate educated. I might be asking for too much considering that I would have to define when someone is educated on politics, but on the surface I am glad that more people are voting. People need to understand and take advantages of their choices.
There is no doubt that mental masturbation is a problem, but like regular masturbation, it's fine in moderation. People like their comfort zone and it is way easier to talk about something simple than to mentally engage in a debate.
Another issue seems to be that when people debate, they don't debate like they should. Instead of respecting other people's viewpoints, they will sometimes take the opposing perspective as a personal attack. I think some of it stems from the personal attacks that we see in politics. For example, supporters of the war are labeled as killers of American troops, while the anti-war crowd is "unpatriotic".
Second point: politics have always been corrupt and they arguably less corrupt now than they were a hundred years ago. The difference is that television has fused Hollywood and politics into a disastrous combination. It started with Kennedy defeating Nixon in the TV debates, even though those who listened on radio thought that Nixon had won the debate. This has spread like the plague so that our "debates" are scripted like movies and are impossible to win. You can only lose a debate these days, and the way to lose is by committing some made-for-TV slip-up. Think of Bob Dole falling off the stage or the Howard "Dean Scream". Did these moments actually have to do with politics? No, they would have bee frivolous in previous days. Back in the day, the media hid FDR's ailments, today, the tabloids would have given him polio before it actually happened!!!
Ok, I better stop, I'm getting angry.
I feel like voter turnout is only the first step. Right now, people are still making most of their political decisions based on a Hollywood mentality and I don't see this changing yet. The media needs to take the first step and stop reporting useless news like who Tom Cruise endorses for president. Nobody informed actually cares.
I see some positive signs, but it is clear that none of the frontrunners offer anything different than previous elections, and even if they did, the corrupt congress would prevent anything from getting done. Stupid human nature.
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