We have now watched another election come and go. We have watched our nation polarized by vague terminology.
What do we do next. If we believe in the potential for democracy… what do we do?
Very simply… we destroy the walls. (Bless you Pink Floyd) We make every single person reconsider that the wall they have been surrounding is between two uglier walls. Walls that neither side may want to crawl over to take the extreme position.
Well gosh.. how do you do that? People don’t want to think, people don’t want to put effort in?
Okay.. we do the thinking for the people who don’t want to think and then put them to the task of once again taking a side.
Huh?
Take every hot button issue you can find. The hotter the better. Take issues that you know will incite violence between the fundamentalists of each side.
Now take each issue apart. Dig deeper. Find out what’s really at stake. Find a definition of each side that has two sides to it and make sure that each side has a very dark anti-american spin to it. Preferably putting the more anti-american spin on the more extreme side of supporting one side or the other of the original issue. Every issue has a measure of “having your cake and eating it too.”, the problem is that each side has swept the downside of their platform under the rug. So, now it’s time to show them both sides of their own side and see if they really believe in their side and really believe that is “american” in nature.
You may think.. but no one cares. The truth is… in each side there are people who care about these issues who do have a brain. Some will begin to see past it. And no one like feeling stupid for being left behind. (Well, yes… there’s blah… But the real question about blah is to you blah or blah). Maybe we re-polarize… maybe we fracture the two sides. (Divide and conquer)
This is obviously not as easy as it sounds. But then again, most people will be content just accepting things as it stands and watching the same map in 4 more years.
So, I ask you now… right, left, conservative, liberal, libertarian….
What were the issues that people disagreed with this time? Don’t try to analyze them… just list everything you can think of. What were the issues that made you pick your side? What were the issues that made others pick their side? What were the issues you gave to argue their issues? What were the issues that they gave that argued with you? What were the issues that you felt got ignored?
Answers people. And to be honest. Here’s the real gauge. The future of this country. The chance for change depends entirely on the responses to this.
Don’t feel like responding? Apathy lets the false polarization win.
Don’t know what the issues are? Naivety lets the false polarization win.
Don’t feel your voice can help? Having no voice reduces democracy.
Don’t think your issues are wrong? Shortsightedness lets the false polarization win.
So… now that you all felt the need to vote… Do you all still feed the need to have your voices heard? Then don’t quit.
As long as there is injustice, whenever a … baby cries out, wherever a distress signal sounds …, we’ll be there… Never give up… and never surrender.
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I think you’re going to need some examples here. If you’re up to it, consider a monthly post where you do this dissection of an issue, perhaps in a community where folks can subscribe, and the propogate the dissection out.
Screw “monthly”. Post now. Let’s talk this out, man. :}
Agreed, but now…
Answer the questions. What are the issues?
Personally I think the questions were fairly straightforward.
What issues do you feel specifically polarized the election?
I don’t believe a month is necessary. I believe the second we name an issue we can start teraing it apart.
I do agree that a different forum may be necessary.
abortion
gay rights
Gay marriage and abortion, in that order.
Have you not considered …
that it is absolutely necessary to have this polarization in order for movement? That we are a contentious species that loves fussin’ and fightin’ so much that we are willing to rip each others’ lungs out over differences of opinion as to God’s “real” name?
We have so-called “issues” so we can have an excuse to fight. Or play poker. Otherwise, we’d have to be honest enough to quit pretending we’re not Klingons.
Re: Have you not considered …
Were this a black and white world, I would agree with you.
But to drive the world by instigating fear and hate? That’s tantamount to rule by superstition. It doesn’t seem in anyway to reflect the concept of civilization and only seems to push a people towards (what I feel) may result in another civil war.
Is law and order only borne on the wings of fanaticism quelling fanatacism?
Re: Have you not considered …
Nope. And we can get many things done much more constructively by cooperating in tearing apart the issues, for a purpose, than by fighting tooth and nail to make sure the other side knows we’re right and they’re wrong.
Per the pundits and the pollsters, Bush voters have a strong sense of Bush as being the more moral leader (abortion, stem cell research, gay marriage, etc) and also felt Bush would keep us safer from terrorism (thank you bin Ladin for your campaign contributions.)
Kerry voters focused on the economy, healthcare and other domestic issues.
There is no way I can see to deal with the morality issues. People operating from a Christian-right influenced base are not going to be persuaded by my arguments. We don’t have enough consensual reality to even talk with each other sensibly.
And this is where I agree wholeheartedly. My own parents had signs on their lawn saying “God supports Bush because Bush supports God.”
I grew up a believer, in a Southern Baptist home. I can speak their language, but if I am limited to their language than there are concepts that I cannot discuss with them. (Although I think if I could time alone with my mother frequently over the next few years I could make some headway; we are a lot alike.)
And if I can’t succeed with my parents, whom I know better than any other fundamentalist, how do I reach the others?
I think there are ways to reach those people. It may be quite a bit more difficult because of their limited understanding of the world, but I still think there are ways. And I think if you come at it from the perspective of a group of people dedicated to FINDING that way, who knows?
People convert to new religions every day. Hell, PC users become Mac users. Something just has to appeal to their inner-them. :}