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State of our Nation

urfan1

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Moderator
Jan 9, 2003
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I am very concerned about the state of our nation, and not because Biden is our President, or because Trump was our President. I am concerned because we have adopted an attitude of "my way/believe is the only correct one, anybody who disagrees with me is wrong".

Some say it is because of social media, I believe that has accelerated our division. And I believe there are outside forces feeding this division, after all if they can cause us to destroy our own country from within without firing a shot, how great for them. I read an interesting Op Ed a few weeks ago placing much of the blame on our primary system, because in many areas only the extremes of a party can win a nomination and hence you have two extremes battling one another in the election. I used to believe only a third party would solve this issue but if that party becomes ruled by its extremes we have not accomplished much.

We need to listen to our friends with an open mind, and even if we disagree we should maintain our friendship. I believe we made one perfect person and crucified him. If we expect perfection we will be very lonely.
 
We need more of this attitude: Commonly attributed to Voltaire is the saying “I may disagree with you, but I defend to the death your right to say it.” (Author Evelyn Beatrice Hall attributed the saying to Voltaire in her work The Friends of Voltaire [1906]). Freedom of speech applies to you and not only to those who agree with you, but also to those with whom you disagree.
 
We need to listen to our friends with an open mind, and even if we disagree we should maintain our friendship. I believe we made one perfect person and crucified him. If we expect perfection we will be very lonely.
Amen. Civility is the lubricant of a civil society.
 
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Voltaire,as you may or may not know,lived during the Age of Enlightenment in the early 1700s In France.

Voltaire wouldn’t buy the right to continuously lie as an individual right.He would not buy the right of an individual to be duplicitous.He lastly wouldn’t buy the right of an individual to repeatedly ignore truths which are self evident.

Voltaire’s own idealism would be squashed and drowned out by today’s antivaxer,antimask,antitruth brigade whose underpinnings are based on the
political rhetoric of ignorance.
 
Voltaire’s own idealism would be squashed and drowned out by today’s antivaxer,antimask,antitruth brigade whose underpinnings are based on the
political rhetoric of ignorance.
Wood Hall, I think you missed the point of this thread.

We need to listen to our friends with an open mind, and even if we disagree we should maintain our friendship. I believe we made one perfect person and crucified him. If we expect perfection we will be very lonely.
 
I am very concerned about the state of our nation, and not because Biden is our President, or because Trump was our President. I am concerned because we have adopted an attitude of "my way/believe is the only correct one, anybody who disagrees with me is wrong".

Some say it is because of social media, I believe that has accelerated our division. And I believe there are outside forces feeding this division, after all if they can cause us to destroy our own country from within without firing a shot, how great for them. I read an interesting Op Ed a few weeks ago placing much of the blame on our primary system, because in many areas only the extremes of a party can win a nomination and hence you have two extremes battling one another in the election. I used to believe only a third party would solve this issue but if that party becomes ruled by its extremes we have not accomplished much.

We need to listen to our friends with an open mind, and even if we disagree we should maintain our friendship. I believe we made one perfect person and crucified him. If we expect perfection we will be very lonely.

I share your concerns. It's not only social media, but the media, in general. There are few places to turn for, simply, "the news" without an opinion.

This all leads to an inability to tackle our real programs - unbalanced budgets, unfunded social program promises, severe income inequality. Absent a willingness to make some bargains, these problems will never be solved.

A great start would be getting our elected representatives to actually govern ... and not just whine/embarrass the other side in the media/social media ... and feel like they're doing something useful for us. Unfortunately, we probably get what we deserve from our politicians.

I still think the USA is the greatest country in the world. But there are a lot of things we are just not doing well right now.
 
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Just something to think about. You need a professional license to be an electrician, plumber, mechanic, doctor, accountant, teacher, financial advisor, lawyer, etc. nearly every profession. Yet, there are not any licensing bodies for journalists or governing officials. Maybe it’s a start - make people pass a test, do training, etc to have a license to be eligible for those jobs. And hopefully that means reporters actually provide news and not entertainment and likewise government governs rather than fundraise/entertain.
 
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The problem is TV. When CNN was the only all news station, it did a very good job covering the news all day. Then Fox News came along and introduced opinion shows intermingled with news shows. Other networks did the same. People generally weren't smart enough to understand the difference, or they assumed that if an opinion host had a certain viewpoint, the entire network must have the same viewpoint -- even the reporters. Eventually that became truth on TV. Now we have a bunch of TV networks that have been completely shaped by their opinion hosts.

Thirty years ago, the SCC would have dumped such huge fines on networks for doing a lot of the stuff they now do that they'd have ceased to exist. I mean hell, Fox News's own attorneys argued in a court of law that no reasonable person would take what Tucker Carlson says seriously, but he has the most popular show on cable so he stays on the air unfiltered, largely making things up and scaring people with garbage. Other networks have equally partisan hosts, though none that I know of have had to make such an egregious admission in court.

Point is, TV skewed perceptions and created this soundbite, manipulative would we now live in, and there's no putting the toothpaste back in the tube. Instead of believing that news that they may not personally like could actually be accurate, people now simply dismiss it as fake and seek out any coverage somewhere else that makes them believe their own opinion is correct. No one is willing to accept that they might be wrong. People now use the media to fit their own agendas and dismiss it when it doesn't.

We now live in a world where facts are almost irrelevant. The fact is that 2+2=4, but some people will argue that in their opinion 2+2=57 and how dare you try to criticize them for having that opinion. Not really sure what to do with that.
 
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Yet you skew perceptions in your own post, EL....you slam Fox News twice in your post and praise CNN.
 
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There are no longer statesman, who will buck their own party, to do the right thing.
Where are the men like Daniel Webster or Henry Clay, or Sam Nunn and John Warner, or John McCain? Many in the Senate, and indeed those in power, are now beholden to the special interests that fund their campaigns. John McCain or Sam Nunn would not have allowed Biden to do what he did.
 
Yet you skew perceptions in your own post, EL....you slam Fox News twice in your post and praise CNN.
I pretty clearly said that CNN used to be solid. The Fox example was not "slamming" them. That's actually my whole point. They themselves argued in court that no one should believe what their most popular talking head says every night. And yet people still act like it's gospel. Other networks have talking heads who are only providing views from the left, which is also contributing to the problem.
 
I do not understand why there is not more concern about terror groups reconstituting in Afghanistan. Why isnt there concern about how we uncut our NATO allies with the Afghan withdrawal? Where are the statesmen who care?
 
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