Can right and left agree on anything?

[running_coach]

@doorhinge

(post shortened)

Waiting for the facts and keeping an open mind is not a bad thing. It allows people to continue having open, if (mean?) spirited, conversations. Investigations provide facts. The possibility of compromise provides a little something for me, and a little something for you. That’s got to be better than our current updated 1850’s attitude?

Over time, and by keeping the lines of communication open, the handling of past events has resulted in minds being changed, attitudes were adjusted, and things got better. Not perfect, but better.

Currently, neither side is willing to even listen to the other side. There are people who actually believe that by ridiculing the other side they are actually changings people’s minds. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It’s only served to end the possibility of further conversations.

Says the laughing boy.

[doorhinge]

@Skywatcher

As Webster, that’s been their definition for 100 years.

You still have to make your opinion known or no one will know that you’re opinionated.

[doorhinge]

@iiandyiiii

Is that kind of like how you call our party the “Democrat” party even though we’ve specifically asked you to use the official title of the party (the Democratic party)?

'Cause when members of the other side are unwilling to even extend that most minor and effortless of courtesies, it’s hard to see how engagement and exchange of ideas is possible.

“Our party”? “We’ve specifically”? Are you claiming to speak for the Democrat collective? Good for you.

Engagement is always an option. It’s the civil exchange of ideas that seems to be falling by the wayside. Many on all sides chose to simply ignore the claims/advice/horseshit produced by the other sides. Some even attempt to misdirect the conversation by whining about the Democrat Party.

[Skywatcher]

@doorhinge

You still have to make your opinion known or no one will know that you’re opinionated.

Tell them that. I’m done feeding you.

[Procrustus]

@doorhinge

…the Democrat Party.

Post shortened by 60 words

There are easier ways to proclaim you’re and asshole and your opinions can be safely ignored. But this may none the most effective.

[iiandyiiii]

@doorhinge

“Our party”? “We’ve specifically”? Are you claiming to speak for the Democrat collective? Good for you.

Engagement is always an option. It’s the civil exchange of ideas that seems to be falling by the wayside. Many on all sides chose to simply ignore the claims/advice/horseshit produced by the other sides. Some even attempt to misdirect the conversation by whining about the Democrat Party.

So the answer is that you’re not actually interested in engagement or exchange of ideas; if you were, you wouldn’t be so consistently a jerk.

Not surprising, of course.

[Guest-starring_Id]

::wondering aloud if this thread would’ve gone a bit more swimmingly in either GD or IMHO::

(sure, the OP didn’t start well with such an ineffectual cite - but still, though - there would have been less people calling each other wieners and boogers if this thread was elsewhere, I’d wager)

(and the left and right, instead, would just keep their pies to themselves)

oh I’m no fun, aren’t I.

[tomndebb]

@doorhinge

Waiting for the facts and keeping an open mind is not a bad thing. It allows people to continue having open, if (mean?) spirited, conversations. Investigations provide facts. The possibility of compromise provides a little something for me, and a little something for you. That’s got to be better than our current updated 1850’s attitude?

So? My point was not that waiting for facts or keeping open minds were bad. They were wonderful. However, they were also rare. To the extent that anyone kept an open mind or waited for facts, they were guided by better leaders than we currently have. I am in favor of both more caution and better leaders, but I see no evidence that the majority of earlier people behaved any better, or even any differently, than they do today.

I am definitely in favor of better leadership and more thoughtfulness regarding public discussion. To the extent that we wish that to happen, it will not happen when demagogues on the Left or Right make silly and dishonest claims such as those quoted in the OP.

[tomndebb]

@Guest-starring_Id

::wondering aloud if this thread would’ve gone a bit more swimmingly in either GD or IMHO::

It was opened in GD. However, the quote provided as the seed for discussion was a dishonest example of calumny that derailed the possible discussion from its outset and it was moved
(I moved it) to The BBQ Pit.

A discussion of why the Right and Left see the world differently, with no false claims for either side, might have worked well. (OTOH, the SDMB has enough partisans who can only describe their opponents in the most negative terms, that it had a good chance to fail, anyway.)