Of late, I am increasingly alarmed at how polarized and divided we have become. I look at these hallowed boards as a way to get a look at the gestalt of the, for lack of a better word, collective pulse of the USA and (to a somewhat lesser degree) the world itself. Of late, this has been making me feel increasingly alarmed.
It is not that I have a particular thread that brought this up; rather it is a series of them. It seems to me that, as a collective, we are horribly polarized and unwilling to even consider the point of view of another for fear that it will somehow contaminate us.
And hell, I don’t know, but it feels as if everyone feel under siege somehow. The folks on the left feel horribly under-represented and yet it seems as if the folks on the right are not satisfied either. The god-fearing folk feel as if there way of life is under attack, and yet the secular folk feel threatened to even have to hear about god at all.
And fuck people, what hope then is there? If the SDMB can be seen as sort of a “slice of life” of our nation, then it seems to me that we are flirting with being seriously fucked. How can a culture so divided endure?
I suspect that there’s a lot more cooperation and peaceful cohabiting that occurs IRL than here. Members of my family run the gammut of the political and religious spectrum- we always have a great time when we have holiday get-togethers.
What you have to keep in mind is that message boards (including the SDMB) are places where people can act in ways people generally don’t in face to fact situations.
Let’s face it, there’s only so many times you could inject with “What do you expect from Shrub” or “What do you expect from liberals” before your friends would tell you to shut the fuck up and would start excluding you from activities. But on boards, people feel more free to hit the same note over and over.
It’s a different type of interaction. And I think message boards allow for behaviors that are much too extreme for face to face interaction.
I’ve thought exactly the same thing but exactly from the other side. Left or right,Dem or Rep there is no middle ground on this board. In real life people gravitate to “their kind”. People that share your values and interests are fine but you never learn anything. I originally came to this board on a recommendation off a techboard but I stay because some of the opinions of other members are absolutely insanely ignorant. How can anyone actually believe that bullshit. I cannot for the life of me comprehend the positions some people take but I will if I hang around and pay attention. It’s a peak at human nature you can’t get anywhere else that I know of. Where else can you share your deepest thoughts and get handed your head and be called a dumbass by a perfect stranger.
I’d like to think that one’s reflection on items of contention here doesn’t end with their last post. Hopefully folks here take away a deeper understanding of the views of others than is reflected in the simple defense of their position. I might argue one side of an issue but mull over the views of others over the next several days and have an increased sympathy the next time the subject comes to the forefront.
I fear what you say may be true, thus making the SDMB more important than ever.
So whaddya got against Hegel, anyway? You get your thesis, then it collides with its antithesis, then we come up with synthesis. Case in point: the threads where Scylla and I utted heads over rspect for the dead versus recognition of a legacy of hate. In the end, we managed to combine our respective viewpoints into a mutually acceptable conclusion.
Or to take an alterante view, your position that opposing viewpoints are nonconstructive, seems to resemble that of the Vorlons, who want humans to sit up straight and Obey the Rules. But the Shadows prefer to stimulate growth and development through conflict, so every 1,000 years or so they instigate a galactic war in which the weaker species are weeded out, leaving the remaining races that were stronger and more fit to carry on.
I go with Mao Zedong who said, “Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend!” (Mind you, that was merely a clever ploy to persuade critics of his regime to reveal themselves, then he had them rounded up and shot or sent to labor camps. Heh, heh, heh.)
The discord and rancor that has become more commonplace here is nothing new; I needn’t remind anyone of the January meltdowns, right? But as I said, it is more commonplace, and troubling in that a lot of it is battling soundbites…
“Bush can’t tie his own shoes!”
…versus…
“Clinton is a lying, cheating scumbag!”
with dueling solos on the “Draft dodger” riff both ways…
Ya know what? We’ve heard all the pretzel jokes. We’ve heard all the cigar jokes. We are reminded of them in the media every single day. The media (both liberal and conservative) are pouring gasoline on the fire and laughing their asses off. It sells papers, folks. It gets people to watch whores like O’Really and Begala.
Outrage, no matter what side it’s on, is a Good Thing. It shows you’re paying attention. But always remember that for the most part, the drama is being played on a stage that is beyond our control, and sometimes beyond our comprehension.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that debate and conversation and the occasional argument are vital. But climbing on the ledge or outrage, assuming that you have all the facts from what you’ve been told, does not serve your purposes, or those of the discussion at large.
I’d love to know “everything” about one thing, just one thing… Something useful would be nice, but maybe I can’t afford to be picky, eh?
My own personal theory about the current polarization (politically, anyway) is due to a lack of strong political figures. Democrats don’t have many strong public figures to hold up and be proud of, and Republicans… well, let’s just say that Bush ain’t exactly the most exemplary politician to come down the pike.
The problem isn’t that this is turning the two opposing political sides against each other… the problem is that this has made it utterly and absolutely impossible for either side to even listen to the other. An attitude of “If you’re not with us, you’re against us” has come up. This has made communication, compromise, discussion, and understanding an impossibility.
The problem isn’t disagreement. The second everyone agrees on everything, that’s when I know we’re doing something wrong. The problem is that we can’t RESPECTFULLY disagree. Even if you try, sooner or later some fanatic jumps on you, as if your attempt at a compromise is some sort of weakness to be exploited. There’s no middle ground for some people… they see the world as black or white (no, I’m not gonna name names).
And this isn’t just the Straight Dope. It’s the whole friggin’ country, it seems… at least on some current issues. And with this polarization, it makes it IMPOSSIBLE to bring about change. One side can’t give… BOTH sides have to give, at once, fairly and without malice.
But I’m not a pessimist. This sort of phenomenon is cyclical. I remember a couple years ago, just after the Columbine shootings, when the gun control issue was THE hot-button issue… polarized just as much as current issues about Iraq and the administration. And that issue died down, eventually, and a healthy level of communication was established between the two sides.
Frankly, I see it as little more than an annoying phase, like the Terrible Twos.
