+- CSNbbs (https://csnbbs.com)
+-- Forum: Active Boards (/forum-769.html)
+--- Forum: Lounge (/forum-564.html)
+---- Forum: The Kyra Memorial Spin Room (/forum-540.html)
+----- Forum: The Buckley-Vidal No Spin Room (/forum-970.html)
+----- Thread: The Battle Cry of the Politically Homeless (/thread-900192.html)
The Battle Cry of the Politically Homeless - georgia_tech_swagger - 05-28-2020 05:10 PM
https://spectator.us/battle-cry-politically-homeless/
Quote:Anyone moderate with a brain and anything to lose has largely gone silent
Like millions of other Americans, I’m exhausted. But I’m not tired from #Resisting or tired from screaming at a MAGA rally. I’m tired of the toxic tribalism infecting the very foundations of our democracy, straining our relationships, and poisoning our view of our fellow humans.
I’m tired of everyone being outraged, getting worked up over the latest news cycle only to forget about it two hours later. Tired of being afraid to voice my own opinions, of knowing how saying the wrong thing at a barbecue while someone is filming on their iPhone could result in a nationwide clarion call for my head on a pike. I’m tired of rage mobs and cancelations.
2016 was the breaking point, or at least a watershed moment, when the vilification of diverse opinion exploded. Trump vs. Hillary forced everything into a binary, and suddenly bipartisanship and moderation became radical positions to take.
Now, you aren’t just voting out of habit or, God forbid, voting for your own interests. Every vote is considered a statement on your personal identity and worth. Your value, who you are, what kind of world you want, whether or not you’re a good person or an evil person…it all boils down to which lever you pull. Damn your reasons. Vote for the ‘right’ person, or else you are a fascist, or a racist, or a globalist, or a communist.
Politically disinterested citizens like me have increasingly been pulled off the sidelines and into this incredibly divisive political climate, unwilling combatants in a battle fought among fiercely partisan tribes. Many are being bullied into involving themselves in the process, because intolerance and shaming have become features of the American life. Thanks in no small part to social media, the simple act of expressing your opinion, or even going so far as to ask questions, has begun to negatively affect lives and destroy people.
You may have once fancied yourself a good progressive,while also having the opinion that there are only two genders. Or you may describe yourself as a staunch conservative, but tend to think racial targeting by police is a problem. Or the cardinal sin: you may have decided to vote for a candidate you felt better represented your concerns.
RE: The Battle Cry of the Politically Homeless - JRsec - 05-28-2020 08:01 PM
(05-28-2020 05:10 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote: https://spectator.us/battle-cry-politically-homeless/
Quote:Anyone moderate with a brain and anything to lose has largely gone silent
Like millions of other Americans, I’m exhausted. But I’m not tired from #Resisting or tired from screaming at a MAGA rally. I’m tired of the toxic tribalism infecting the very foundations of our democracy, straining our relationships, and poisoning our view of our fellow humans.
I’m tired of everyone being outraged, getting worked up over the latest news cycle only to forget about it two hours later. Tired of being afraid to voice my own opinions, of knowing how saying the wrong thing at a barbecue while someone is filming on their iPhone could result in a nationwide clarion call for my head on a pike. I’m tired of rage mobs and cancelations.
2016 was the breaking point, or at least a watershed moment, when the vilification of diverse opinion exploded. Trump vs. Hillary forced everything into a binary, and suddenly bipartisanship and moderation became radical positions to take.
Now, you aren’t just voting out of habit or, God forbid, voting for your own interests. Every vote is considered a statement on your personal identity and worth. Your value, who you are, what kind of world you want, whether or not you’re a good person or an evil person…it all boils down to which lever you pull. Damn your reasons. Vote for the ‘right’ person, or else you are a fascist, or a racist, or a globalist, or a communist.
Politically disinterested citizens like me have increasingly been pulled off the sidelines and into this incredibly divisive political climate, unwilling combatants in a battle fought among fiercely partisan tribes. Many are being bullied into involving themselves in the process, because intolerance and shaming have become features of the American life. Thanks in no small part to social media, the simple act of expressing your opinion, or even going so far as to ask questions, has begun to negatively affect lives and destroy people.
You may have once fancied yourself a good progressive,while also having the opinion that there are only two genders. Or you may describe yourself as a staunch conservative, but tend to think racial targeting by police is a problem. Or the cardinal sin: you may have decided to vote for a candidate you felt better represented your concerns.
That is the essence of Political Correctness as conceived of by Joseph Goebbels and it was designed to be a cultural gestalt whereby the implications and implementation of it could not be questioned. You either agree with the party or keep silent. He specifically envisioned it as a way of shutting down debate lest one stand accused.
We genocide babies, are pushing eugenics, have become doctrinaire to the point of stifling free speech, march lockstep, ignore facts and teach policy, discourage free thought, and stopped teaching individual reason and critical thought.
Frequently it makes me ponder why we even tried to defeat Hitler, we've become more like him than ever including importing Islamic Fascists with anti-Semitic views. Now there is a war on organized religion right out of the Third Reich where only state sponsored churches were given a voice.
So either we must admit that Hitler's only crime was being 70 years ahead of his time, or we need to take a very close look at what we are becoming. And I believe without question it is the latter and not the former.
RE: The Battle Cry of the Politically Homeless - Captain Bearcat - 05-29-2020 01:56 PM
Quote:Anyone moderate with a brain and anything to lose has largely gone silent
"Moderate" has nothing to do with it. "Moderate" implies that you think both sides have a fair point to make, and that the best solution lies in the middle.
But it's ridiculous to state that there's only two possible political ideologies, and that people who disagree with both are "moderate."
People divide on so many different topics that aren't correlated at all. The Germans have 6 large political parties that all disagree on most of their platforms. India has 8 national parties. Israel has 14 at the moment.
A student of mine once thanked me for introducing him to Libertarian arguments (which is part of my class because we talk about who controls a corporation's actions and the ethical reasons why Chapter 1 of the text says that the goal of a firm should be to maximize shareholder wealth). He stated that he "had no idea there was an organized ideology that represented indecisive moderates."
I replied back that he probably only thinks of himself as a moderate because he disagreed with the only two perspectives the media presented him with, and he only thinks he's indecisive because he found it difficult to choose between them.