Thursday, May 25, 2006
Elevating the Qaulity of Discourse:
I love web logs. They are a natural extension of the World Wide Web (WWW) as a communication medium. There are some brilliant political and/or sociological blogs by people who might never get a job at a “mainstream” paper, or even get their views published as independent journalists. They are intelligent, insightful and thought provoking. Often they call attention to something the mass media fails to tell us.
“If it bleeds it leads:”
So let’s talk about the mass media for a moment. The editors at the Washington Post and Fox News exhort their reporters to cause an emotional reaction with every single story, mostly a negative one. Fear and Anger. They really don’t care about their readers or they would not cause this needless negativity just to sell their product. They hire people with questionable journalistic backgrounds who have axes to grind, people who care nothing about integrity or honesty.
I believe people are tired of negativity, shouting and being whipped into a frenzy. I believe there will be a backlash against the mass media outlets in the near future. Personally, I would love to see AOL Time Warner, The Washington Post, Fox News and their ilk pushed out of business – but I’m not holding my breath waiting for that to happen. At the most they may be forced to retool, fire a few of their worst, and change the way they present the news. It may be a pipe dream but stranger things have happened. When you put out all that negativity it will eventually come back to haunt you. Such is the nature of karma.
Reaction and discussion:
As it has been pointed out to me by some very astute friends and colleagues, even at the founding of this country (America) people in the public eye behaved badly. Argument became personal attack and character assassination. In our modern era, this form of discourse was refined by the Reagan Administration. Instead of forming a valid counter-argument it became standard to go after your opponent. Character assassination and repetition of your lie were became answer to a reasoned argumentative response.
And the problem has only grown worse. We are at a point where most people don’t even know how to form a reasoned argument. They go by what they see in the public sphere. Reaction has replaced response. Discussion becomes verbal violence. If I scream louder than you I “win.” Derogatory labels shut down the discussion.
I’ve heard people who disagree with Bill O’Rielly (Fox News) on air are told to leave the studio before the show ends because he may physically attack them backstage. These are the type of men we give a national platform to, awful people get the biggest voice. Everything from politics to financial investing have to be presented in this “screaming head” format. It’s disgusting, distasteful and arrogant. Yet we pander to it, encourage it and support it. This is one of the major reasons I don’t watch live TV very much.
Raising the quality of discourse:
The only way to combat this disturbing trend is to raise the quality of discourse, to stop watching these awful people until their shows are cancelled from lack of interest. I don’t care where you’re coming from, extremism is ugly from the Left or the Right. Open hostility and arrogance is abhorrent. It should not be an acceptable form of behavior in any forum.
But it starts on the street level. It starts with us. We need to respect each other and engage in reasoned, logical argument. If you have no factual basis for your argument sit down and be quiet. Screaming and attacking others won’t make you right, it never has and it never will. Once the dust settles you will just appear as ignorant and ugly as men like O’Rielly. If you state your beliefs people can choose to agree or disagree with you. That is enough. As desirable as it is you cannot force your beliefs on another person. You may get someone to agree with you just to quiet you down but in the long-term you accomplish nothing.
I don’t have to agree with you. We all have the right to our beliefs and opinions. That is the beauty of democracy. True freedom gives us the right to live as we choose, but we can only be as free as we allow others to be, without prejudice or vindictiveness. The WWW gives everyone the chance to express themselves and be heard.
Freedom of religion only works if everyone is free to practice their beliefs, or not to. I value your right to believe whatever you choose, but not to push your beliefs on me. If I want to be part of your belief system I can make that choice for myself.
And if you wish to engage in discourse you should be civil. If people don’t share your beliefs that is their right. It doesn’t make them any less or more human than you. Topics like religion and politics can be provocative and passionate, so being sensitive to others is pivotal.
Labels are traps:
There is a commonly held belief that we need to have a discussion on race and the past, present and future of the civil rights movement. But people who don’t wish to be challenged will call others racist, “Uncle Tom,” or “Oreo,” (black on the outside, white on the inside.) And people who are afraid of being labeled will engage in a type of insidious “politically correct” speech that accomplishes nothing. Labels are a way of shutting the other guy down and it’s an underhanded and dirty trick. When you label others you get labeled in the process and nothing changes. Nobody likes being attacked so it’s easier to throw up one’s hands and simply walk away.
Disagreement is cool but labels are not. If you want to know what the other person’s motives are you need to ask them without rancor or accusation. While it may be human nature to apply labels to things it’s best kept as an internal process.
Conclusion:
We need to call people on their incivility in a civil manner. The best way to elevate discourse is to always take the high road, even if the other guy (or gal) does not. We need to turn off the TV when the “screaming heads” come on, and write to the sponsors of those programs, telling them how we feel and boycotting their products until they move their support elsewhere. I fully support the ongoing boycotts against Fox News and other media outlets that focus on negativity and rage, but that’s just me, (and millions of other people who are tired of this stuff.)
Then we take responsibility for how we talk and behave, and make it clear we expect the same of others. A person who does not respect the boundaries and/or the feelings of others should be removed from the discourse until they can control themselves. We need to teach kids it’s not okay to behave in a rude manner. It’s not okay to violate the boundaries of others and treat them with disrespect, yet we tolerate this behavior all the time. Tolerance of inappropriate behavior is approval of that behavior.
Kindness and Respect have to be our constant watchwords. We are capable of this and it’s time we upheld these standards. Saying; “it can’t be done” is an excuse, not a valid reason. It can and should be done, every single time.
I love web logs. They are a natural extension of the World Wide Web (WWW) as a communication medium. There are some brilliant political and/or sociological blogs by people who might never get a job at a “mainstream” paper, or even get their views published as independent journalists. They are intelligent, insightful and thought provoking. Often they call attention to something the mass media fails to tell us.
“If it bleeds it leads:”
So let’s talk about the mass media for a moment. The editors at the Washington Post and Fox News exhort their reporters to cause an emotional reaction with every single story, mostly a negative one. Fear and Anger. They really don’t care about their readers or they would not cause this needless negativity just to sell their product. They hire people with questionable journalistic backgrounds who have axes to grind, people who care nothing about integrity or honesty.
I believe people are tired of negativity, shouting and being whipped into a frenzy. I believe there will be a backlash against the mass media outlets in the near future. Personally, I would love to see AOL Time Warner, The Washington Post, Fox News and their ilk pushed out of business – but I’m not holding my breath waiting for that to happen. At the most they may be forced to retool, fire a few of their worst, and change the way they present the news. It may be a pipe dream but stranger things have happened. When you put out all that negativity it will eventually come back to haunt you. Such is the nature of karma.
Reaction and discussion:
As it has been pointed out to me by some very astute friends and colleagues, even at the founding of this country (America) people in the public eye behaved badly. Argument became personal attack and character assassination. In our modern era, this form of discourse was refined by the Reagan Administration. Instead of forming a valid counter-argument it became standard to go after your opponent. Character assassination and repetition of your lie were became answer to a reasoned argumentative response.
And the problem has only grown worse. We are at a point where most people don’t even know how to form a reasoned argument. They go by what they see in the public sphere. Reaction has replaced response. Discussion becomes verbal violence. If I scream louder than you I “win.” Derogatory labels shut down the discussion.
I’ve heard people who disagree with Bill O’Rielly (Fox News) on air are told to leave the studio before the show ends because he may physically attack them backstage. These are the type of men we give a national platform to, awful people get the biggest voice. Everything from politics to financial investing have to be presented in this “screaming head” format. It’s disgusting, distasteful and arrogant. Yet we pander to it, encourage it and support it. This is one of the major reasons I don’t watch live TV very much.
Raising the quality of discourse:
The only way to combat this disturbing trend is to raise the quality of discourse, to stop watching these awful people until their shows are cancelled from lack of interest. I don’t care where you’re coming from, extremism is ugly from the Left or the Right. Open hostility and arrogance is abhorrent. It should not be an acceptable form of behavior in any forum.
But it starts on the street level. It starts with us. We need to respect each other and engage in reasoned, logical argument. If you have no factual basis for your argument sit down and be quiet. Screaming and attacking others won’t make you right, it never has and it never will. Once the dust settles you will just appear as ignorant and ugly as men like O’Rielly. If you state your beliefs people can choose to agree or disagree with you. That is enough. As desirable as it is you cannot force your beliefs on another person. You may get someone to agree with you just to quiet you down but in the long-term you accomplish nothing.
I don’t have to agree with you. We all have the right to our beliefs and opinions. That is the beauty of democracy. True freedom gives us the right to live as we choose, but we can only be as free as we allow others to be, without prejudice or vindictiveness. The WWW gives everyone the chance to express themselves and be heard.
Freedom of religion only works if everyone is free to practice their beliefs, or not to. I value your right to believe whatever you choose, but not to push your beliefs on me. If I want to be part of your belief system I can make that choice for myself.
And if you wish to engage in discourse you should be civil. If people don’t share your beliefs that is their right. It doesn’t make them any less or more human than you. Topics like religion and politics can be provocative and passionate, so being sensitive to others is pivotal.
Labels are traps:
There is a commonly held belief that we need to have a discussion on race and the past, present and future of the civil rights movement. But people who don’t wish to be challenged will call others racist, “Uncle Tom,” or “Oreo,” (black on the outside, white on the inside.) And people who are afraid of being labeled will engage in a type of insidious “politically correct” speech that accomplishes nothing. Labels are a way of shutting the other guy down and it’s an underhanded and dirty trick. When you label others you get labeled in the process and nothing changes. Nobody likes being attacked so it’s easier to throw up one’s hands and simply walk away.
Disagreement is cool but labels are not. If you want to know what the other person’s motives are you need to ask them without rancor or accusation. While it may be human nature to apply labels to things it’s best kept as an internal process.
Conclusion:
We need to call people on their incivility in a civil manner. The best way to elevate discourse is to always take the high road, even if the other guy (or gal) does not. We need to turn off the TV when the “screaming heads” come on, and write to the sponsors of those programs, telling them how we feel and boycotting their products until they move their support elsewhere. I fully support the ongoing boycotts against Fox News and other media outlets that focus on negativity and rage, but that’s just me, (and millions of other people who are tired of this stuff.)
Then we take responsibility for how we talk and behave, and make it clear we expect the same of others. A person who does not respect the boundaries and/or the feelings of others should be removed from the discourse until they can control themselves. We need to teach kids it’s not okay to behave in a rude manner. It’s not okay to violate the boundaries of others and treat them with disrespect, yet we tolerate this behavior all the time. Tolerance of inappropriate behavior is approval of that behavior.
Kindness and Respect have to be our constant watchwords. We are capable of this and it’s time we upheld these standards. Saying; “it can’t be done” is an excuse, not a valid reason. It can and should be done, every single time.
# posted by Phillip T. Alden @ 10:04 PM 
