![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snowywolfowlYesterday I posted that Congresswoman Gifford had been killed by her assassin, only later to have to add that she is still alive and in treatment. Unfortunately the news has not been so good for several of the other victims, many of whom died from the attack.
Without going into specifics of left and right, and keeping in mind that I am speaking from the emotional and physical distance of being a Canadian here is my take on the situation. In the interests of civility and friendship I apologize in advance if my opinion of another country's politics offends anyone.
So, here goes.
The political climate of the United States is poisonous beyond belief. Rational, honest and civil political discourse has for all intents and purposes ceased to exist to the average news reader. Instead of debates being won through well presented and factually based arguments points are scored through superior volume, vitriol and shock. Simply put, whoever screams loudest and most provocatively wins.
This of course is not to say that politicians and political campaigns never spin things. EVERYONE spins things, and that in itself is not the problem here. The problem is that the current climate of demonization makes it much easier for unstable people to believe that they must act even louder to be heard...and nothing is louder than a gun.
I think this event is really a crossroads moment for the US. Not to be too blunt but the choices ahead seem to be either up security at all possible areas or change the climate. Frankly changing the climate would be the better choice. America is already up to its eyeballs in violence and insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan. You don't have the funds to turn your own country into an armed camp to protect against the one half of the country terrified of the other halves politics.
I'm not pretending to have solutions here because its not my job to tell anyone in America how to live, but if it were up to me I'd look to just calm down a bit, listen a bit more, speak a bit less, and really stop to analyze what it is about the other person you really find so loathsome, disgusting, wrong, vile, etc, etc ad nauseum. I'm not saying you'll find common cause, or like them, but you might find them a little less scary and maybe not worth shooting.
With that in mind, and the fact I don't want to start sounding like one of those motivational speakers noone really listens to anyway, I'm going to stop here. Here's to a much less violent, more civil political climate America. You don't just deserve it, you NEED it, pronto!
Without going into specifics of left and right, and keeping in mind that I am speaking from the emotional and physical distance of being a Canadian here is my take on the situation. In the interests of civility and friendship I apologize in advance if my opinion of another country's politics offends anyone.
So, here goes.
The political climate of the United States is poisonous beyond belief. Rational, honest and civil political discourse has for all intents and purposes ceased to exist to the average news reader. Instead of debates being won through well presented and factually based arguments points are scored through superior volume, vitriol and shock. Simply put, whoever screams loudest and most provocatively wins.
This of course is not to say that politicians and political campaigns never spin things. EVERYONE spins things, and that in itself is not the problem here. The problem is that the current climate of demonization makes it much easier for unstable people to believe that they must act even louder to be heard...and nothing is louder than a gun.
I think this event is really a crossroads moment for the US. Not to be too blunt but the choices ahead seem to be either up security at all possible areas or change the climate. Frankly changing the climate would be the better choice. America is already up to its eyeballs in violence and insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan. You don't have the funds to turn your own country into an armed camp to protect against the one half of the country terrified of the other halves politics.
I'm not pretending to have solutions here because its not my job to tell anyone in America how to live, but if it were up to me I'd look to just calm down a bit, listen a bit more, speak a bit less, and really stop to analyze what it is about the other person you really find so loathsome, disgusting, wrong, vile, etc, etc ad nauseum. I'm not saying you'll find common cause, or like them, but you might find them a little less scary and maybe not worth shooting.
With that in mind, and the fact I don't want to start sounding like one of those motivational speakers noone really listens to anyway, I'm going to stop here. Here's to a much less violent, more civil political climate America. You don't just deserve it, you NEED it, pronto!
