Political Namecalling and Stereotyping

[Rooster71]

I think it is important to discuss political issues with people who hold different views. If everyone only talked about issues they totally agreed upon, the result would be a Rush Limbaugh style circle jerk with everyone saying "Dittos, Dittos, I agree with everything you say."

What bothers me most about modern politics is that so many people are so eager to label someone as a "liberal" or "conservative". Many self-professed conservatives call someone who disagrees with them a "liberal" solely based upon the fact that they hold a different view. Many people who identify themselves as liberals are all too quick to categorize someone who disagrees with them as a "right wing extremist", etc. Furthermore, there are several people in this forum who clearly identify themselves as "conservatives" but seem to have quite a few liberal views. In some cases, I suppose the opposite is true.

When someone disagrees with another person's stance on an issue and refers to that person as a "liberal" (or "right wing nut job", whatever the case may be) based solely on the fact that they hold a different view, it is simply childish name-calling. These people might as well call the other person a "stupid doo-doo head", it would be just about as intelligent and meaningful.

I am not referring specifically to discussions in this forum, you see this moronic namecalling and stereotyping on TV and hear it on the radio. Not too terribly long ago, most people had their own views and tended to identify more with one party. Now it seems that the whole political landscape is based upon a sort of "Us vs. Them" mentality with no regard for the fact that people do actually have their own beliefs, ideas and viewpoints.

[Spladle Master]

You must be a Liberal Whackjob if you don't agree with everything Rush says.

[jimdmcevoy]

In my opinion, humans naturally create 'us' groups and 'them' groups.

I reckon the only way for humans to not stereotype other humans is if aliens invaded the Earth, that way 'us' becomes all humans and 'them' are the aliens.

Maybe you can stage an alien invasion?

[Rooster71]

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Maybe you can stage an alien invasion?

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Put down the crack pipe and relax. /images/graemlins/shocked.gif

[Rooster71]

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You must be a Liberal Whackjob if you don't agree with everything Rush says.

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You are a "stupid doo-doo head". Just kidding. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Rush Limbaugh actually has some entertainment value. He is a far sight better than Sean Hannity. Hannity is just a joke...I mean good God, can that guy even think for himself?

Limbaugh strikes me as a guy that would at least be fun to talk to or be around. Hannity is just the type of guy whose ass I want to kick.

[ThaSaltCracka]

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Now it seems that the whole political landscape is based upon a sort of "Us vs. Them" mentality with no regard for the fact that people do actually have their own beliefs, ideas and viewpoints.

[/ QUOTE ] My thread about why the country is so divided tries to answer this. I honestly think the people to blame are the politicians and the politcal parties they belong too. The politician are constantly trying to divide America by focusing on controversial topics, and they do this because it helpes them and their party out.

Each party benefits when someone in the middle shifts to their side, and of course they do this by dividing us. Every new person they get, only adds support, both financially and politically, to their causes. Its really sad, but I don't see this trend changing.

The media also reinforces this because all they are trying to do is sell commercials and newspapers, so they report on the same issues. Not to mention all the commentators you see now as well. I think Adios was the one who said its always been like this, the divisiveness at least, but now it just seems worse. Truely sad IMO.

[Rooster71]

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Now it seems that the whole political landscape is based upon a sort of "Us vs. Them" mentality with no regard for the fact that people do actually have their own beliefs, ideas and viewpoints.

[/ QUOTE ] My thread about why the country is so divided tries to answer this. I honestly think the people to blame are the politicians and the politcal parties they belong too. The politician are constantly trying to divide America by focusing on controversial topics, and they do this because it helpes them and their party out.

Each party benefits when someone in the middle shifts to their side, and of course they do this by dividing us. Every new person they get, only adds support, both financially and politically, to their causes. Its really sad, but I don't see this trend changing.

The media also reinforces this because all they are trying to do is sell commercials and newspapers, so they report on the same issues. Not to mention all the commentators you see now as well. I think Adios was the one who said its always been like this, the divisiveness at least, but now it just seems worse. Truely sad IMO.

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I agree that it's always been like this, but nowhere near as bad as it currently is. I have seen many political discussions that really have nothing to do with anything other than the "my side is better than yours" type crap.

I think the political parties should receive most of the blame. I don't think that individual politicians (typically) are anywhere near as responsible for the mess as the two major parties. I don't think that the country's founders had any intention of political parties holding the level of power they currently enjoy.

People elect politicians to represent them, it's that simple. In many ways the major parties circumvent this basic premise. When you really get down to it, why should a party affiliation really matter? Other than fund-raising and the formation of a very loose platform of common views, political parties shouldn't matter.

If there was a viable third party that people really agreed with, I think a great number of Americans would dump their affiliation with the Democratic or Republican Party. Twelve years later, I am still amazed that Perot garnered 20% of the popular vote especially considering his ridiculous "I'm running, no I'm not, now I am running again" campaign. This is clear evidence of what I am talking about.

[adios]

Good post, I've done it myself in the past to my regret, hopefully not in the future.

[Rooster71]

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Good post, I've done it myself in the past to my regret, hopefully not in the future.

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Thanks. I enjoy input from most people in this forum. But what really hacks me off is the useless, dumbass comments from posters like jakethebake and a few others. When people try to have a meaningful discussion about something of importance, they can easily get sidetracked by someone else's moronic comments. I think posters like you, vulturesrow, Kurn, TheSaltCracka, myself and many others do not come here to throw insults. But politics is not an easy topic to discuss via an Internet bulletin board to begin with.

When someone is trying to accurately state a point of importance, it is easy to get sidetracked when someone takes a juvenile moronic stab at you. I wish I could do a better job of ignoring these types of insults. But it irritates me even more that some of these dimwits can actually vote (I'm assuming they have not been adjudicated mentally defective, this is the Internet so you never know). Luckily the dimwits are definitely a minority in this forum.