Quote:
Originally Posted by Flames in 07
Wow, in all of the time I have been on this site I don't think I have read such an ignorant statement. Congratulations.
Since your such an intellectual can you help us dumb right leaning people out with some references to studies that back up this incredibly well thought out claim?
I gotta go now, I need to call my university and inform them they shouldn't have given me a degree because I'm unable to build up a ogical and coherent arguement.
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Come on--you must not have been around very long if THAT's the most ignorant statement you've read! Heck, I've MADE one or two more ignorant statements, and read quite a few--that's the nature of a discussion board, you have to sort the wheat from the chaff without taking too much of it personally. Which is my way of saying--hang on to your degree, Ghenghis--I'm sure vicphoenix regrets his overgeneralization, and would back down if we gave him a graceful path to doing so.
As for sources, it was John Stuart Mill who said "It's not true that all conservatives are stupid. But it is true that most stupid people are conservative." I suspect even he was being a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it was also his way of saying that the Hobbeses and Burkes of the world were smart guys too, just ones with different worldviews than he himself professed.
But Lanny's right--the "right/left" dichotomy in the states is one of the key ways in which the discourse is controlled. The fact is, the idea that Americans fall easily into "red state/blue state" categories is a bit silly. There's a giant middle into which most people fall, and they're the ones who are scratching their head at the fact the the GOP and the Dems seem to be running for president of two very different countries.
That's not to say that there's no difference between conservatism and liberalism--though these are terms that are always historically specific--their meaning changes over time. I forget who it was who gave this summation of the key difference: Conservatism is based on the ethic of personal responsibility. Liberalism is based on the ethic of progress in the collective.
Both are valuable ways of thinking that shouldn't exclude one another. But you can see how it results in conservatives thinking that liberals are naive namby-pambys who want to reward laziness and punish those who work for themselves, and how liberals think conservatives are mean-spirited jerks who refuse to honor their responsibility to the collective. The key is to find ways to make these ethics work together rather than at contrary purposes.
Which brings us back to FoxNews, the original topic of the thread. They are among the worst purveyors of the simplistic rhetoric of left and right in this country. (and yes, I do watch it from time to time). FoxNews really is divisive and silly--not to mention mean spirited in their attacks on the "liberal media." That liberal media is an invention of FoxNews, created to be the straw man in their millenarian, conservative agenda, which is neo-conservative to the core. It's no surprise that they parrot Bush administration talking points. These guys recognize in the Paul Wolfowitzes and Karl Roves of the world their true fellow travelers in the political world.
Which is all to say: take all media outlets with a grain of salt. Take FoxNews with a boulder.