Posted on 11/18/2019 5:51:27 AM PST by karpov
A certain degree of polarization is a natural consequence of political discourse. The citizens of a country are bound to disagree—even profoundly—on the best course of action on any number of political, social, or moral issues. And on the brink of an election year, a spike in charged political discourse is to be expected.
But when political disagreement breaks down to demonizing one’s ideological opponents, something clearly has gone amiss. The tendency to think the worst of those on the other side of the political aisle has not only meant governmental gridlock: it has driven a wedge between families, friends, and communities. Indeed, since the 2016 presidential election, the length of Thanksgiving dinner has diminished by 30 to 50 minutes due to political tensions.
Because of higher education’s strong cultural influence, many of the efforts to heal civic culture are targeted at college campuses. Organizations and programs such as Bridge USA and American University’s Project on Civil Discourse try to help students approach strong disagreement with respect and empathy for their ideological opposites.
One organization that is growing in North Carolina is a national citizens movement called “Better Angels.” On October 29, two representatives of Better Angels came to Duke University to talk about their aims to “bring liberals and conservatives together for real dialogue.” The guest speakers were Ciaran O’Connor, who worked on Barack Obama’s and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns, and John Wood, Jr. who ran as the 2014 Republican candidate against representative Maxine Waters in southern California’s 43rd Congressional District.
The speakers began by describing the extent to which hyper-polarization is corrupting civil and social institutions. For example, in 1960, only about 5 percent of Americans “expressed a negative reaction to party intermarriage.” Now, that number is over 50 percent.
(Excerpt) Read more at jamesgmartin.center ...
For leftist real dialog means: “Agree with me or go to a concentration camp, you guilty white racist thug.”
Until leftist cease to be brainwashed, ignorant, self-righteous, hate-filled, ideologues you can’t talk to them
The idea that you can reason with people who hate you and want to kill you for no other reason then you don’t agree with them is complete claptrap. and it’s part of the reason we’re where we are now because the right has been trying to get along rather than confronting their evil.
Aw, how cute. She still thinks we can reason with the Left.
L
See that ship that sailed?
In the past, disagreement and hate were two different things.
Today we must realize that reasoning with the left is like dealing with a fanatical brainwashed cult member. It can not be done. Trump wins in 2020. Get ready for the grand mal extremely violent temper tantrum.
This is why my fiancé and I left the city just recently. And we are armed.
Agree.
The left has no interest in anything other than imposing their will by force.
We keep being pushed to that tipping point where all of us law abiding, tax paying, hard working, citizens reluctantly get our weapons and reboot the culture.
Quite some time ago I’m afraid.
L
The sad truth is that if this girl, instead of describing her fantasy, had described the reality of the Left -- that is, the Left's true theology -- the abstract of her thesis could have been reduced to seven words: "You either 'smoke', or you get 'smoked'" ... though facing this cruel reality of her beloved Left would have scared the living "obama" out of her.
Half the country hates America as founded.
They also hate the other half of Americans that love the country and the Constitution.
Irreconcilable differences.
Divorce/secession or civil war seem the likely outcomes.
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