The End of Reasoned Debate

Hysteria is killing the modern debate. In a country founded on the principles of debating issues in a reasoned and purposeful manner, it is sad to see that the current atmosphere in American politics is one of hysteria. Of course this is not a new occurrence in politics, or society for that matter. Fear drives the masses and makes it easier for policies to pass and products to be sold. So why is it that it feels like the end of the world really is around the corner? Why is it hard to open the newspaper without some form of devastation or cruelty being shoved in our faces?

The Answer: because we like it that way. A majority of the people in America, and possibly all over the world, enjoy seeing others have a harder time than them. Pain and suffering are relative. If there is someone in more dire straits than our selves, then we have accomplished something by not being the bottom of the barrel. What does this have to do with the political atmosphere in America? The sad fact is that the governing members of our society have abolished reason and replaced it with vitriol in order to get the public to listen. The American people are officially obsessed with morbid fantasies. The fact that a two bit assistant to the New York attorney general can label a section of one of the previous health care bills as death panels, and then that phrase is vaulted around the nation and taken as true is just plain heartbreaking. The end of the reasoned debate in America is truly upon us.

Too often in the past Democrats have brushed off attacks from the far right conservatives as too insane to even be taken seriously and now they fail to see the actual implications of their taunts to be taken seriously. Democrats, and even moderate Republicans, were just simply not prepared enough to respond to outlandish sound bites from the far right that they are now up to their necks in mud and are trying to dig their way out with a spoon. There should have been research teams, college professors, and many other high level academics and professionals involved in helping with the formation of public statements and even in the drafting process of the health care legislation to ensure that some of the remarks that are out their today didn't stick with the dimwit section of society. A blitz of information that was readily available would have conquered the likes of Beck and Limbaugh, but an eager democratic majority thought they had time and the hearts and minds of their base to pull of all of their lofty goals.

In a way their are people other than just the far right spewers of neurotic rhetoric to blame for our current situation. There may seem to be clear cut parties at fault when it comes to situations like the one we Americans find ourselves in, but it is always usually much more complicated than one person or group. Off the cuff, the easiest parties to point the spotlight on are politicians (both sides), Wall Street (SEC included), and the media (right and left leaning). Notice that most of these parties contain an element of duality in them. In the divisiveness of these groups we also can see the segregation of society into groups. Politicians are at fault for the hysterical way in which they dealtwith the current economic crisis (although Geithner and Bernake take a good deal of credit for that) and in the way they have lowered themselves to pointing fingers and completely ignoring their civic duties. Politics used to be boring and purposeful. Now it is like a bad gameshow that we can't stop watching because we want to see who wins and if it is the person we picked to win in our fantasy politics league. Similes aside, politicians pale in comparison to what Wall Street accomplished by crashing an entire market (housing) and putting American taxpayers dollars at stake. Heads of major financial firms stole money right out of peoples bank accounts and all the while the SEC was completely oblivious. Wall Street may be the black hole that reason fell into during the 90's. And then of course you have the media. Ah the six headed demon that is T.V. Murdoch gets off on pissing off liberals while GE is satisfied with having a million stations, most of them playing the same thing. Clear Channel just sits by and entertains people while laughing at everyone else while they pretend to be civil media organizations. And still pundits are allowed to come into the homes of Americans and perpetuate lies and alter the brainwaves of a populous lacking in critical thinking and personal opinion.

So maybe Armageddon is on the cusp (2012 here we come), but why does that mean we can't die gracefully? Really, how many Americans like this shit? I hate seeing people that are supposed to be leading this nation continually drive our standards further into the ground to the level that death panels are an actual talking point. I challenge the politicians, Wall Street, and the media to come out and put and end to hysteria. I want to see a senator come out and give a twenty minute boring speech with research, facts and data that was compiledover a period much longer than a day or so. I want to see Wall Street stop projecting future possible fortunes and just work with the money they already are responsible for in a manner that protects the clients money and their future well-being. And I would love to see the news go back to reporting news. The rest of T.V. doesn't really matter all that much to me. I kinda like to see girls fight over a really old rapper that is way past his heyday, every now and then. Really I would just like to see the media (Internet included) go back to being a medium for people to connect with that is not so profit driven and mind numbing.

While reason may be dying, or might be dead already, I still hold out hope for my great nation. There is too much history in America of positive and progressive accomplishments to devolve into a nation of greed and egotism. It is going to take a transformation of thought in America from instant gratification and gut decisions, to one of reasoned and open debate. The principles of deliberative democracy, reason giving and accountability would be of great help in our transformation. This endless bombardment of sound bites and hysterical rhetoric has got to stop. Viva reason!