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Political Rhetoric Gets Personal
Yesterday, I made a post that criticized Sen. Barack Obama's foreign policy (My post state my opinion that; even though Obama continually discusses stoping the war, his foreign policy consists of raising the amount of troops we have and enhancing our military presence throughout the world. And that this jingoism will, in the long run, be detrimental for America economically and politically). I don't expect everyone to agree with my political opinions, but, nastiness, on a personal level, is never the answer!
Unfortunatly, it is all to common to see mudslinging tactics in the form of Intimidation, (Normally seen in statements that resemble; "Your wrong! I <sound like I> know more, and I am smarter, than you <blah, blah>, keep your opinions to yourself and stop complaining about my candidate <because I want to have his babies>!" Yada, yada...You've heard it, and seen it.) and Mocking, of you and/or your opinions, (i.e. Background, Books you've read, you're spelling, etc.,etc..).
I see a lot of Intimdation and Mocking tactics from the Candidates and their parties, via their campaign websites, speeches and TV commercials. But, it can also been seen in fueds between both sides "Hardcore" supporters.
People may not realize, from my post the other day, that I bash McCain with the same consistancy and intensity as I do Obama. People, also don't realize that, while I trully enjoy political debates, with people who have differing view points, I hate nasty remarks, that poke at me on a personal level, and that I will poke back in an even meaner fashon.
Why do people get so nasty and childish when dealing with people who have different political opinions.
One thing, I found, that helped me get past all of the imature tactics in politics, was to make a list of all of the candidates (Including the one you love and the one you hate). On that list, write down several reasons why they should win and why they should loss. For the candidate you want to win, write down extra reasons why they should loss, and for the candidate you want to loss, write down extra reasons why they should win. This may not change your opinion on who should win an election, but, I feel that, it does help people, see the other side of an argument. Hopefully enough, of the other side, to due away with the petty personal attacks.
Comments (9)
August 20, 2008 2:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
"I hate nasty remarks, that poke at me on a personal level, and that I will poke back in an even meaner fashon."
August 20, 2008 2:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
By all means, let's not be the world's policeman. Let's inflame wars.
August 20, 2008 3:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're missing, and at the same time proving, the point of what I'm saying in this post.
I have said nothing about inflaming wars! If anything I feel that our jingoism, entangled alliences with other nations and the indiscriminate funding of all sides of a conflict are what inflame Wars. And, I feel, that we should remove ourselves from that.
The point of my post was to say that if you dissagreed with me, you should have just said that in the first place. Don't try to rip me apart.
August 20, 2008 3:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
No one tried to rip you apart. If they did, you'd know it. I send you were incredibly wrong, and I stand by that.
Your juvenile reaction and escalating rhetoric is your burden. Own it, calm down and move on.
August 20, 2008 5:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
*said* not send
August 20, 2008 5:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I for one agreed with you and received no acknowledgement at all.
August 20, 2008 3:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
BevD,
Thank you for your posts. I did read them, I feel that you captured the point I was trying to make even better than I was able to. I apologize for not acknowledging that earlier, I was so pre-occupied responding to Ripper McCord's comments that I over-looked responding back to you.
Sorry, and Thank you for your comments.
August 20, 2008 3:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
The best political forums have some kind of moderation system that attempt to enforce a rule of no personal insults against other posters and commenters. It keeps them from a downward spiral descending into the useless garbage that is your typical unmoderated internet forum on a topic like, say Israel and Palestine.
TPMCafe subsite has a policy stated at a link above each comment box Comment Policy. It includes this: TPMCafe is a venue for lively and passionate debate. But insults, personal attacks and the like make that sort of enlivening exchange impossible. If you just want to scream and taunt, please go somewhere else. If you have any question about what is and what's not acceptable, follow this rule: If you wouldn't use a certain word or talk to someone a certain way in a real-life political discussion at a Coffee House, don't do it here either.
And the policy before that was stated by Joshn Marshall when he participated more in the past as "civility required." But they have never had the staff to enforce that goal. They have in the past tried ratings systems that were invented to have the community help police for that goal, but they never had the staff to reinforce that and dropped the ratings in the latest incarnation.
Since the start of the Dem primary, there has been a further complication. The Election Central subsite got a ton of traffic (pays bills) and has always had a lot of participants who love the insult game. The new cross-site software installed in February helped enable this big audience to dominate both sites. And it's my humble opinion that complicating that is Josh Marshall's belief that the more rough and tumble side of politics gets people interested in politics:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/162969.php
To me it's sort of schizophrenic to support what he does in that January post and to also want a site that stresses highly civil discussion of politics. And I see a reinforcement of my opinion in the fact that all manner of personal insults and vitriol have been extremely common on nearly every Election Central thread this entire year and management has been noticeably hands off.
My humble advice: you are left with the option of chosing some user names you find satisfying to interact with and trying to ignore the rest (as in the old nostrum "don't feed the troll".) A lot of people seem to have found that the only solution and it does seem to offer a better than average political website experience.
August 20, 2008 4:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
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