Can't we all just get along?
In his most recent article, Leonard Pitts discusses how the term "liberal" is so often used as an epithet. As his initial example he cites Geena Davis's character on the new TV show Commander-in-Chief, which is about the first female president. Pitts describes an incident where one of his apparently more conservative readers decries her and the show as liberal without citing any particular example. I can only assume he makes this assumption because she is a woman. In fact, though I have only seen the last half of last week's episode, Davis's character appears to be an Independent who used to be Republican (a la Jim Jeffords) before she left for as-yet undisclosed reasons. Hardly the credentials of a liberal.
But I digress. As most of my friends here at Rice are by and large what you might call "conservative", I too have noted the phenomenon Pitts is talking about. But to my friends from Vanderbilt, who are by and large what you might call "liberal", I pose the following question: if we're being truly honest with ourselves, do we not often use the term "conservative" as an epithet in a similar manner? Of course my biased perspective tells me that we don't do it as rampantly, but Pitts suggests toward the end of his article that we may be getting up there.
My point (if I even have one) is this: people who tend to align themselves with one side of the political spectrum tend to lend a certain degree of righteousness to their side while vilifying those at the other end. And thus much of the potential for meaningful political discourse is replaced with childish name-calling. But obviously there must be some sort of common ground. How else could I have friends with whom I can engage in political discussion on both sides? (Admittedly, I tend to avoid the abortion discussion with the conservative side.) I find it hard to believe that we can't talk about issues and reach reasonable compromises instead of labelling each other as the people who are ruining America.
Then again, there's the stubbornness factor, which even I admit I possess with regards to certain issues. So it's probably easier said than done. At the same time I don't want to invalidate the entire rest of my post. So I'll shut up now.
This has been another pointless rant brought to you by Mike.
Song lyric of the day:
"Yeah, I'm really clean if you know what I mean
Except for this recurring dream
Of losing total feeling..."
- Blue October, 2 AM Lovesick
But I digress. As most of my friends here at Rice are by and large what you might call "conservative", I too have noted the phenomenon Pitts is talking about. But to my friends from Vanderbilt, who are by and large what you might call "liberal", I pose the following question: if we're being truly honest with ourselves, do we not often use the term "conservative" as an epithet in a similar manner? Of course my biased perspective tells me that we don't do it as rampantly, but Pitts suggests toward the end of his article that we may be getting up there.
My point (if I even have one) is this: people who tend to align themselves with one side of the political spectrum tend to lend a certain degree of righteousness to their side while vilifying those at the other end. And thus much of the potential for meaningful political discourse is replaced with childish name-calling. But obviously there must be some sort of common ground. How else could I have friends with whom I can engage in political discussion on both sides? (Admittedly, I tend to avoid the abortion discussion with the conservative side.) I find it hard to believe that we can't talk about issues and reach reasonable compromises instead of labelling each other as the people who are ruining America.
Then again, there's the stubbornness factor, which even I admit I possess with regards to certain issues. So it's probably easier said than done. At the same time I don't want to invalidate the entire rest of my post. So I'll shut up now.
This has been another pointless rant brought to you by Mike.
Song lyric of the day:
"Yeah, I'm really clean if you know what I mean
Except for this recurring dream
Of losing total feeling..."
- Blue October, 2 AM Lovesick
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