We actually get the sort of political discourse we deserve due to our appetite for predigested intellectual junk food.
People I support and people I do not support for election all do something to which I object - They dumb down and distort the real truth in their attacks on their opponents.
I have noticed this over time. By time, I mean decades. Some do it more than others, some far more, some much less. If the actual candidates do not do it, there are often supporters who do.
If that sort of monologue comes to my attention in a television commercial or in a printed document from a candidate, I tend to ignore it and only pay attention to public statements of policy, third party analysis, and debate.
I wish the political consultants would stop treating all of us as ignorant idiots --- but that might require that we all stop acting like that and start thinking.
One of the advantages of this political season has been that I have noticed fewer soundbites and have watched virtually no political ads since virtually is how I watch everything. I can pick and choose.
Another is that, without travel, we are forcing candidates to reveal more of who they really are. We have their own words which, often, either commend or condemn them.
Yet, still, with the incentive that commercial commentators have to deceive and sensationalize and the gullibility of enough people to accept fabrications as truth, we still have a problem and that problem is critical. It is an electorate with a jaundiced view of truth and a distorted perception of reality.
It is not all the fault of the purveyors of misinformation. It is also ours. As long as we have an appetite for intellectual junk food, the cafeteria of ideas will continue to serve it up.
Another is that, without travel, we are forcing candidates to reveal more of who they really are. We have their own words which, often, either commend or condemn them.
Yet, still, with the incentive that commercial commentators have to deceive and sensationalize and the gullibility of enough people to accept fabrications as truth, we still have a problem and that problem is critical. It is an electorate with a jaundiced view of truth and a distorted perception of reality.
It is not all the fault of the purveyors of misinformation. It is also ours. As long as we have an appetite for intellectual junk food, the cafeteria of ideas will continue to serve it up.
Make America smart again!
Demand a diet of healthy, nutritious, and sophisticated truth.
Special thanks to Doug Krehbiel for the great song!
