Tolerance of opinion.....

[Mark in Oshawa]

I was thinking today that the coarseness of politics is a bad thing. I know, I bait and fight with some of you on here so I shouldn't be lecturing on this, but here it goes:

I just wonder where the respect and honesty of the participants of any political stripe has gone. You look at the name calling in any major legislatures and you would think these people hate each other, yet one only has to see behind the facade to know there is a lot of friendships across party lines. NDP MP Peter Stoffer ( a left wing MP in Canada's Parliament) is infamous for his parties where people from all parties in the Parliament hang out during the winding up of affairs before Christmas. He gets people who I am sure he has crossed swords with in Question Period.

You see no congenality on the surface of things, and the media magnifies and adds to the coarseness. Right wing Talk show hosts I can find amusing and sometimes dead on the money, but I do think a lot of what they are saying is looking for fumes to put a spark to. I have heard Alan Colmes and some of the libreal talking heads and hear the same sort of naivety.

Here, in this forum, we often have differing view points, such as Eki and Janvan really going after me or Fousto or VOP, yet I suspect with Eki at least, I could probably sit in a pub with him and get along ok. Heck, Steve Spackman and I never agree on much, but I know we would get on great while arguing. I defend to my last breath their right to state their case in this forum or any other.

What I am saying I guess is I deplore the way political debate and debate in general both in the real world, and our little part of cyberspace has become almost like a blood feud where no side will admit anything the other guys say has merit. I find this sad, for I have tried on occasion to really try to see the other side, and agreed with Janvanurpa on some aspects of the Cuban Embargo. Never thought he and I would see something the same way, but on that narrow topic, yes we agreed.

I guess I am interested in how you guys see debate, and maybe ask you to be intellectually more honest than idelogical when approaching subjects that you in the past didn't agree with. I think it is healthy for the debate, and some of us may not change our minds completely, but it is a good intellectual exercise that forces you to re-evaluate your opinions.

Just curious...you guys have a take?

[SportscarBruce]

There exist a commonality between Dittohead Tea Party Conservatives and Ivy League Establishment Liberals, and it is this; neither has one iota of intellectual courage or honesty.

[Mark in Oshawa]

There exist a commonality between Dittohead Tea Party Conservatives and Ivy League Establishment Liberals, and it is this; neither has one iota of intellectual courage or honesty.

I don't think it is quite that simple tho. On some subjects, either can be right or wrong. It isn't that I disagree with your premise. On the whole, there are a lot of the Tea Party types who I think just don't grasp how fine a line they are treading towards being out to lunch, but I will also say the people who usually think they are smarter than the rest of us, aren't.

Still, there are members of both camps I wont put down as not being intellectually courageous or honest.

[Daniel]

I was thinking today that the coarseness of politics is a bad thing. I know, I bait and fight with some of you on here so I shouldn't be lecturing on this, but here it goes:

I just wonder where the respect and honesty of the participants of any political stripe has gone. You look at the name calling in any major legislatures and you would think these people hate each other, yet one only has to see behind the facade to know there is a lot of friendships across party lines. NDP MP Peter Stoffer ( a left wing MP in Canada's Parliament) is infamous for his parties where people from all parties in the Parliament hang out during the winding up of affairs before Christmas. He gets people who I am sure he has crossed swords with in Question Period.

You see no congenality on the surface of things, and the media magnifies and adds to the coarseness. Right wing Talk show hosts I can find amusing and sometimes dead on the money, but I do think a lot of what they are saying is looking for fumes to put a spark to. I have heard Alan Colmes and some of the libreal talking heads and hear the same sort of naivety.

Here, in this forum, we often have differing view points, such as Eki and Janvan really going after me or Fousto or VOP, yet I suspect with Eki at least, I could probably sit in a pub with him and get along ok. Heck, Steve Spackman and I never agree on much, but I know we would get on great while arguing. I defend to my last breath their right to state their case in this forum or any other.

What I am saying I guess is I deplore the way political debate and debate in general both in the real world, and our little part of cyberspace has become almost like a blood feud where no side will admit anything the other guys say has merit. I find this sad, for I have tried on occasion to really try to see the other side, and agreed with Janvanurpa on some aspects of the Cuban Embargo. Never thought he and I would see something the same way, but on that narrow topic, yes we agreed.

I guess I am interested in how you guys see debate, and maybe ask you to be intellectually more honest than idelogical when approaching subjects that you in the past didn't agree with. I think it is healthy for the debate, and some of us may not change our minds completely, but it is a good intellectual exercise that forces you to re-evaluate your opinions.

Just curious...you guys have a take?

Couldn't agree more. Though a lot of us disagree with each other on a lot of things I think we're all fairly decent people

[Brown, Jon Brow]

The problem with all polictics is that people allow their ideology overule their intelligence. This is my biggest criticism of the left wing in particular.

[Daniel]

The problem with all polictics is that people allow their ideology overule their intelligence. This is my biggest criticism of the left wing in particular.

I don't think this sort of thing is limited to one particular side of politics.

Anyone who's seen Cameron with one of his preposterous "dithering" attacks on Brown will know that a lot of politicians on both sides are more bothered about scoring cheap points than coming across as intelligent.

[wedge]

I don't mind internet forums debating politics because the MO of discussion boards is debate.

but I do have a problem when its between good friends. I have a certain friend who still reads the Daily Mail (without sounding too hypocritical I used to read it thinking its the thinking man's tabloid) and still has a bad habit of spouting right wing/racist diatribes when drunk in a taxi.

Other than that he's very sociable and a good laugh. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't have bothered meeting some of my school friends.

[Eki]

Anyone who's seen Cameron with one of his preposterous "dithering" attacks on Brown

Who's this Cameron and why is he attacking Jon? Is he someone here on the forum? Maybe he should be banned.

[Daniel]

Who's this Cameron and why is he attacking Jon? Is he someone here on the forum? Maybe he should be banned.

Couldn't agree more

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I don't mind internet forums debating politics because the MO of discussion boards is debate.

but I do have a problem when its between good friends. I have a certain friend who still reads the Daily Mail (without sounding too hypocritical I used to read it thinking its the thinking man's tabloid) and still has a bad habit of spouting right wing/racist diatribes when drunk in a taxi.

Other than that he's very sociable and a good laugh. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't have bothered meeting some of my school friends.

Yeah, some of my best friends are at the opposite end of the political compass to me. But we always have a laugh about are differences when we are talking about politics.

But some of the people on the forum (not just this one) seem to view people with the opposite political opinions as 'enemies' and have their views set in stone. These people can't understand that others have different opinions to them.