Sure there were always demagogues and extremists, but the '60s seem to be the era more than any other when BOTH sides claimed the moral highground and began dismissing their opposition as not only wrong on policy, but humanity. The leftwing extremists painted the right as blood thirsty, cynical greed mongers and the rightwing extremists painted the left as godless, cowardly sex and drug crazed hedonists. We often forget (and I'm definitely part of THIS "we" ) that very people truly want to see their country fail, and almost no one self-identifies with evil. As cynical and murderous as they were, I bet even Mao, Stalin and Hitler genuinely believed they were doing the right thing, which, if nothing else, should be an object lesson in why we shouldn't lend extremists are ears.
partisanship has always been around. remember the midnight judges? and that's just in our own history, i'm sure there are plenty of other examples of extremists in other countries throughout history. *cough*guy fawkes*cough* having a 24/7 news cycle in which every little minutiae the president says (like calling kanye west a jackass off the record) gets broadcast within seconds and everybody and their mom has an opinion about what he said, whether they know what they're talking about or not.
"The RIAA has shown a certain disregard for the creative people of the industry in their eagerness to protect the revenues of the record companies." -- Frank Zappa
"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman
"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman
Where Did "We" Go?
- 01/10/2009 09:30:12 PM
830 Views
How do you change this though?
- 01/10/2009 10:51:10 PM
446 Views
Pelosi is part of the problem
- 01/10/2009 11:10:45 PM
424 Views
that was hyperbole, as he's said OVER AND OVER
- 02/10/2009 06:21:16 PM
401 Views
really which elected leaders on the right talked about death panels?
- 02/10/2009 06:41:05 PM
432 Views
Dumb column from Friedman.....read a history book.....
- 01/10/2009 11:15:46 PM
448 Views
I disagree, obviously.
- 02/10/2009 12:11:48 AM
508 Views
No, it hasn't always been like this; I think Watergate changed it, and maybe Vietnam.
- 02/10/2009 02:13:07 AM
506 Views
remarkably, i agree with the troll
- 02/10/2009 06:27:40 AM
441 Views
Partisanship, yes, but this is more than that.
- 02/10/2009 06:57:14 AM
508 Views
i see things at a different level than you do
- 02/10/2009 07:31:24 AM
434 Views
Personally, I think you're seeing the cart rather than the horse, but that's just me.
- 02/10/2009 08:14:46 AM
541 Views
- 02/10/2009 08:14:46 AM
541 Views
Not true
- 02/10/2009 12:32:58 AM
433 Views
why did we fight the Spanish American War and the War of 1812 again?
- 02/10/2009 04:18:56 AM
388 Views
You just completely undermined your point
- 02/10/2009 06:22:54 AM
452 Views
I think the role of cable news is over played
- 01/10/2009 11:29:26 PM
428 Views
Possibly.
- 02/10/2009 12:02:05 AM
438 Views
To many people distrust the media for it to be just the right who distrust them
- 02/10/2009 04:15:50 AM
509 Views
i agree that the fringe has way more power than it should, but...
- 02/10/2009 06:38:41 AM
431 Views
I think Friedman puts it very well when he says...
- 02/10/2009 11:24:02 AM
414 Views
did I read this correctly?
- 02/10/2009 03:00:33 PM
435 Views
As I already told you, this is not about "the left" complaining.
- 02/10/2009 03:38:15 PM
542 Views
it didn't become an issue until it started hurting the left
- 02/10/2009 04:44:29 PM
411 Views
Eh, many aspects of it have been criticized for a long time.
- 02/10/2009 09:12:22 PM
473 Views
also, about clinton, since you say you were too young to remember...
- 02/10/2009 06:47:45 AM
539 Views
really because my memory goes back further then that and things were nasty then to
- 02/10/2009 03:04:58 PM
399 Views

