The Death of Moderation

Moderating your opinion is somewhat more difficult when trying to find the center ground between “Too hot” and “Bucket” This all to often seems to be the nature of the national debate.

I think the MSM has their contrast dial turned up all the way where everything is seen only in black and white and it sells ads.
Capable intellects recognize that everything is really varying shades of grey.
“Thou doth protest too much” personalities, like the squeaky wheel, get the attention of the MSM.
Conflict sells, finger pointing and yelling sells, and hyper-hyperbole sells…
Corporate Capitalism is the 900lb. gorilla riding the pink elephant in the living room and all else takes a back seat on the plastic covered sofa.

Really good post, 2nd! I think that moderation only seems dead to those of us who are caught up in politics. We read the partisan blogs and watch the cable shows that point out the very real differences between the Parties–and we are outraged. And rightfully so, IMO!

But I know that we represent a small minority, and I don’t just mean a minority of ideologues. I mean most people are not paying even passing attention. As others have pointed out, most are too busy just trying to get by, raise their kids, deal with their personal issues. And most people are moderates.

I believe that people don’t take the time to think things through or analyze the issues either. Because if they did, as has been shown, most people would vote for Dems. Our agenda is popular, but becasue of the overwhelming power of the RW media, they don’t understand that. And because of that media, it takes shrillness and anger to punch through all the noise. 24/7 cable has not served us well at all.

I am not a moderate by any means. Sometimes I get very frustrated by the moderate stance I see the President take, as well as most Dem leaders. But they are correct in most cases to do that. I have to remind myself that most people are not as rabidly partisan as I am.Mist people ARE centrists–it’s the definition of centrism. And that’s what I wish most on the Left would stop and realize too– that President Obama cannot sound like an Alan Greyson. (Who lost, BTW.) He cannot only cater to the Left–not if he wants the support of most Americans and get re-elected.

Hah, this reminds me of the guy on HP who always called himself, “the voice of moderation…”

I LOVE your article!! And every time I try to “moderate” my opinions, something like the Wisconsin issue comes up and I find myself jammed back into the spittle spewing species I’m really not fond of. Guess it boils down to my own reality that the “other” side really does have control of the agenda through corporations and corporate owned MSM. They do own too much of the governing process. Our small voice heard through our MSNBC heroes spend the bulk of their time REACTING: correcting lies, skewering the irrational “thinking” of assorted politicians, and revealing real motives behind the spin.

Weighing our current education levels and our current direction in government against those of our better educated neighbors, our reality can’t be ignored. We’re a right-leaning, anti education country which celebrates individual rights; and while giving voice to shared responsibility, we prove otherwise through our uninformed votes.

Many of us understand we can’t fix a country in quick decline when it’s full of fast food voters who lack basic critical thinking skills – so we’ll continue to rail loudly against the process which continues to bring us down as a nation. And Ed Schultz, who a week prior to Wisconsin I found to be too loud and abrasive to watch, is now my current hero and the voice of reason.

Extremism here has become mainstream. And it was engineered thus. Even on NPR yesterday, someone used the term “ground zero” to refer to the protest in Madison. Seriously? Is “ground zero” the new term for any place that’s newsworthy now?

Moderation is good, in just about everything. And we are no longer allowed that in our ever-increasingly violent and adrenaline-addicted society. Things have to be exciting! That’s why drug use and alcoholism and other forms of escapism abound. Critical thinking is, therefore, out of style and out the window.

Great article, with lots to ponder. Thanks.

“…The point is that we are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield.”

-George Orwell

In Front of Your Nose

I have to bang on with my pet peeve, because it’s related to this: People have abandoned critical thinking. Instead of using the gray matter, we think – like Dubya – with out gut.

On my last blog, I made a reference to The Big Lie, explaining how as a propaganda technique, it was developed by Josef Goebbels and used remorselessly by the Nazis. When I posted this on Daily Kos, I got reams of comments, objecting to the fact that I’d mentioned Nazis.

Go bloody figure.

We’ve all become a nation of Dubyas.

I read somewhere, a long time ago, that maybe 10% of everyone living in the British Colonies in North America during the latter part of the 18th Century cared one way or another about revolution, colonial rule, separatism, independence, or any of that. They just wanted to live their daily lives and continue to do what they did every day.

I don’t think much has changed.

The number of people by percentage of the total population that care vehemently one way or another on any issue of the day is not likely to ever reach into the double digits. I can’t prove that, but all one has to do is to see reports about how many people can even point to the US on a globe or know who the Vice President is, or even name the Speaker of the House, let alone speak or write coherently about any current issue to get the point.

Whether the Left, the Right, or the mythical Center cares about any issue is hardly the point. Very few others are barely aware of issues, let alone care about them. It has been my lifelong experience that politics in this country is a spectator sport, with very few understanding the rules, the players, or the game itself.

Every year, biannually, or quadannually we have about 2 weeks’ worth of attention to politics and issues and players by the public in general. Again, I remember professional politicos claiming that is about all the time they really have to capture the general populace’s attention. The rest of the time, it is mere Kabuki theater for the 10% that pay attention. Jockying for position before the puck drops… the scrum in rugby… the huddle before the play in football… the occasional music before the play begins…

It takes extraordinary events or catastrophic upheavals – engineered or otherwise – to move the general populace to pay attention. And that is what we are currently seeing. Each “side” is invested in making one event or issue catastrophic in the population’s eyes to grab their attention. Everything is disaster. Every day.

What happens when you are told you face disaster every day and then look up and nothing much changes in your daily life? That disconnect between what you are told and what you see tends to numb the brain and empathy for anything. The conclusion most ordinary citizens makes is that it IS all just Kabuki entertainment, cheers for the side they like, pay no attention to the details or the real issues, and screams for the other sides’ heads.

And then they go fishing.