America First=Seccession

[hollodero]

(02-22-2023, 05:07 PM)Dill Wrote: But when we are focused on the level of rhetoric, I wonder if you are asserting an (partial?) equivalence that also isn't there.

That's what I'm asserting. Not so much when it comes to public figures, but more when it comes to the you and me folk. It indeed would be a bottomless barrel to get into all the aspects of why I'm asserting that. But here's one of the big ones: Liberals and conservatives usually attempt to make the other person look as stupid, clueless, hypocritical and nefarious as possible. The basis for conversation is not respectfully disagreeing, but mockery and derision. I'm not saying you behave like that, but most behave just like that. Starting the examples you demanded from this microcosm here; I often tried to engage conservatives to explain their thinking, to have an honest debate with them. But quite often when I asked a question, some liberal swooped in and answered for the conservative, of course in a demeaning manner, and that was it for the debate. It turned into mud-swinging, and it always seems to go like that.


In a somewhat more relevant bigger picture, I assert that both sides shape their arguments in a manner that is designed to cause maximal rejection and outrage from the other side. I guess there's no need to show that for the conservative side, making liberal heads explode is very much desired, but the left imho does it too. Defund the police and all that. Also, the accusation of xenophobia or racism lost all meaning. Someone says racist, what gives, maybe the other person was racist, or maybe just had an issue with Obama or is for stricter immigration rules. The most common answer to someone who is for stricter immigration rules is not a valid counter-argument, it's claiming "uuuh, the brown people, I am a conservative, I am so afraid of brown people, the horror!" and much applause for that. That is the style of conversation as I see it. And there could be much more examples and much more to say about the role of the media and the lack of nuance and grey areas in the American's dualistic political worldview, but that might be for another time indeed.