09 November

[Dill]

(10-22-2016, 02:25 PM)6andcounting Wrote: I agree completely, but Democrats would just use their newfound knowledge to confirm why they hate Republicans  while ignoring their party and literally themselves doing the exact same thing. And Republicans would just use their newfound knowledge to confirm why they hate Democrats while ignoring their party and literally themselves doing the exact same thing.

My contention being if people don't have the initiative to learn, or at least pay attention, to become more informed, forcing them to learn it isn't going to make receptive to actually use their force fed knowledge in a useful or constructive way.

We already "force" people to learn some civic knowledge. E.g., most HS students in the US have to take a course on government, which gives them a rudimentary understanding of how the government works.  Without that, things would be much worse than they are. People who learn to recognize logical consistency and the degree to which arguments are or are not grounded in evidence do not necessarily become better haters.

So I don't agree that creating a better informed electorate would only make them better haters. Disinformation plays a large role in what you are calling "hate," and anything which gives voters the tools to recognize disinformation would be a positive, increasing the likelihood we elect good, competent candidates who will work for the country.

To this I will add that both parties are not equally "doing the exact same thing" they accuse the other of doing. In one party, inverting charges is a standard response to campaign issues, structural to their PR program. And not surprisingly, their disinformation is more programmatic, playing a central role in gaining and maintaining voters. False equivalences are the order of the day when their apologists come forward to explain what their presidential candidate "really" meant, as they must now do daily.