How Counter-Narratives Emerge

[Dill]

(07-13-2017, 06:46 AM)ballsofsteel Wrote: No, I don't remember that at all. You make it sound like each party did it evenly. That is/was a Republican specialty, blaming the previous administration. As far as " throwing constant blame" , the right did it way more than the left, not even close.

It seems that one feature of current right discourse is that "blame" is the qualitatively and quantitatively the same all around.

Worse, the question of whether blame is merited is passed over.  "Leftists" blame Bush for starting a war in which over 4,000 Americans and 150,000 Iraqis were killed, thereby massively destabilizing the Middle East. They blame him for cutting a deal with Big Pharma to accept prices on pharmaceuticals without bargaining. 

Rightists blame Obama for Benghazi, in which 4 Americans died, and Fast and Furious and the IRS scandal.  With the exception of Benghazi, there is at least some ground for criticism here, something to actually investigate, with consequences following.

But when people just say "both sides blame each other," the gravity and and validity of the different "blames" is conflated, as if the debate is overall over nothing more serious than over which president played the most rounds of golf.