This week…with polarizers doing all they can to stir emotions with name-calling, snide language and suggestive accusations, it’s easy to be seduced into their vortex of contempt and rage, and lose sight of the fact that there are ways to be passionate about politics that are productive rather than simply divisive – that inspire thought as well as enflame emotion. A great example can be found on You Tube, in the classic 1969 TV debate between conservative William Buckley and liberal Noam Chomsky (who, ironically, leads off our polarizing list below). No two people could have been more passionate about their vehemently opposing views. But wherever you stand, it’s well worth the hour to watch as they both acknowledge and (struggle to) check and channel their emotions to keep the discussion focused, moving forward and in the service of winning over not just hearts, but minds as well. What a wonderful one-hour course in the kind of passionate but civil discourse we so desperately need today. When reading these examples, check the above list and ask yourself: regardless of whether you agree or disagree, is this really advancing an intelligent resolution through the persuasive, rational arguments of advocacy…or simply fueling the fire of conflict through the divisive, emotional manipulations of polarization?
Here are some of the week’s most polarizing articles, from the left and right:
Blue Headlines
Red Headlines
Elizabeth Warren, Progressive Fraud
Here’s Proof Left-Wing Poetry Is Just Like Taxes But More Painful
Liberal Reporters Fear Press Not Attacking GOP Enough
Democrats Really are Economic Idiots, as Their Tax Reform Analysis Proves
It’s good that Dems are supporting Franken because it lets us point out their hypocrisy
