I’m sure you all remember then Senator Zell Miller’s (D-GA) speech at the 2004 Republican National Convention.
And I’m sure you all remember Senator Miller later challenging Chris Matthews to a duel on live TV. (If you don’t you can see the video by clicking on the image!)
Some questioned the sincerity of Miller’s claims (i.e. did he really think that John Kerry wanted to protect the US with spit balls) while some questioned his sanity. Of course others (like me) laughed their asses off when SNL spoofed the whole incident.
But thinking about it, it’s really not that funny. Have we resolved ourselves to thinking in terms black or white - blue or red - left or right?
Is this a sign of where we are headed in America?
A post I read today from RedState.org, a popular Republican blog, gives us some indication. Entitled “Attn Lefties at RedState,” the post tells its left/liberal leaning members:
Over the next few days and weeks, we here at RedState are going to spend some time purging y’all.
Is this the first of many e-genocides to come?
Was I wrong - was Sunstein right?
Well, I still don’t think he was. But if the openess of the internet and the blogosphere begins to be limited and controlled like at RedState, I do think America and Democracy will suffer.
It seems that people are becoming less and less tolerant of discomfort - less willing to open their minds, challenge their views, and learn/grow from it.
After all, why would anyone need to experience discomfort when they have moderators who can purge opposing viewpoints, making it so that everything they read reinforces their own points of view?
What’s funny is when I was young I learned that when you mixed red with blue you got purple. That was also about the time I learned Washington threw a cherry tree across the Potomac.
But that’s when I was young. Today I know that only a legend could throw something across a river that wide.
I’m still waiting for proof that purple isn’t just a legend as well.
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The legend is that Washington chopped down a cherry tree, which led him to utter the famous phrase “I cannot tell a lie”.
But your point about the strong divides is well taken. However, the opposition or minority party, e.g. the Democrats and progressives, must stand strongly together in order to maintain any power and to win back the House, Senate, the Presidency, state legislatures, etc. The ruling party has the responsibility to show more statesmenship and a willingness to work with those who to do adhere to their strict dogma. Statesmenship and quality leadership is greatly lacking.
I was taught that he chopped down the Cherry tree and then threw it across the Potomac.
I guess my 1st grade teacher embellished a little. Or she didn’t know the legend very well!
At the time, the Zell Miller incident on “Hardball” was funny. It just showed how much of a loon this guy was. I don’t remember that footage being so frightening. Zell downright scared me in that interview.
The RedState.org purge is wrongheaded and disappointing. My hope is that there will be some sort of backlash to this type of blog management. Is there any sort of history of liberal blogs doing the same?
Interesting post. I agree that our soceity has become incredibly polarized but I am hopeful that things will eventually change. It maybe too optimisitic on my part, but I think that we will see the error in our ways and that people will work towards finding common ground rather than looking for divisions. Events like the upcoming Supreme Court battle will only turn people off and it will be up to the center to bring people back into the collective fold.
Hey, snacker . . . what do you mean “I think that we will see the error in OUR ways . . .”? [emphasis added] Who is doing the purging? Who black-listed progress lobbyists and activists around Washington DC? Who shuts down the Democrats in House Committees, especially the Rules Committee? Do some more research and reading. Even Republicans admit that the Democrats actied with comity during their decades-long control of the House.
oooh snacker! I think you’ve been served!
We’re waiting for the snacky comeback…
I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.