A Descent Into The Maelstrom

Did I miss the whole thing? When did hatred become the acme of politics? I don’t remember from the past the kind of overt anger and bitter acrimony between political parties and between the right and the left that I see in our country today. And I don’t know why it is happening.

This all seems to have arisen in the wake of the 2000 election mess. Ever since then muttering among the Democrats has grown from grudging discontent to screaming hatred. Not to be outdone, the other side quickly grew and groomed their lions and put them on the attack.

This cannot be good for our country. Is this what we want our kids to learn about our form of government? Do we want them to grow up to treat our government as if it were a WWF spectacular? If we don’t, then we’d better fix the problem quickly, because over the past 6 years that is exactly the message otherwise responsible adults are sending our youth.

People like Howard Dean, Michael Savage, Russ Feingold, Michael Moore, and Ann Coulter are out of control. Telling cleverly crafted half truths has gone the way of the dinosaur. Today’s pundits are into slobbering animals resorting to eye gouging, biting, kneeing, elbowing, and hitting below the belt. Without a qualm, they verbally accost those who hold different opinions and show no apparent interest in knowing the other side of the equation. They are like the Visigoths descending upon cowering Romans, disemboweling their opponents with battle axes – the more blood in the streets, the merrier!

TV interviewers are barely civilized as they rudely interrupt, mock, insult and shout down their guests. They are like ravenous wolves on a short chain snapping at the very guests they have obviously invited into the studios expressly for the purpose of belittling.

This pack of savages has now conditioned a large part of America to the point where ordinary people are starting to treat each other in the same manner. One need only utter the name “Bush” and a violent fusillade of abuse erupts instantly polarizing everyone in the immediate vicinity into hate mongers on one side or the other. A simple joke with mention of a political figure in it is tantamount to a declaration of war.

Meaningful discussions of the direction of our country are no longer possible. Healthy exchange of ideas and problem solving through open-mindedness are things of the past.

What happened? And why? Or more to the point, how can we now heal this gapping wound in our society?

If you have an answer, please feel free to comment!!