…is that, no matter how vicious our political debate can get, it typically remains a nonviolent one. As Lt. Smash points out, the recent impeachment of South Korea’s President Roh Moo Hyun can be a pretty good reminder that things can get worse:
After a drama in the National Assembly as pro- and anti-Roh legislators came to violent blows before, during and after the vote, Roh’s opponents secured 193 votes for impeachment — above the two-thirds mark of 181 needed.
Which is not to say that it couldn’t happen here (as Gary Farber notes, it’s happened in the past). We’re assuredly not as incivil as we could be, but we’re certainly not nearly as civil as we should be. It’s not helped by the fact that the routine response to this sort of post, from both sides of the spectrum, can be generally summed up as “Yeah, but…” Yeah, but the Other Side does it worse. Yeah, but the Other Side did it first. Yeah, but the Other Side deserves it. And so on, and so on, and so on…
Cultural baggage, I guess. We do so love using the faults of others to excuse our own…
Moe, sometimes I just want to beat you over the head with my walking cane.
“Moe, sometimes I just want to beat you over the head with my walking cane.”
Huh? What did I do this time? 🙂
That was a joke.
D’OH! I’m sorry, I thought that you were making some sort of senior citizen reference, or something. Dumb of me, considering the subject matter and everything…
We’re assuredly not as incivil as we could be, but we’re certainly not nearly as civil as we should be.
Amen to that. I’ve been back and forth today with Spatula after he basically asserted–in /total seriousness/–that liberals were pawns of Satan.
I mean, what do you say to that?
“I mean, what do you say to that?”
YES! IT’S TRUE! AND NOW I WILL EAT YOUR SOUL, YOU PUNY, PULING WORM! CALL NOT TO YOUR WEAK GOD, FOR HE WILL NOT HEAR YOUR PITIFUL CRIES! IT IS NOW THE GREAT BEAST’S TIME ON THIS FALLEN EARTH, AND YOU WILL BE GRIST FOR HIS SATANIC MILL AND A PLAYTHING FOR HIS DARK AMUSEMENT!!!!!
…or something along those lines.
Seriously, Catsy, I’m surprised that you even tried. I mean, shoot, somebody from the Rottweiler’s pack? Do you want people like that agreeing with you?
Seriously, Catsy, I’m surprised that you even tried. I mean, shoot, somebody from the Rottweiler’s pack? Do you want people like that agreeing with you?
Depends on what we’re trying to agree on. I think we’d all agree that the defense of American citizens against terrorism is a good thing, for example, but where we disagree is on how this should be done.
I try, though, because once in a while I get past the knee-jerk demonization and get them to recognize that it’s possible to be a liberal /and/ a human being. As much as I do it for the exercise in keeping my temper and to get exposure to other opinions, I also do it to drive chinks in the armor of their hostility.
I suppose the belief in that core of inherent decency in most people is part of what makes me a liberal. :>