Sometimes we're not as liberal as we think we are

hyphenate

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Thu Apr-10-08 10:18 PM
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Sometimes we're not as liberal as we think we are

It's gotten to the point sometimes when intolerance shows its ugly head here at DU as much as it does anywhere else. I look at some of the threads and am dismayed when I see people declaring others (especially in the news) as guilty before being proven so, when assumptions are arrived at with little to no evidence, and where opinions indict before the law does.

None of us is perfect, and yes, we all have our own opinion of things, but discussing the guilt or the innocence of someone without jumping to conclusions is something we've all done--repeatedly. I just see so much calumny when there is absolutely no knowing the truth, and it's sad. I see it happen so much in real life, where the media practically fries someone without any knowledge of the real story, and the media itself becomes the sole jury, judge and yes, executioner.

In one story, we will make comments about some cop somewhere being brutal, but then we go ahead and stick up for the law arresting someone who appears to be the villain. We can't support both sides equilaterally without become ambiguous in our interpretation of the law. We have already learned that looking at everything with a solely back and white outlook is dangerous, and something we accuse others for, but we never see that same narrow-minded thinking in ourselves.

Granted--there are instances where proof is presented, often in the rarely unimpeachable form of a security camera, for instance. While there is a lengthy trial and explanation due, we still don't know the full story, but we think we do, based on that source of information. But do we? Do we really?

I've been finding myself changing more and more every day. I've come to despire the sight of blood, even in the movies, rarely read any magazines, books or other sources that talk about grisly crimes, and finding that we are too bloody, too intent on looking at violence as though it were common and ubiquitous. Well, it is, true--but we don't try to change it as much as we should. I remember when Standards and Practices, the censorship wing of the television industry said that violence was too "clean" in the 60s, and thought the solution should be to make violence more graphic. What I think happened was that it desensitized us to the violence, rather than deterred it. But that has very little to do with how things are presented anymore, anywhere.

In one way, the media remains polarized in its coverage, and we, the audience, swallow what they dole out, regardless of how colored it is. None of us can forget the way Bill Clinton was treated, and the break that the biggest criminal in the world has received since his first day in office. It's images of these that the most people in the United States look at--the most obtainable manner of communication in the world, and whether these things are true or not is another matter entirely. People don't give a shit until it affects them directly.

I hope I'm getting wiser in my later years, because the constant bickering, the infighting, the horrendous way some of us treat each other, and the way we assume the guilt or innocence of others without any kind of proof other than sketchy news article with its own built in bias gets more upsetting all the time.

Yeah, people give different excuses for this behaviour, but I don't give a damn what excuses we use. The truth is, we're doing it. We are no better than others who do the same kind of shit anywhere else, and I don't think anyone of us who has made assumptions can think we are.

Reasoned discussion, answering polemic articles with a sense of curiosity and desire to understand is one thing, but condeming someone with little to no justification is another. And while we all want to support our own choices as best as we can, attacking each other for their opinion is yet another. I recall a long time ago, when the internet and the newsgroups were a lot newer, we used to show some deference toward others. Why can't we return to those manners of yesteryear? I know it's horribly melodramatic, but why can't we all just get along? to quote someone else.

As far as taking the path of assumption in events we have nothing else to go on, why can't we look for reaons behind some of the more horrific things going on: I remember the Michael Vick case where people at least waited to hear more than rumours before proceeding to prosecute Vick (and I still think, personally, that he got away with a lot), but we go ahead and convict others without anything other than inference or innuendo against them. In some countries, the law is that someone is guilty until proven innocent--the United States law says innocent until proven guilty. I doubt there are many of us who can completely sublimate their anger and dismay when a particularly brutal crime has been committed, but I was reminded of this when I watched CSI this evening--the bubbling over of human shock and emotion ran high and caused at least one person's death in the aftermath of what was actually an accident. We've seen too much to take fact into account, sometimes, imagining the worst when our minds cannot wrap themselves around something utterly unimaginable. We are, after all, human, aren't we? And we're supposed to espouse goodwill and compassion toward others, including Republicans. Again, the news media carries a large part of the blame for the divide this country has taken in recent years. It makes news more interesting when they can have "two" sides to a story, huh?

Let's face it: things are terribly wrong right now in this country, this world. Democratic Underground was started as a place of sanctuary for those of us faced with a horrible feeling after January 20, 2001. As Democrats, we were dismayed by the virulent and completely toxic direction things were headed, and while we might have expected the worst, we got worse than the worst. Things have been catastrophic since that date, but turning on each other is not the way to go: solidarity--and different opinions--need not be at opposite poles. PLEASE--let's stop being cruel to each other here, and find ways to embrace our differences. There have been break-ups in friendships over some of the things that have been said in GD-P, for example, and most of us have such strong opinions that we cannot cut anyone slack when we believe that they are wrong and we are right. None of us is right all the time, though, and we can only reason that the other person is right as least as often as we are. Facts, not fiction. Friendship, not factions.