— Goethe<\/i><\/p>\n
Frankly, I deplore most of the “talking heads” garbage (yes, I call it that deliberately) I’ve seen or read recently. Simplistic framing of complex issues into “us vs. them” is damned stupid, and I’m tired of having my intelligence insulted so. It’s gotten to the point where I mentally turn off when I hear the words “conservative” or “liberal” bandied about — because they’re invariably used as either disparaging pejoratives or rallying banners for dogmatism. <\/p>\n
As a very wise person once pointed out, if you cannot understand how any rational person would hold a particular viewpoint, then how on earth can you respect them? Lacking any respect for them, how can you ever persuade them otherwise, or review their data dispassionately?<\/p>\n
Beat me with the truth; don’t torture me with lies.
\n— Unknown <\/p><\/blockquote>\nThis is why I was so tremendously pleased to hear this interview. I shall be searching out Dr. Lakoff’s book, in the hopes it’s as good a read as he is an orator\/speaker. For those who are interested, I also suggest his on-line article titled Metaphor, Morality, and Politics, or Why Conservatives Have Left Liberals In the Dust<\/a>. I haven’t read it yet, but it sounds quite interesting.<\/p>\n
“Where there is doubt, there is freedom.”<\/h2>\n
— T. Robert Axelson<\/i><\/p>\n
In conclusion, I encourage you all (at the very least) to find calm, rational speakers who can equally present both<\/b> sides of an issue — because to me that’s one of the best indicators of someone who’s really given some thought to the issue. As Ralph Waldo Emerson noted, “Intellect annuls Fate. So far as a man thinks, he is free.<\/i>”<\/p>\n
[I]t is a terrible, an inexorable law that one cannot deny the humanity of another without diminishing one’s own.
\n— James Baldwin <\/p><\/blockquote>\nAnyone can mock insultingly, or rave about how stupid the other side is — but how many can take the best<\/b> arguments of the other side, present them non-judgmentally, and still debate them calmly?<\/p>\n