Can't We All Just Get Along?

In the interest of full disclosure, your humble blogger must make an admission that this is my second attempt at a blog entry tonight. I fell flat on my face in my first try. I wanted to formulate a point that tied together Jon Stewart's appearance on Crossfire last year, a column by Jonah Goldberg, and the old Warner Bros. cartoons with the sheepdog and the wolf who looked just like Wile E. Coyote. ("Good morning Ralph." "Good morning Sam".) Try as I did, my rhetorical skills failed me and I couldn't get a lucid argument into writing. Some might intuitively figure out where I was going with that, but I doubt it.

What is of note is that this is the second time in a week that I have (or would have) referenced a column by a Right Wing pundit in order to advance my point. That doesn't make me any less liberal, but it does say that I don't consider everybody with whom I disagree an extremist or void of rational ideas. And yet, if you read comments posted in the blogosphere, it appears that North America is divided into loonie Stalinists and evil fascists. Both sides agree that half the population is extremist and evil - they just disagree about which half it is. They only want to hear from naysayers for the purpose of ridiculing them. And they refer to their ideological opponents as "the enemy". There is nothing healthy about an attitude like that. And there's no doubt that a lot of it is fed by the Punditocracy and talk radio, as well as editorials in some of the trashier newspapers. But I submit that the internet has contributed significantly to our coarser society.

There are times when I absolutely marvel at the internet, with all the information available instantly and the ability for people from all over to communicate like we have never been able to before in human history. But every advance has a price. The blogosphere, and internet in general, is very polarizing. No matter how much of a smorgasbord of ideas is offered to you on demand, it's a lot easier to hang out where your beliefs are affirmed. The internet allows you to be insular, and anonymity allows you to be less inhibited with your hostilities. I have found myself cringing many times at what I have read from people with whom I agree on the issues. I have also been furious with what I have read from those with whom I disagree, but I understand they are just as powerless in this world as I am. I chalk it up to their being misguided in their thinking, and that everybody has the right to be wrong. But they are not my enemies. And if we stop dehumanizing each other, we will realize that everybody has something to contribute and that maybe our stagnant ideas have a little bit of wiggle room.

I somehow stumbled onto a message board recently where I saw real filth and hatred spewed. I don't even know what I was searching for, but I ended up there. The thread started with conspiracy theories about the London bombings, and somehow ended up being consumed by hate-filled arguments about Quebec nationalism. And interjecting his "expertise" on the Quebec question was a charming fellow from Virginia with the moniker "Non-Zionist", who constantly referred to America and Britain as U.S.I. and U.K.I. with I standing for Israel. (He was actually kind of funny in his ignorance, because it seemed like he thought Canada only consisted of Quebec and Ontario.) If most people would just read that stuff, they will realize who the real enemies are.