Monday, May 11, 2009

The Two Americas

Left versus Right political divides seem to be at all time highs.

We live in two different spheres of media and politics where there is no common ground whatsoever. Even within defining the past and simple definitions of words there is no mutual understanding between groups.

The Liberal versus Conservative Debate cannot take place under these conditions and ultimately does nothing but aggravate social divisions. Each side blames the other for this via biased media and partisan rancor.

Partisanship is inevitable. Each side must strive to avoid not only personal bias when discussing politics but also avoid media bias when consuming political media. Many mistake this suggestion as promoting only specifically formatted.

I instead suggest hearing both sides of the debate. Every liberal should boldly consume partisan media of the right as should every conservative boldly consume partisan media of the left.

President Barack Obama spoke out early in his presidency against partisanship on the right and specifically named the radio conservative Rush Limbaugh. Obama specifically urged conservatives Americans to stray away from partisans like Limbaugh, and with good reason.

While we all have partisanship within us there are certain figures in media who exhibit a bias so strong it is questionable if it is indeed genuine. Rush Limbaugh may well be far less partisan against liberals than he appears while on the air.

The bottom line is partisanship sells media. As long as media consumers of all political persuasions wish to only have their own opinions echoed back at them the partisan media will continue to thrive. This leads to the Two Americas of politics today.

A land where intolerance of thought is standard. A land of our own creation.

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