However, in the end, respect has always been a vital element to healthy communities and our political system has been experiencing a decline in this virtue among both our government and its citizens.

For me, the question becomes, who profits from the lack of discourse?

I’m not a conspiracy advocate, however, I can spot motivations in and outside the government.

To a elected official, the status quo is more personally beneficial than progress.

To the citizens-at-large, the entities that have a stranglehold on officials, play a part in the how the discourse is presented.

I would suggest that people really begin to look closely and thoughtfully regarding the information they are given. The conglomeration of news outlets has definitely put a spin on what news is reported and how it is presented on both sides of the spectrum. These “presentations” are driven by who can hold the larger audience share thereby pleasing the advertisers and making “news” profitable.

The (mis)information spoon fed by these entities, which are at the mercy of spinning a 24 hour news cycle into gold, have contributed greatly to the hostility evident in public discourse.

When the advertising that these companies do to keep these entities on the air, they indirectly support the content. Are they responsible for divisive rants? No. Are they responsible to re-evaluate if their advertising should be paired with the content? Absolutely.

This is the dance that advertisers, studio heads, and consumers work out, one message at a time, which shapes a company’s brand in the mind of the public. At the end of the day what really happens is that we, the consumer, hold the media accountable to a higher standard and the advertiser from selling a product at any cost. When it works, we are all richer.

It works the same way for elected officials. We can facilitate positive change, provided we get properly informed.

The tide won’t turn until people begin realize this. Until then…

I’m sorry you ditched Facebook on DM’s account. I ditched email, sort of, for the same reason. I used to email, in bulk, to friends and acquaintances to tell them what was going on in my life. In respond, I got put on bulk email list that included all kids of ridiculous lies (see snopes.com before you email crap like that, hello!!) and started blasting of long email messages back to the groups. Eventually I found myself just deleting any emails I got from those particular people– some of them family.

Conversations do seem to have become horrifyingly one-way and one-sided. Blogs have done that, where you can comment but not really have any responsibility to reply meaningfully. The snarky rant allows us to blather on (TALK RADIO is the same way) to niche audience, but to have no responsibility to any true critical response. In the day of three TV channels, things were different.

In the end, I firmly believe that discussing politics is vital to those of us who care, however the difficulty I have encountered is that there is very little “discussion” going on. It seems to me that few understand the notion of dissent and disagreement and seem rather to be focused on conversion and exorcism.

I love to talk about politics and religion with family and friends and complete strangers. Face to face frank discussion is like the warp threads in the fabric of our society. They tie the whole together and give it strength and structure. Some ideas are a little loopy, but they sure add interest with their contrast. How do you determine if your ideas and opinions represent your true feelings and values if they are never brought into the light, pulled at and inspected. Different perspectives are so important to arrive at the truth of a thing. I say let’s argue and disagree and fight and cry and agree and compromise, but most of all let’s communicate face to face and with love in our hearts for the people we share the earth with.