Public Discourse & Health Care

I'm frustrated by the lack of real discourse in our society. Instead of talking rationally with one another, our country seems possessed with shock-value politics. Are people really interested in a conversation about facts and concepts? Or do people just want to grind their axes? I seriously wonder.

One major cause of this polarization is people's unwillingness to listen to anyone other than their favorite political junkie. Try this experiment for a week. Choose a news source you never use: read the LA Times instead of the Fresno Bee or try Fox instead of MSNBC or listen to NPR instead of Rush. Just try it for one week. And actually listen. See what the perspectives and arguments are. At the end of the week, you are free to return to your old sources. But I'd be curious to know what you think.

As a general rule, people would do well to check out facts before you hit the "forward" button. One good source is a website maintained by the St. Petersburg Times. It won a Pulitzer Prize for journalistic excellence. The site is called PolitiFact.org. They attempt to rate the truthfulness of politicians' statements and promises based upon actual evidence rather than the hype of forwarded emails. It's a very even-handed site that doesn't spare either party. I highly recommend it as a tool for people who want to try thinking for themselves (if that's even possible these days).

Here's to truth! I still believe in it.

Comments

Ashley Sides said…
I may try this in my government classes this year. I get so frustrated with hollow rhetoric that people use as a substitute for genuine thinking. I try to get my students to think for themselves, so I find myself playing devil's advocate with them a lot. If I have some dogmatic students this year like I did last year, I might challenge them to switch their perspective for a week, as you suggest. I'm also going to check out the PolitiFact site.

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