<< On a side note, I think people sometimes get too much from TV shows like
Crossfire, or from political strategists and reporters/commentators who
polarizing everything so that issues are easier to understand. Just because
we have a 2 party system (sort of...) doesn't mean every issue has 2 sides
to it. That's gross oversimplification and it seems to hurt our political
system. Take Ray's SUV situation. It's not a yes or no issue. Doesn't it
make sense that some disturbance is okay, but when the number of SUVs
triples or increases by 100 or whatever, that at some point there will be
environmental damage? I mean-- when does a person admit that regulations go
from infringing on personal liberties to being a good thing for the
environment? >>
Very good points Jay, I was thinking the same things myself. A lot of the
political shows on the Fox News channel pit liberals versus conservatives in
debates where both sides try to "score points" figuratively speaking against
the other team by trying to make the other side look bad by using
Machiavellian tactics in the debate. Like if a question is asked of them
which they can't answer or would make them look bad, they dodge it and won't
give a straight answer. They also go through some extreme gymnastics of logic
and argumentation to defend their ideological brethren who commit
reprehensible acts, all in an effort to "defend their team" through a "the
end justifies the means"-type philosophy. In general they just demonize the
other side and even though it's a more lively debate than the usual more
moderated debates, it also sharpens the ideological divide by making both
sides see each other as the "evil actor" in a struggle for the dominance of
their philosophy. It IS polarizing, especially when, like you said,
everything turns into a black-and white issue. As far as SUVs go, I think
that the idea of them isn't necessarily bad, it's just that the pollutants
they generate help promote global warming or something like that(not
super-knowledgeable about them, just know that a lot of them can hurt the
environment). If they were designed differently with superior technology
which would severely reduce any environmentally harmful emissions they
wouldn't be thought of as being bad for the environment. The companies which
design these vehicles need to make changes in the way they nake them, but the
technology has to be improved and made affordable and cheaper to produce
before companies will make them that way. Hopefully it will be soon.
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