Whither the Center

Pompous vs. Pretentious
Pompous: Republican, Conservative, Rush Limbaugh – Ridiculous that you would think it could be any other way.
Pretentious: Democrat, Liberal, Al Gore – Your ignorance is why you think it could be any other way.

My dear father used to include me on his distribution list for forwarded emails that promoted neo-simple, generally Republican in nature, forwarded emails. I hated them, not just because I disagreed with them, but because they were always 1) wrong, and 2) insulting. So I started replying to them by hitting “reply all” and then giving a very reasoned and tempered response. No one on the DL ever responded back.
Now, I’m pretty much a Liberal, and pretty much a Democrat, but when my Liberal friends started forwarding on to me, via DL lists, Liberal propaganda I felt it appropriate to respond along the lines I did with my dad. Interestingly I often received responses from the others on these DL lists. You see where as the former concluded I was just another ridiculous, liberal pin head and just wrote me off, the latter concluded I was just another ignorant, (albeit closet) republican ass who just needed to be more open and make more of an effort to appreciate (nee agree with) their views of the world.
Propaganda is propaganda, and it doesn’t matter if it comes from the Right or the Left. It is usually based on a tenet or principle, and includes just enough fact to make it appear objective.
Here are some notable examples:
• Barack Obama got into law school because of Affirmative Action.
• WalMart is evil.
• Liberals are anti- second amendment, gun rights, self-defense and hunting.
• Republicans are owned by corporations.
• Organic food is more nutritious.
• Global warming is a hoax.
• The other side is anti-American and doesn’t care what “the American people” want.
I’ll conclude with the following:
We should all work hard and save and give charitably. We should limit our exposure to propaganda, especially that coming from 24-hour news shows and the internet. We should promote and role model – not solicit. That’s probably the most important so I’ll repeat it: We should promote and role model – not solicit. We should hold any group with no vocal dissenters up for very close scrutiny. I mean, really…party line votes? Really?