Outrageous! Blow-hards and Buffoons (page 2 of 2)

Monopolizing the Truth

Communication might be easier if people at least believed one another. But in today's debate, everyone assumes their enemy fights with weapons of mass deception.

Comedian Al Franken's hit book purports to chronicle the Right's Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, while another recent book explains The Lies of George W. Bush.

Conservatives, meanwhile, are convinced that a left-leaning media establishment deliberately misinforms the public. Former CBS News producer Bernard Goldberg topped the bestseller list last year with Bias, a book that charges liberal journalists with distorting the news. Ann Coulter was in the thick of the fight again with her book bluntly titled Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right. It's awfully hard to have a constructive debate when everyone thinks they have a monopoly on the truth.

And it's not just journalists and pundits who are stoking all this rage. It's the politicians themselves. Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy has flatly declared the case for war against Iraq "a fraud," while a fellow Democrat, Rep. Jim McDermott, suggested that the capture of Saddam Hussein was timed for maximum political benefit.

In response, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Republican, called these remarks "moronic" and said that Democrats have "nothing to offer the public debate but rage, resentment and quackery." Even the business of government is being paralyzed. One Congressional committee meeting broke up last summer when an angry Democrat called a Republican "a little fruitcake" and challenged him to a fight; the committee chairman eventually summoned the Capitol Police.

Expect things to only get worse as election day approaches. After all, the media and politicians know that people love to watch a good tussle. But all this debate, with so little intelligence, comes at a steep price. Consider this: Some experts are expecting a big surge in new, young voters that could account for 10 percent of the electorate -- and perhaps decide the Presidential contest. Hardcore liberal and conservative groups are spending big money to help bring out the youth vote.

But if young Americans do unplug their iPods and tune into politics, what will they make of a poisonous discourse that insults more than it informs? Some may just pop their headphones back on in disgust. The rest will go to the polls on election day, where they'll join the long lines of uninformed citizens.

From Reader's Digest - March 2004

 

• • Politicians
• Michael Crowley
• Government

• Outrageous! Show Us the Money
• We're paying for studies to heal sick kids and the elderly. We're getting swindled instead.
• 
• Outrageous! Let's Shut Them Down
• These websites are an invitation to terrorists.
• 
• Outrageous! The $9 Billion Heist
• While our troops are dying, crooks are getting rich on the war.
• 
• Outrageous! Green Laws Gone Bad
• Are we protecting nature or ruining lives?
•