I have friends who think this is a big deal, but I don't. I think the whole uproar over political correctness, free speech, and opinion selection is made out to be a big thing by conservatives, but it's not. It's not policy, it doesn't jeopardize people's lives, it doesn't threaten our planet, it's not taking away our rights. All those things I just mentioned are really happening right now, but it has nothing to do with college campus speeches. This is a distraction by those who don't want to face reality.
Ya having a flat out riot on campus every time a speaker comes the students don't agree with is no big deal at all.
I'm going to pass on your obviously hyperbolic overreaction, as you're demonstrating my point.
Was it ever any different? I look back through history and I can see people on the far right and far left who demonized each other and ignored common sense to promote their group's success. Maybe the extreme voices are just more amplified because of the internet. You used to have to read mimeographed pamphlets to find out what the extremists thought. Now they are in your news feed.
That's another myth, like trickle-down economics. "They're both doing it". No. The only people who "dismiss outright" the opposing side are the people involved in the political propaganda machine. Everyone else is capable of forming an opinion on a given topic. If you present me with something being pushed by the right which has merit, I'll acknowledge it.
Yes, very much so. Just look at the Reagan/Bush debate.
Violence is always inexcusable, but it wasn't invented exclusively by either the left or the right.
Apparently you didn't see this played over and over during the most recent election. The two Republican candidates were expressing sentiments that were more to the left than today's democrats.
But that isn't germane to what I'm saying. Neither Reagan nor Bush were extremists. Read some John Birch Society publications from the 1960s, or Weather Underground's "Prairie Fire" for examples of extremism.
What's germane is exactly what you just said. Neither Reagan or Bush were extremists, yet they represented the right wing in the 80s. John Birch was a fringe group - now that mindset is the modern right wing.
The extremism in the left wing is a small, fringe faction. Whereas the far right has been represented by nearly all the Republican candidates, as well as Fox news.
That isn't what I'm saying. I'm suggesting the extremists are just more visible now, more amplified.
