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Re: Is Obama Trying To Start A Race-War In America?
Hello Scribbler,
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scribbler1
Well, and I know you didn't address me, I HAVE listened to Limbaugh for 15 years or more. He has indeed changed, IMO. Or at least his on-air persona has changed,
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Yes, but you are not saying that Rush is a racist.
Quote:
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But in my view he is no longer the rational voice of conservatives and a foil of the left wing, and is now a mouthpiece for the far right. It sells, of course, but that doesn't make it good.
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Yes, he has changed his on-air approach, but I think it is more, as he said, stopped carrying that water for the Republican Party. But your comments reminded me of an article I read several years ago. We tend to see the perspectives of others in relation to our own perspective. I cannot find a current active link, but I had saved it on my computer and here is the relevant portion.
Quote:
Push-Pull Dynamics on the Horizontal Continuum
President Clinton’s attack on "hate talk" right after the bombing triggered a feeding frenzy among what are called "conservative" talk show hosts and political interests. This blinding media-enhanced thunderstorm diverted us from the real issues regarding terrorism, just as our focus is shifted to side-issues on almost every other problem we are trying to solve from youth gangs to welfare reform. There are horizontal forces at work.
Think of a political spectrum with nine hypothetical positions:
1.Radical(left wing) 2.Principled 3.Pragmatic (moderate) 4.Tilted 5.Middle(neutral) 6.Tilted (moderate) 7.Pragmatic 8.Principled 9.Radical(right wing)
Because of their different horizontal windows, not every person on this continuum will be able to separate out the different shades, gradations, or degrees. Two kinds of distortions occur. First, if a position on the 1-9 scale is close to "my own" on the same scale, I may deny the differences and assimilate it as equivalent to my own. Thus, we have the formation of political alliances that deny differences among the various wings of a party as they attempt to unite and speak with one voice. One could see that today in the Republican Party as it tried to rally behind (and then abandoned) the Contract with America or in the briefly civil Congress after the Hershey civility summit. Often, these entities make for strange bedfellows while the differences are ignored and they pull together in common cause.
ME/US 1 Þ 2-3-4-5-6 —————————————————————— 7-8-9 THEM
Second, under other conditions, a person will push the other position away from his or her own, thus shoving it further into the camp of the enemy. "You" may think we are singing from the same page, but "I" conclude that you are one of "them" because we sing slightly different notes. This is known as the contrast effect. For example, someone at position one sees...
ME/US Þ ———————— 2 ————————— 3 ————————— 4-5-6-7-8-9 THEM
...or, from the other pole, someone at position nine sees...
THEM 1-2-3-4-5-6 ————————— 7 ————————— 8 ———————— Ü 1 ME/US
In the former case, the "extreme" left-wing position was unable to recognize the positions within its own wing but, instead, will displace or contrast them into the camp of the enemy. The person will be unable to "see" any differences among positions 4 through 9. Thus it is that "Uncle Tom’s" have sold out and former friends become traitors as the "either you are FOR me or you are AGAINST me" sentiment sets in.
In the second illustration, this same process works in the opposite direction as extreme right-wing positions push the more "moderate" right-wing positions across the neutral line into left-wing persuasions. Extreme positions on both wings, as a result, are unable to differentiate ideas and projects, but will continue to define them as part and parcel of extreme thinking on the other side.
Thus, President Clinton will be seen as a "flaming liberal" in the minds of right-wing positions 8 and 9 since they will be unable to see the differences among positions 1 through 6. Rush Limbaugh will be seen as a "fire-breathing reactionary" by positions 1 and 2 who will bunch 5 through 9 into a single rejected group. (Interestingly enough, Limbaugh was accused of supporting "one world government" by extreme positions 8-9, thus pushing him across the neutral line into the "left wing" with the President.) Clearly, Mr. Clinton’s "hate talk" condemnation, apparently targeted at extreme 9 position rhetoric, was interpreted to be "a broad brush" that also tarred 6 and 7. From a research standpoint, how a person defines all the positions on the continuum will reveal that person’s own position on the same scale.
Our point, here, is that it has become difficult to develop "non-partisan" solutions to complex problems because every proposal has to run the gauntlet through this distorting assimilation-contrast effect. This has been the case in many Palestinian/Israeli conflicts (as well as recent splits within Israel) and a historic pattern in Northern Ireland. This is certainly the case when it comes to understanding the motives of the terrorists, the influence of the anti-government militia movements, and the role of more "conservative" talk radio hosts in encouraging, giving aid to, or creating the atmosphere for the entire right-wing spectrum to flourish. (The same comment could have been made about the so-called "left-wing" during the anti-war polarization in the midst of the Vietnam war protests of the 1960’s and 1970’s.) To "lower the rhetoric" on explosive, inflammatory issues should mean "moderate the assimilation-contrast effect." Only then can we begin to see the whole and act for the greater good.
From: A Spiral View of Terrorism by Dr. Don Beck and Christopher Cowan
© 1996 National Values Center, Inc.
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tashi deleks,
M
__________________
"They haven't got Brains, any of them, only grey fluff that's blown into their heads by mistake, and they don't Think." -- Eeyore, The House At Pooh Corner
Sit like a mountain,
Breathe like the wind,
Mind like the Sky.
When all the Gods are crazy, who do you pray to?
Last edited by Mahasattva; 07-04-2008 at 08:46 AM.
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