Would you rather be complacent regarding the media or be considered a nut job because you have questions?

I listen to both sides. I think there is truth and legitimate points from both. Each issue to me is seperate, I don’t give a damn what my party says (I’m a democrat). I make up my mind based on life experience, what I want if I were someone elses shoes, gathering information on the topic and listening to various opinions. The best political show on TV is Morning Joe on MSNBC. Morning Joe has very little spin, lots of conversation, and level heads.

Most people are not so extreme. Most people don’t see those with oppossing viewpoints as crazy so much as misinformed, ignorant, greedy, self-serving, etc.

I’ve been called all sorts of things. Crazy might be one of the nicest.

I don’t think it’s that some people question, so much as some people don’t question. The questioners (on both sides) are just fine with each other. It’s those who don’t who think questioners are heretical.

Me? I question everything. But I don’t think people are nuts for what they question, just for what they take without question.

Trying to silence opposition by questioning their reasoning ability is one of the oldest political tricks in the book. today at least in most countries a person need not be in fear of prison or institution if they have opposing political views.

Today the media seems to have more of a bias- on both sides- than in the past. (this could just be me- I do not watch news unless I am travelling and it is playing at the airport or there is a natural disaster looming near my home) When I do watch it seems like they choose to interview people who are really ” out there.”

As I type this I am hoping that they are selecting extremists. They cannot be an honest sampling of American opinion can they?. What a disturbing thought.

Reasons like that are why I generally don’t watch the news unless something major happens. (even though that would be played up beyond belief for better ratings)

The first question is a false dichotomy. You can be a “nut job” and still be complacent regarding the media.

To your second question: The wise always question arguments and premises (regardless of which party runs the White House or Congress). In other words, always question your source, whether that source happens to be MSNBC or POTUS.

As for your last question, name-calling or ad hominem is a logical fallacy. Judge the argument being made and question the sizzle. The purveyers of sizzle today (e.g. FOX News et al.) can only sell their “journalism” to the credulous.

@Dog – the extremists aren’t there for news, they’re there for entertainment (which some people mistake for news). Whatever gets a paying audience is what the programs will air, even if it’s not really what the public needs to know to make good, informed decisions in the voting booth. It’s a shame, to be sure – but that’s life.

The bias of the news is not liberal or conservative; it’s towards scandal, and towards pat slogans and sound bites as “solutions” to complex and nuanced problems.

I appreciate all of your comments. Thank you everyone!

I think the majority of the media loved Obama because they loved the idea of being in the news business when a black president was elected. It is akin to journalists who were able to report during the election of Kennedy the assinations of the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King. They want their clip shown over and over again.

I don’t think people are ever considered nut-jobs because they have questions. And people are rarely considered nut-jobs just for disagreeing. I can think of nut-jobs all across the political spectrum and sane, rational people all across the political spectrum.

But sometimes nut-jobs need to be called nut-jobs. There are people out there who are very out there.

Well, I’m certifiably crazy, so what do I know? But I do think that conservative thinking is really far out in right field. They see the world so differently, that it’s hard to imagine we come from the same species—or speak the same language.

I don’t think we speak the same language, at least in regards to what some words mean. Even the word “Conservative” itself is rooted in the concept “to conserve,” but what they’re conserving is a mystery to me sometimes. (And other times what they appear to be conserving are the policies espoused by King George III…)

I really could have worded my question better. That’s what I get for asking at 3am after drinking a few beers. ;)

Thanks again for all of your comments!

Good for you that you are thinking out of the box, its the baby steps. Sorry, I didn’t mean to antagonize just talking from the heart.

I have been thinking about this and have come to the conclusion that every side is just trying to sell an agenda.

@Dog :)