Saturday, April 14, 2012
How far we've sunk
I don't watch Washington Journal on C-SPAN every day, but I do check in fairly often. One of the great virtues of C-SPAN to me is the strong attempt to show all sides, liberal, conservative and every flavor thereof. But in the last few years, I've noticed how many of the callers on Washington Journal no longer believe this. They are totally convinced that the OTHER side owns C-SPAN and is spinning everything in their opponents direction. Nothing convinces them otherwise. When challenged about this, people seem to feel it is evil that anyone who feels differently from themselves deserves a right to speak at all! Madness! It's no wonder people can't seem to work out their differences.
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I blame PC language rules which hem people's speech and hinder their thoughts. It crept up on Americans like anti-smoking laws.
I was gone from America from 1990 to 1993, living abroad in Europe, missing a significant transition in national dialog. I was only plugged into a couple English language print media for two years--The Herald Tribune and The Economist. During this time the first Gulf War happened and Clinton was elected--Cable news blossomed which I missed. The Clarence Thomas hearings happened in 1991 and during this time one side invented new ways to speak and talk about race, sexism and later on, about sexual mores. People learned how to say one thing but mean another. I will never forget when I came back from Europe and had some beers with some grad students--at the same familiar place I had left 3 years prior. I don't even recall what I said or what was said but I will never forget the response I heard: it was something like "Bruce, we just don't talk like that anymore." I believe that the Clinton era codified a certain way to be trickier with language, & to be very lawyerly with words and to use "code" and double speak. People of all races and gender seemed to become hypersensitive during this time. It was a big reason why I turned from being a pretty liberal in political outlook to where I am today (lol).
That's what I think happened--either that or I drank some kool-aid in Europe or grew up or something.
I look forward to your critique.
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