Metadiscussion derived from "more on The Chilling Effect"

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 14:18:43 -0600
From: "Stephen D. Poe" <sdpoe () nautilussolutions com>
Subject: Re: [IP] Metadiscussion derived from "more on The Chilling Effect"
To: dave () farber net

Dave -

For IP.

In 2002 Anthony Lake authored "6 Nightmares: Real Threats in a Dangerous 
World and How America Can Meet Them".  The first five threats Lake 
discusses are certainly nothing new and include such daily headlines as 
terrorism and eCrime; his descriptions and fictional scenarios are 
sometimes a bit too flamboyant, but it is a mass market book.

The sixth, however, was different and very prescient; it is, perhaps, an 
even greater threat than the other five put together.

It's the changes in how the political game is played, both in Washington, 
DC and in day-to-day discourse, including over the Internet.

Lake quotes Washington observer E. J. Dionne:
"The US has fallen into a politics of accusation in which the moral 
annihilation of opponents is the ultimate goal. It is now no longer simply 
enough to defeat, outargue or outpoll a foe. Now, the only test of victory 
is whether an adversary's moral standing is thoroughly shredded and destroyed."

Lake then makes the observation:
"The modern politics in which political consultants have become more 
important to candidates' fortunes than political constituencies, in which 
polls are more important than beliefs in shaping not only their speeches 
but how they dress and who they say they are, in which tearing down the 
other guy's character and platform is more important than establishing your 
own...
The result is the same everywhere: a deeping cynicism about government, one 
that transcends the healthy skepticism through which a public endeavor to 
hold its leaders accountable for their actions. This kind of cynicism we 
are seeing today breeds apathy and damages democracy."

I see this same trend in politics and in much other discourse; there seems 
to be less and less interest in discussions whose goal is for both parties 
(or all parties) to arrive at an amenable middle ground; no willingness to 
compromise, and very little discussion of what is best for the US as a whole.


We seem to be moving more into an era where you have two or more sides each 
attempting to out-shrill the other with their "position", its nobility and 
the moral turpitude and stupidity of the other side; no one seems to be 
worrying about how to keep the day-to-day business of government and the 
rest of life running.

Just my 0.02 cents (or 0.01 Euros) worth,
Stephen




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