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Partisan Talk Show Hosts

On his blog, David Friedman notices that most talk show hosts bow to the pressure to be overly-partisan.

The experience is not encouraging. Most of the content, left and right, amounts to "our side is wise and virtuous, hooray, their side is stupid and evil, boo."

This behavior is antithetical to the idea of transpartisanship which deprecates th use of tribalistic chest thumping and childish name-calling. Transpartisans strip out the sloganeering and absolutist "us or them" rhetoric to seek understanding and truth, and to synergize the interests of both sides. To the degree that politically active individuals are unable to distinguish between rhetoric and coherent argument, we will see increased frustration on all sides of the spectrum.

Partisan attacks confuse those making them about their real goals, as the "soundbite" consumes their principles. Such attacks make the target of the attacks get a false impression of the values of the attacker. By fostering an environment of political warfare, we get further and further from achieving the outcomes which both sides would prefer.

-- Kevin D. Rollins

Posted by Kevin D. Rollins on March 4, 2006 12:20 PM |

Free-for-all (frfr-ôl) -- n. A disorderly fight, argument, or competition in which everyone present participates.

from Dictionary.com



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