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Commentary

By Liz Quirin

Dial Down the Threatening Talk

Let’s just stop all the inflammatory rhetoric, what I would call the “trash talk” that’s clogging our airwaves, infiltrating our political dialogue. Actually, you can’t even call what’s been happening in Congress a dialogue; it’s more of one person taking the floor and ranting. Now, we have threatening voice mails left on officials’ answering machines. In some instances that has escalated to property damage. It’s outrageous; it’s beyond belief, but it’s happening. The latest shock was a report of two state legislators in Missouri facing off during a legislative session. What’s happening here?

Part of the problem is the amount of media attention that has been received about the health care bill, not the contents of the package but the heightened tensions between politicians and the language the press is and has been using to describe the debate. Media are using terminology more suited to a battlefield than a congressional debate. In fact, politicians are using the same destructive language in their own press releases, describing upcoming elections in “battleground states.” You’ve seen it, heard it, especially from the talking heads on the various cable and radio stations. Somehow, the rhetoric has propelled some of our less stable fellow citizens to “take it to the next level,” employing more violent tactics to make their voices heard.

Everybody, media included, need to take a step back and dial down the inflammatory talk. You can’t even call it a dialogue when everybody’s shouting. You can’t make a point with someone by trying to out-shout them. When did we abandon polite discourse in favor of vituperative and venomous sniping?

Part of the problem stems from a lack of balanced discussions in the media and on-line. Instead of seeing or hearing more than one opinion, we gravitate to the people and places that agree with our point of view. If we don’t hear or see somebody else’s perspective, we think our side is the right side, and sometimes the only side of a discussion. I’ll be the first to admit if I have formed an opinion about an issue, a person or a topic, I won’t be the first in line to listen to the other side. However, I hope I would be willing to listen without prejudice even if I don’t expect to change my mind. Sometimes, especially about people, I have changed my mind, realizing that I’ve jumped to an erroneous conclusion about somebody’s opinion or attitude.

We have to dial down the violent exchanges before we become so enmeshed in controversy for its own sake that we lose sight of finding out the facts of a particular issue. We have so many important issues confronting us these days we desperately need to step back and make sure we’re listening to a real exchange of ideas instead of participating in one more shouting match.