Town Halls

[x-1013-x.livejournal.com]

So I've noticed, as many of you have undoubtedly, that the left has taken to using "disruptive behavior at town halls" as a crutch. Can someone explain to me how standing up for what you believe and being a patriotic dissenter makes the thing you're dissenting against inherently good? It's as if the protest behavior has made some in the left ignore the actual proposals even more and automatically declare the whole thing awesome. How are the two things remotely related?

I ask because there was an article about a congressman's meeting in Indiana yesterday in our paper. The commenters on the article seemed to be talking only about this supposed mob behavior at town halls (none of which seemed to occur at the meeting mentioned) and not talking at all about the actual healthcare proposals. They seem to have gotten the notion that since hard-working, good people don't like this thing, it's a great idea. They even went as far as to accuse these people (yes, people who obviously have real healthcare concerns like elderly family or family with special needs) of thinking only with their wallets.

Can this legislation be blocked? Can this country survive? With the Chicago politics so rampant, I'm beginning to doubt our recovery will be swift.

Comments

[arkadelos.livejournal.com]

A swift recovery is debatable, but I am wondering if the all the townhall protests will frighten the democrats into voting down the healthcare bill. After all, with so many angry voters, they might be terrified of being voted out of office, come 2010.

[x-1013-x.livejournal.com]

That would be the hope, but I fear how the left is using our anger. They seem to be using it as a means to defame us, to make us appear selfish or stupid. To them, everything is a tactic, everything is a means to destroy opposition. It's just sad.

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

Can someone explain to me how standing up for what you believe and being a patriotic dissenter makes the thing you're dissenting against inherently good?

It's all about demonizing the opposition. They have no interest in actually debating the issue. They know what's best for us, they're going to shove this down our throats whether we want it or not, and that's that.

It's as if the protest behavior has made some in the left ignore the actual proposals even more and automatically declare the whole thing awesome.

That's exactly the way it goes. The focus is taken off the actual content of the bill and instead is put on the protestors that they claim are doing horrible things. It doesn't matter if it's true or not.

How are the two things remotely related?

They're not. But these days most debates are based on just emotion, rumors and sensationalism. They manufacture a fight and steal us blind when we're distracted.

I hate to say it, but there are a lot of gullible people out there. They're simply going to believe these things that the media is telling them. After all, unless you're doing your own research online, all you're going to hear is their side.

And there are more people like that than we'd care to believe. Not everyone is online. Not everyone is concerned about this. Many people are just going about their lives, their minds on other things. They hear that everyone's going to get health care coverage and they think, "What could be wrong with that? What kind of evil people would oppose taking care of poor people who can't afford a doctor?" After all, that's the way this has been presented. And that's really as far as their thinking goes.

It's a hard road ahead.

[x-1013-x.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm just surprised at how easily these supposedly intelligent people will participate in the outward Alinsky-type behavior without knowing or caring what they're doing. It's really an indication of their true intelligence I suppose. I just hope we can come out of this. So, to quote X-Files, "If we quit now, they win." I won't quit. :)

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

I won't quit.

Amen!

[x-1013-x.livejournal.com]

You know, it's amazing, when I re-watch X-Files now with this new perspective on government, I see all kinds of new things. Though I'm sure it's not what CC wanted me to see, Mulder and Scully's trials and tribulations have given me strength to fight against this administration. Yep, I'm a geek.

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

Geek away! That's what good stories should do, inspire us to fight for what is good and true.

[ccr1138.livejournal.com]

It's not surprising. People have a bad habit of seizing upon any excuse to cling to their beliefs -- conservative OR liberal. They think, "The other side is behaving badly, therefore they must be in the wrong, and/or they must have no support for their arguments." It's a logical fallacy, but it's applied quite frequently by all sides of the debate.

Hence Kenneth Gladney is now the poster boy for anti-Obamacare: some SEIU thugs beat up a protester, therefore government health care is wrong.

Too bad it's not that simple.

People are mostly lazy, and journalists are the worst. They'd much rather report on something sensational and simplistic than do the work of analyzing the actual issues.

And nobody is immune to the stupid. Other instances of this fallacy include the following:

- The Recess Rally website is sponsored by organizations, therefore it's not grassroots -- the sentiment of the activists is not genuinely heartfelt, and their cause is discredited.
- The MoveOn.org people are paying organizers, therefore it's not grassroots -- the sentiment of the activists is not genuinely heartfelt, and their cause is discredited.
- Somebody painted a swastika on Obama, therefore all the protesters are Nazis, and their beliefs are invalidated.
- Somebody painted a Hitler moustache on George Bush, therefore all the protesters are fascists, and their beliefs are invalidated.

I could go on, but the point is, people don't know how to think logically. They let their passions lead them into taking as proof of their position things that have nothing at all to do with the issues at hand.