When I was young, relatively speaking, I did not pay much attention to politics, and probably did not understand most of what I heard. I remember always rooting for the underdog, as I have in other fields as well, such as sports.
Now, I pay attention. However, I feel increasingly frustrated, confused and anxious when I read political material. I look back on my youth with a longing for the time when the right thing to do was simple to understand, if not always simple to choose.
Almost every time I read the Wall Street Journal opinion pages, I become internally hostile to the writings. It's not so much that I disagree with the policies that they are presenting, but I vehemently dislike the manner in which the arguments are framed. They are polemical, there is no doubt, but also usually contain criticisms of people, if not outright personal attacks. Sometimes these criticisms are subtle satire. Other times they are outwardly blatant.
Being the WSJ, the opinions published tend to lean towards conservitive policies. However, each article has a defensive and combative feel to it. I don't necessarily disagree with conservitive positions, or Rebublican positions for that matter. I don't really consider myself a Democrat or a Republican, because I have become cynical of party politics. This being said, I tend to react more hostile toward writings published by Republicans and conservatives. It seems to me that these folks tend to blame and complain more often, and often in vicious manners.
I become fatigued of reading data and statistics to support positions. There are so many damn think tanks out there that any writer can find a 'reliable' statistic from somewhere to back up his argument. Did the Bush tax cuts work? The Republicans say yes, the Democrats say no. Both use tons of data to support their opinions. Fiscal policy is such a debatable topic that, in my opinion, nobody knows for sure what works and what doesn't. There are an infanite number of other factors that determine an economy, and they are too hard to entirely ocntrol for to determine the effect of a tax cut.
What I know is that there are some smart people on both sides of the argument. What I have to try to do is to find the people that can write in a manner that does not annoy me, by clearly presenting an argument for or against something, without taking the personalities involved to task.
Now, I pay attention. However, I feel increasingly frustrated, confused and anxious when I read political material. I look back on my youth with a longing for the time when the right thing to do was simple to understand, if not always simple to choose.
Almost every time I read the Wall Street Journal opinion pages, I become internally hostile to the writings. It's not so much that I disagree with the policies that they are presenting, but I vehemently dislike the manner in which the arguments are framed. They are polemical, there is no doubt, but also usually contain criticisms of people, if not outright personal attacks. Sometimes these criticisms are subtle satire. Other times they are outwardly blatant.
Being the WSJ, the opinions published tend to lean towards conservitive policies. However, each article has a defensive and combative feel to it. I don't necessarily disagree with conservitive positions, or Rebublican positions for that matter. I don't really consider myself a Democrat or a Republican, because I have become cynical of party politics. This being said, I tend to react more hostile toward writings published by Republicans and conservatives. It seems to me that these folks tend to blame and complain more often, and often in vicious manners.
I become fatigued of reading data and statistics to support positions. There are so many damn think tanks out there that any writer can find a 'reliable' statistic from somewhere to back up his argument. Did the Bush tax cuts work? The Republicans say yes, the Democrats say no. Both use tons of data to support their opinions. Fiscal policy is such a debatable topic that, in my opinion, nobody knows for sure what works and what doesn't. There are an infanite number of other factors that determine an economy, and they are too hard to entirely ocntrol for to determine the effect of a tax cut.
What I know is that there are some smart people on both sides of the argument. What I have to try to do is to find the people that can write in a manner that does not annoy me, by clearly presenting an argument for or against something, without taking the personalities involved to task.
Comments