sdnativeson, twice in your post you say I’m “charged up” by jg. I’m not quite sure where you get that from. What I said was that he was not really making any logical points, that he was making himself look silly, and that that type of comment distracts from rational discourse, Nothing charged there. No excitement. Just counterpoints to his manner of debate.
“As to the rest of his post well, it’s the analogy he chooses to use, it doesn’t bother me.”
Calling people “public school graduates” and “ladies” and implying that they’re not tough are not analogies. They’re attempts to insult. Or, if you want to give jg the benefit of the doubt, you can call them what he calls them, which is parody. And insults from jg don’t bother me except for the fact that they distract from the discussion. And that’s the point: insults and parody have no place in a calm, rational discussion. Humor is fine. But attempting to parody or insult the other side generally ends up leading to division.
“I don’t really get the Rovian Debate philosophy comment though. Tactic? Maybe, Strategy? Possibly. Philosophy? No.”
You are correct. I should have said tactic or strategy.
If “Rovian debate philosophy” is structured in the manner you say then why do you get so charged up over it?
Again, I’m not charged up. And I don’t know what you mean by “is structured in the manner you say.” But the reason that I think it’s bad for the country is that it distracts from discussion of what is best for our country.
I think you are giving Rove and the Republicans way too much credit.
It’s possible. But I don’t think so. Having watched the republicans in action over the last decade, their contempt for and ridicule of people who don’t agree with them has been consistent and strong. Don’t get me wrong; I think the democrats would do it just as much if they were any good at it. But they don’t seem to be. And I think a big part of the reason for that is Karl Rove. I may be giving him too much credit, as I do give him tons of credit. It is my opinion that the man is quite a genius at what he does.
“I also disregard your comment of “too many people in this country….. and irrational fashion”, I find that an extremely arrogant statement. You are saying/calling a large percentage of our population unitelligent and irrational – due to the fact they have/hold an opinion/ thoughts differing from those that you hold on to so vehemently.”
You are correct about that being an arrogant opinion, but wrong about it being due to the fact that they have different opinions from me. I feel the same way about anyone who debates in that fashion, whether I agree with them or not. As far as the arrogance… I have no excuse for that. I do believe that a large percentage of our population acts in an unintelligent and irrational fashion. And is subject to the type of influence that Karl Rove and his minions provide. Note that I didn’t say that they were unintelligent, just that they act that way sometimes. And I also believe that if they can be taught to act that way, then they can be taught to use reason and logic and calm discussion rather than insults and emotional manipulation.
