Let's Talk

Public discourse about things political and social has descended to the level of a school yard brawl, complete with accusations, misrepresentations, name-calling, button-pushing and down-right lies. The habits and tactics that define the contemporary conversations about these topics reduce exchanges to something less than conversation. Much less. Much, much less.

We have become a culture where rants pass for conversation. We talk a lot, but few listen to anything but the sound of their own voice and those that agree with them. Ideological polarization runs rampant and is condoned and even encouraged by our leaders.

I’m reminded of a passage from Macbeth, an apt description of what passes for public discourse today:

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

We have become the idiots, loud and furious, but amounting to nothing at the end of the day. One side yells and makes accusations. The other side yells back and makes its own accusations. But neither seek the truth.

Talk radio epitomizes this culture, as well it should. It’s largely responsible for it. I would suggest, however, renaming it “rant radio”.

That’s usually what the shows consist of: a host ranting, making unjustified or unsubstantiated and undocumentable accusations, whipping a radio audience into a lather. All that froth might be good if one is making meringue, but it does nothing to further civil discourse.

The rabble-rousing rant format has spilled over into cable TV and the internet. Someone picks up a rant and forwards it to everyone they know. Pretty soon, untruths and half-truths become urban myth.

The media that pays its bill by supplying the rant pipeline say “It’s just entertainment. It’s not news.” Even as they present the rants in formats that mimic news. They encourage them because they drive ratings.

Both ends of the spectrum are guilty. Guilty as sin.

We live in extraordinary times with extraordinary problems. Problems that we cannot solve by ranting at each other. The problems are too big to be reduced to political fodder. They are real problems that call for real solutions, and today, not tomorrow.

The media has a responsibility to report the news and label opinion as opinion and not try to pass it off as legitimate news. Nor should they hide behind the cover of “entertainment”. They shouldn’t have it both ways.

Until we have civil discourse, we will not be able to solve the big problems that need to be taken care of today because they didn’t get taken care of over the last 40 years.

It’s time.