June 01, 2010

National Civil Discourse Day – 9/11/10

(the following reprinted by permission of it's author. note the link at the bottom back to his blog post)

In two recent posts, I expressed significant concern for the increasingly angry and mean-spirited tone that our politicosphere has taken on in recent years and the corrosive effect it is having on our political system (here and here).

Today, I would like to offer a first step in reversing the current descent of our discourse into political and social hell.

I am proposing a National Civil Discourse Day (NCDD) for September 11, 2010 (and celebrated annually). I changed the date from September 15th because the tragedy of 9/11 had one short-lived upside: Americans put their partisanship and rigid ideologies aside and joined together to act as one people — Americans — united against a common threat. Perhaps the emotions and sense of unity and purpose evoked on 9/11 will motivate people who participate in the politicosphere to honor NCDD the way Americans honor 9/11.

The goal of National Civil Discourse Day is for everyone in all forms of media, from Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow on the Left to Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck on the Right on down to the most anonymous members of the politicosphere, to commit to a day of respectful and substantive discourse.

Hopefully, the NCDD will raise awareness and show people that America will be better and stronger if we can have respectful debate about our differences in ways that foster consensus (even if that means just agreeing to disagree) and produce beneficial solutions.

But the real goal isn’t just to raise awareness, but rather to shape a new standard of acceptable behavior in the politicosphere that will guide people in how they engage in politically heated conversations. Here are my first thoughts on some guidelines for NCDD:

•Discuss only substantive issues.
•Don’t express opinion as fact.
•Avoid ideological talking points.
•Avoid personal insults, name calling, and demonization of others.
•Listen.
•Be open minded.
•Look for common ground.
•Stay calm.
•Learn something from those with whom you debate.
Please post your guideline suggestions in the Comments section and I will collate and publish them in a later post.

But to make NCDD happen, I need your help in getting it to go viral. Here is what I am asking of you:

1.Email this post to every relevant web site that you visit asking them to post it, link it, or write a story about it.
2.Email this post to every local and national television, print, and radio news outlet you can think of (all have some sort of ‘news tips’ email address).
3.Email this post to everyone you know who enters the politicosphere and ask #1 of them.
4.If you are a blogger, write a post about NCDD.
5.If you run a blog site, link or reprint this post.
6.Facebook, tweet, digg or send this post to one of your other favorite social media (anything to send NCDD into cyberspace!).
7.Can someone with greater skills than I create web site in support of the NCDD?
It wouldn’t seem difficult to get NCDD to catch fire because just about anyone who follows the news regularly has a “gag me!” experience in which they see, hear, read, or are a victim of the current politicosphere’s culture of anger and vitriol.

Is it possible to return civility to our political conversations? I don’t know, but I think that, for the sake of our country, it is worth a try. Just one question. Are you willing to help?

Join National Civil Discourse Day on Facebook and spread the word!

Dr. Jim Taylor

Posted by Kevin at 11:44 AM | Permalink | |

May 31, 2010

Memorial Day - never forget

Lexington & Concord - April 19, 1775

Fort Sumpter - April 12, 1861

Pearl Harbor - December 7, 1941

World Trade Center - September 11, 2001

GOP Convention - September 1, 2004

Posted by Kevin at 09:30 AM | Permalink | |

May 28, 2010

It's a small, small world

Back in February of 2005 I wrote Goin' off the rails on the Kool Aid Express about a wingnut I worked with at the time and how delusional some of his dittohead "factoids" were.

So here I was yesterday catching up on the days news after getting home from school. I followed a link from my Yahoo homepage to a piece at The Oregonian's website about some guy who'd been arrested after shooting at a couple of I-Pod thiefs in Gresham this past Tuesday.

Surprise, surprise! It was the same wingnut I used to work with. Roger Witter.

He's actually a nice guy and a gifted artist. There are at least two National Forest Service visitor centers/field museums that prominantly feature his exceptionally realistic paintings - one in Guam and one near John Day, Oregon. From a distance you'd swear they were huge prints from photographs.

But I was not the least bit surprised that he had a concealed-carry permit or that he hadn't exhibited any greater judgement in how he used it than he had exhibited back in 2005 with respect to some of the loony "factoids" he'd bought at face value from Limbaugh and whomever else he listened to.

Posted by Kevin at 12:32 PM | Permalink | |

May 27, 2010

Updated Tri-Met MAX Map with New Destinations

A sort of an editorial cartoon:

TriMet-See where it takes you?

I'm not sure what depresses me more ... the sad attitude about transit in America, or the transit companies who actually undermine their own case.

Posted by The Chinuk at 12:38 PM | Permalink | |

The half-wit from Wasilla

We all remember Sarah Palin's inferred assertion to Katie Curic that being able to see Russia somehow lent her foreign policy cred.

Apparently her new neighbor is an unauthorized biographer. Palin's solution: build a 14 foot high fence to block the viewing possibilities between the two properties.

So, does this mean that she is no longer an expert on biographies since she can no longer see the biographer?

Were she to, God forbid, go blind...

Posted by Kevin at 11:44 AM | Permalink | |