This week's Random Topics will not feature any topics generated by the Blog Post Ideas Generator instead this week's column will feature a (not so) random topic that I want to touch on (very) briefly:
Political Discourse
I know that people are tired of hearing or reading about the dwindling state of current political discourse but I felt the need to express a few thoughts on the matter.
(1) The negative rhetoric amongst campaigns is nothing new but the quality of the debates has diminished. Let's face the following fact: Donald Trump's "plain speak" is nothing more than personal ignorance and condescension toward the electorate. When I hear an individual making a statement about how he (and I use the pronoun "he" in this instance because let's face another fact: the vast majority of Trump supporters are male) is able to better relate to Trump because Trump speaks in the same manner he speaks, all I hear is the following:
"Donald Trump speaks to me like a child because Trump believes that he is superior to me because he has his name plastered along the sides of tall buildings and he is on television."
To be honest, I find this apprehension towards speaking at a level higher than grade school to be rather disheartening. I have never understood why people insist on having leaders that are relatable and/or on par with them intellectually. Personally, I want a leader to be better than me because I know that (1) I am not as intelligent as I believe to be the case and (2) other world leaders are not as ignorant as I am as well. Possessing a greater intellect and utilizing a higher degree of discourse are not things to be shunned but rather things to be possessed by a leader. Why would I follow a leader that is no smarter than me?
(2) There is a difference between political devotion and political obsession. You will these sort of individuals amongst the ranks of every political campaign; the supporter that is annoyingly abrasive toward any sort of perceived slight against his/her candidate of choice. A particularly good example of this sort of brash behavior can be seen amongst "Bern Bros" that have come to the basic conclusion that any sort of negative action against Sen. Sanders is either (1) a part of an elaborately-designed conspiracy orchestrated to hinder his campaign or (2) the result of an individual being ignorant or out-of-touch (e.g., the attacks on Rep. John Lewis following his endorsement of Hillary Clinton).
I firmly believe that if we are able to accept the notion that political discourse should be of an elevated status as well as informed, then we may be able to push beyond our current state of juvenile-level discourse.
