The echo chamber
Published Mon, Feb 9 2009 11:38 AM
Technorati Tags: Blogging, Liberals, Conservatives
How many ways can there be to say that something's either good for us or bad for us? I know that some issues arouse a lot of passion, but eventually reading dozens of rants about the same subject gets dull and passion wanes. This isn't necessarily a good thing. Some topics need to be kept hot, simply to keep pressure on the opposition.
But if the only people who are reading your rants are of a like mind, what good are they? Perhaps they serve as moral support, but somehow I think that sort of ranting might be more of a way to feel as though you're contributing something of meaning to the dialog, despite the fact that everyone you vent to already knows the things that you have to say. Or maybe it's a way to get validation for your ideas from the like minded.
Maybe, that's why some of us have the perception that the political dialog in our country is becoming more and more polarized over time. The left has its echo chamber with its strident voices, and the right does too. If you only pay attention to the voices from one side or the other, your views can become more extreme over time. Sure, this might arouse your passions for a while, but if all you hear is your own voice repeated over and over you aren't learning anything.
I wasn't always a conservative. I started life with a fairly conservative upbringing. My dad's pretty conservative. My mom on the other hand is more of a moderate with liberal leanings, but compared to today's liberals she was a staunch right winger when I was growing up. In spite of all of this, or perhaps because of it and my own cantankerous nature I was an anarchist at thirteen.
I was in full rebellion against the principles I was raised with. Not long after that, largely due to the influence of my “friends” in my own little teen-age “underground” which was mild compared to the attitudes I see in some of today's youth. In college I was attracted to the “romanticism” of the counter-culture — wishing for a protest akin to the foolishness of the sixties. I even ended up supporting (with my time and money) some rather dubious causes, like the “student” effort to depose the Shah of Iran.
As I got older, and after I moved out to the Seattle area I became a fairly committed liberal. This probably had more to do with the people I was exposed to and the release of restraints upon my behavior than anything else. Even through this though, I remembered a few basic things that I believed in. But, I wasn't really able to resist a good argument, and people like Dave Ross spreading his “drive-by wisdom to the masses, one listener at a time” kept me snowed and thinking like a liberal.
And then, one day I started listening to “the other side.” I caught the Rush Limbaugh show one morning on my drive to work. After a few minutes I started yelling at the radio and turned it off in disgust. For some reason I tuned my radio in to Rush again a couple of days later, with the same result. Rush seemed to me to be an arrogant, self-centered, self-aggrandizing moron. Still, I couldn't stop listening, and listening made me think about his arguments.
I'd like to say that I did my own research and changed my mind about liberalism, but that's not what happened. Gradually, listening to Rush I was swayed by his common sense about conservatism, and his criticism of not just Democrats but of liberal Republicans as well. It wasn't until some time later that I really started analyzing what it was I believed in and why. Believe it or not, it was a liberal that convinced me to start doing detailed research. Karl (by no means a liberal) over at Leaning Straight Up and NW Bloggers is right. “Iron sharpens iron.” For some time on NW Bloggers there was a regular blogger that went by the moniker “Playin' Possum” who offered a couple of challenges to the other bloggers there. Taking him up on those challenges required the extra research, and it was worth it. It changed the basic nature of my blogging.
When it comes down to it, the underlying principles of conservatism are pretty simple. Limited government intrudes upon individual lives less than a massive government run by central planners. Morality matters. People work for a reason, and it's not just so they can have weekends. Personal responsibility is a way to attain peace and harmony both within oneself and at home. Rewarding success and punishing failure is nature's own way of selecting for behaviors that work. Rewarding failure and punishing success leads to weakness and decay. Helping others when they are in need by offering a hand up helps us all, but a hand out ends up being wasted (or getting the beggar wasted on more booze). Recreational pharmaceuticals may seem like fun, but they impair your ability to compete or to enjoy anything else when you get hooked.
Liberalism on the other hand seems to me to be all about feeling good. Helping others by giving them a hand-out, looking down on them all the while. Feeling guilty about what you've earned and so needing to displace that guilt onto people who've earned more. Preaching tolerance while quashing dissent and having no tolerance for those that believe in and support your own culture.
Thinking on these things, I believe that I'm a conservative and will always (from this point onward) be one. I like talking to conservatives. I like reading the things that conservatives have to say. I like listening to them on the radio. At the same time, I have come full circle and pretty much loath much of the drivel that I hear coming out of the mouths and the keyboards of liberals. To some extent, I've exchanged the liberal echo chamber for the conservative echo chamber.
That's not quite what I want. I'm not looking to convince other conservatives to be even more conservative. I'm not really looking to get personal affirmation by having people praise me for holding the same ideas that they do (although I do enjoy personal affirmation). The pithy “me too” isn't dialog, it's just another echo.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about conservatism. I've spent a lot of time reading and re-reading our founding documents. I've written a lot about my own understanding of what's in them. I've gotten a lot of echoes as well as some very insightful commentary from people on this side of the aisle.
I think it's time to start taking the message across the aisle. I've got accounts on some left wing sites. Perhaps its time to start posting some of this there. I doubt that I'll get very many echoes there. Now where did I put that fire retardant suit? I'm not really looking for a flame war after all, just a dialog.
If we want to convert other people to our viewpoint we can't just stay in the echo chamber. We've got to talk to the people that we disagree with. Of course, doing so will take a lot of time and effort. I think I know myself. I wonder if I'm up to it.
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JMB responded with:
 | I myself have been pondering this idea for awhile, and I think this strategy of
Visiting left wing web sites and presenting some alternative views, could be very effective, and even sometimes fun, as long as I remember to bring some barf bags along with me, I should be ok.
I also think that having bloggers who will encourage this, and possibly promote some helpful guidance in support, could work.
Well, its off to the races I go. |
Stanford Matthews responded with:
 | A couple of years ago I did that. Thought it was only fair to engage the opposition. Challenge their positions and have them challenge mine. Seems like a reasonable thing to do.
The first five or six places I commented at received no response at all, not even rants. Only recently did I take the opportunity to do it again and got one minor exchange.
Of course my first few attempts were funny choices. Shakespeare's Sister, Daily Kos and Pandagon and some others of notorious repuatation.
The most recent was Scholars and Rogues which I actually find an interesting place.
That's my two cents. These days that is extravagant. |
David responded with:
 | I, too, went through a youthful "liberal" phase. ("Liberal" in scare quotes, because in retrospect, I realize it wasn't liberal at all, just leftist/statist.) Several things worked to open my eyes, the chief of which was living in "the good part of the ghetto" in a major metro area and working with youth and families in the neighborhood. Opened my eyes to the destructive nature of leftist/statist interference in personal lives.
That was well over 35 years ago, and experience gained and knowledge earned since then have only strengthened my already firm agreement with the Founders that government is a necessary evil that is to be restrained, circumscribed, bounded, hemmed in and subservient to the individual rights and liberties of the People. |
JMB responded with:
| Please forgive me for the longevity of this particular comment, but just for the record Perri
I think there will always be an awful lot of people who will visit conservative blogs, that have not as yet thought through many of these issues that are presented within them, and I also think there are many others who of corse are looking for ideas that can help them formulate there own arguments and opinions.
And I don’t really believe that there are very many people visiting conservative blogs for this mere pleaser of exchanging complements, and what I truly know is this, that if you even just by chance happen to run into one of these conservative blogs, and you don’t immediately want to throw up, out of overwhelming concern for your own nation, there is, definitely something wrong with you.
I also believe that most people who purposely visit conservative blogs, actually do bother to write, or phone their elected representatives, or sign petitions, or just even talk to some other people who might be left otherwise convinced that they are more liberal then they actually are.
I also believe that the comments that follow these posts are very important, I myself always inspect them with great vigor.
And as regarding these politically correct morons, I myself purposely spend most of my time reading what eventually turns out after further considerations to be absolute garbage, however, I myself still believe that there is something to be said about regularly reading the good old fashion truth also.
And as far as these left wing blogs are concerned, I don’t think we need a reply to our comments, to be productive.
I don’t think I was ever a left winger, I liked what Reagan had to say, so I voted for him, but then I must have forgotten the things he had said because I foolishly voted for Clinton after that...Opps
Rush Limbaugh had also helped me out, I once thought he was arrogant to.
Perri, I hope you don’t take this next comment as just another one of those useless compliments that is just meant for a return in kind. LOL, but I really think you are on to a winner here, and that this should be advanced. We need grunts of course to do the dirty work, but what is really needed right now is leaders, you know people with integrity who also have the time to expand some thoughts on this. |
ablur responded with:
 | I used to hang out on various forums and chats. I still blog hop alot and out of courtesy I rarely get bold with my comments. I have had occasion where extensive dialog over days have occurred that actually added value. Most of the time vulgarity and name calling because the left refuses to grow up and be responsible. Their base assumption is that it isn't their fault and the blame game is far more advanced.
Usually, my best times our out in the world. Someone will be looking for answers and ready to receive. I usually can provide them with a complete package that perhaps may turn them around. Most of the time, those who have asked our appreciative to receive.
Visiting conservative blogs of like mindedness can also be a good thing. It helps you refine your arguments and gain stronger perspective.
I occasionally am at a loss for words on how to present an issue. The goal is to not create a defense mechanism response but a thoughtful consideration of the argument.
I find here to be one of those refreshing places that helps me bring things together. I can only hope that I offer my readers the same. |
Machiavelli responded with:
 | Perri, good luck with that.
Here's my theory. Most on the right can be convinced by a good argument. If you could factually show me that spending $800 billion would fix this economy, I'd support.
But most on the left cannot be swayed by facts. They are leftist ideologues who will not change their dislike of country, God, and economic system.
Who you need to go after is the great unwashed middle, who still have a semblance of rationality left.
That is where you might be able to change people's minds. |