Sunday, January 23, 2011

Fi(r)st

I think i've had this blog "reserved" for a couple of year now, but it's been hard to get myself psyched enough to put up the first entry.
Not that i'm psyched now, but I am a bit pissed off.
Following the American debate on public and political rhetoric, it got me thinking. Not so much in the US context as in the one back home. So, i started watching home grown news again. A habit i had given up on because it seemed really unhealthy. (Got my bp spiking and i think really messed with my cholesterol).
This morning, i watched an hour long conversation allegedly about the increase in food prices. Ranging from potatoes to cheese. May sound like not such a relevant conversation to the political rhetoric but it presented itself as a surprising summation of the genre. Basically, it contained no information about the possible causes of the increase, a series of percentages of increase per item and a lot (and i mean a LOT) of off topic shouting. The best part however was when an extra phone guest joins the conversation. Between his introduction and him starting to speak his mind, in that 5 seconds gap, you can hear two of the four studio guests going: "Why the f**k are they asking this guy".
This I believe is the essence of political dialogue lately. Politicians and also average people have forgotten how to listen to each other. It has stopped being a dialogue and turned into a series of monologues. Crappy monologues at that! Everyone is ranting uncontrollably seeming to forget why they are there in the first place.

Message to take away from this:
1. Listen to what your opponent has to say before you stuff your boot in his mouth.
2. Don't use prefabricated arguments. Let the information sink in before you retort.

Let's start dialoging about stuff. Or even better, gymnologize.