On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 5:02 PM, Patrick Delongchamp <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The U.S. is very polarized at the moment. Americans like to think a > Republican ideology is wrong and the Democratic Ideology is right.
I don't think that's quite right. Democratic Americans like to think that - the other half of the population might disagree. :-P A fairer statement might be "The U.S. is very polarized at the moment. Americans like to think one party is wrong and the other is right." And more specifically ... I think what Terry is trying to point out is that currently much of the US is SO polarized that they have equated "someone who disagrees with me" to "someone who is EVIL". On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 5:19 PM, terry.rendon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > But what does that say about that online video community that > particular groups of people feel the need to create niches because > people can't talk about politics, religion, homosexuality, etc. > without vile things being said? You could look at it like that or, you could look at it in the opposite way. Whats to say vile (but uncontested) things aren't being said in the niche community? "Vile" is subjective. I mean, what does it say about a given niche that whatever they have to say about politics, religion, homosexuality, etc. is so contrary to the mainstream they don't feel comfortable saying it in mainstream groups? I think this is what Steve was getting at with his 'not wanting to be confronted' bit. Homosexuality is a good example ... I've seen conservatives say they can't discuss it without getting attacked ... but what they fail to realize (or perhaps accept) is that when they START the "conversation" with the heavily published, polarized, assertion that homosexuals are deviants going straight to hell and that we need to alter the Constitution to prevent them from marrying one another else their sinful deviant ways will ruin the country ... well some see that as drawing first blood in any 'conversation'. Person A calls it attacking, Person B calls it responding to an attack. Anyway, I digress .... I totally get what you're saying Terry, YouTube etc is full of folks not interested in civil discussion and debate of contentious issues ... I just don't think this divide can be blamed on the 'general' online video community. Most of the country is that way now-a-days ... so polarized they see no reason to honestly/actually *discuss* anything - it's all black and white to them now. If they were to give actual (two-way) communication a shot ... they likely just find themselves talking to someone who still isn't willing to see past labels like which party they've voted for in the past and the whole experiment will end in one person screaming "Communist!" and the other screaming "Fascist!" and both walking away convinced the other is not just wrong ... but also evil. Will these emerging niche communities be any more accepting of altering opinions than YouTube is whenever a contentious issue pops up there? It will probably will vary greatly on any given niche community site .. but I'm not gonna hold my breath. - Dave
