November 21, 2009 07:26 PM UTC

American Political Dialogue ca 2009

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• by: JO

(Please discuss. – promoted by ClubTwitty)

ColoradoPols is an astoundingly accurate mirror of American political dialogue. On this site, hour by hour, we can see before our eyes the spectrum of voices that comprise simultaneous discussions taking in places that range from the United States Senate to Manny’s Manger on Route 287. Is it different today than a decade ago, or five decades ago? I think it is.

Political dialogue on this site isn’t all that much different than any other set of discussions. Gossip is probably the biggest single topic. It’s carried out on the same level as any other kind of gossip: rumors put forward as assumed facts, mutually assuring comments designed to assure that the speaker is accepted by The Group, smirks or snide remarks designed to assert that this group is The In Group, as if blog sites were junior or senior high school lunchrooms, but an idea still beloved by self-proclaimed members whose self-confidence rests on sitting at the same table.

There are occasionally diaries intended to spark discussion on some of the serious issues we face as a society, among which are American’s ability to compete effectively in a new world economy; the foreseeable need to wean ourselves from carbon energy; clear evidence that we must join every other country in a serious, concerted effort to reduce CO2 emissions before global warming passes a tipping point; the growing concentration of wealth in a small number of hands whose sole loyalty is increasing their wealth without regard to national or class considerations, and our ability as a society to take care of the sick, even if they are also poor.

By and large, such topics seem to attract relatively few comments. When they do, we can count on a blizzard of fluff coming from a small handful of individuals whose sole contribution is to mock the thoughts of others by coming up with adjectives last heard in the school cafeteria. These comments, entirely predictable, often show an almost amusingly complete ignorance even of what the poster doesn’t know. One hallmark: the comment has nothing to do with the topic, much less advancing the discussion by contributing information or fresh analysis. Adjectives loom large in such pap.

But there is a serious downside: these posts may serve another hidden purpose: to discourage the many readers of ColoradoPols who seldom or never post comments from coming forward for fear of similar mocking. This is unfortunate, and I for one would like to see more contributors speak up with the assurance that many replies will be disregarded by the great majority of readers on the site. There are no lunch tables on ColoradoPols.

Others quickly learn to disregard such nonsense, which serves as an indelible stain on the posters, a few of whom presume to be taken seriously on another day, another thread.

But the question is whether this pattern of political discussion on the larger national scene can possibly lead to viable solutions that require organized social activity–aka government. So far, there is mounting evidence that our ability to work cooperatively to solve common problems has been lost in a world of adjectival sniping absent any serious thought or analysis. And that’s a problem.