According to a CBS News poll,
Few people have suggested that a direct connection exists. It's not like some are suggesting a straight line from Point A to Point B. It has more to do with the overall atmospheric conditions. When the conversations within a group grow toxic, the possibility for more violent responses tends to grow in step.
In many ways, I think the American public has become anesthetized from violent rhetoric as well as the suffering of others. Both are born of a desensitization process.
In terms of vitriolic rhetoric, we hear it all the time and, for some, it has become an everyday manner of expression. When you hear certain words and phrases utilized by political leaders, clergy, educators, family members, friends and celebrities on a daily basis, they enter into your brain without much thought. You tend not to examine their underlying meaning.
For many years in the American South, it was not uncommon for people to say that racism had all but disappeared. It is not that it had gone away -- it was more that it had become so ingrained in the way people conducted their lives that they no longer saw it in its most overt form. In other words, while racist beliefs often were not expressed explicitly, the implicit meaning didn't change much at all.
In terms of the suffering of others, I know far too many Americans who believe that the Iraqi populace is materially better off today than before the American invasion. They've been told so much propaganda -- day in and day out -- by the war administrations that they no longer are able to look at the situation rationally.
Before the invasion, Iraqis enjoyed a standard of living on par or better than many people in this country. They had cradle-to-grave health coverage and one of the highest literacy rates in the world. Now, less than 10 years later, their infrastructure lays in shambles. Their education system is a shadow of its previous self.
While most people in the western world take electricity for granted, many in Iraq are lucky to receive no more than 3 hours of electric service per day! Their health care system now is nothing to write home about and finding potable water can be a severe challenge. Consequently, the truth of the situation is that most Iraqis were much more well off materially when Saddam Hussein headed the country.
This, of course, showcases the danger of becoming desensitized. Reality can jump up to slap you in the face, but you see right through it as if it isn't there.
A majority of Americans reject the view that heated political rhetoric was a factor in the weekend shootings in Arizona which killed six and critically wounded a congresswoman...Not a factor at all? It's difficult for me to wrap my head around this result.
Few people have suggested that a direct connection exists. It's not like some are suggesting a straight line from Point A to Point B. It has more to do with the overall atmospheric conditions. When the conversations within a group grow toxic, the possibility for more violent responses tends to grow in step.
In many ways, I think the American public has become anesthetized from violent rhetoric as well as the suffering of others. Both are born of a desensitization process.
In terms of vitriolic rhetoric, we hear it all the time and, for some, it has become an everyday manner of expression. When you hear certain words and phrases utilized by political leaders, clergy, educators, family members, friends and celebrities on a daily basis, they enter into your brain without much thought. You tend not to examine their underlying meaning.
For many years in the American South, it was not uncommon for people to say that racism had all but disappeared. It is not that it had gone away -- it was more that it had become so ingrained in the way people conducted their lives that they no longer saw it in its most overt form. In other words, while racist beliefs often were not expressed explicitly, the implicit meaning didn't change much at all.
In terms of the suffering of others, I know far too many Americans who believe that the Iraqi populace is materially better off today than before the American invasion. They've been told so much propaganda -- day in and day out -- by the war administrations that they no longer are able to look at the situation rationally.
Before the invasion, Iraqis enjoyed a standard of living on par or better than many people in this country. They had cradle-to-grave health coverage and one of the highest literacy rates in the world. Now, less than 10 years later, their infrastructure lays in shambles. Their education system is a shadow of its previous self.
While most people in the western world take electricity for granted, many in Iraq are lucky to receive no more than 3 hours of electric service per day! Their health care system now is nothing to write home about and finding potable water can be a severe challenge. Consequently, the truth of the situation is that most Iraqis were much more well off materially when Saddam Hussein headed the country.
This, of course, showcases the danger of becoming desensitized. Reality can jump up to slap you in the face, but you see right through it as if it isn't there.
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