Quote:
Originally Posted by Drolefille
If the response is "well he was a dick so now I get to be a dick as much as I want" we're screwed as a society.
There is something from factcheck.org about the sheer number of things they've had to debunk about this president compared to previous ones. It's staggering and I'm not sure if it's because of people's reactions to Obama or a sense of "it's my turn"
|
No doubt about your first point, but we appeared equally as screwed to me when people were accusing Bush of being responsible for Katrina in hyperbolic terms. It's not really a new problem or even necessarily a worse problem.
I don't think we're particularly getting anywhere by having this sensibility, certainly, but maybe it makes more sense to individually file one's concern about public discourse away until one personally feels tempted to indulge in cheap shots, rather than to express even more contempt or superiority about other people's cheap shots, not that you are personally doing that Drolefille.
It will be interesting to see what happens with other Presidents. Obama had a relatively short period of time on the national stage so there may just have been a sense that people felt like they didn't know him well so that crazy things seems more plausible. It may be a reflection of more gullible people using the internet as a political forum when previously network news vetted more stuff for them. It may just be the way things are now and it's not particularly Obamacentric. I think the craziness about Palin is comparable in a lot ways. Where do you think that comes from?