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Originally posted by Malbadinlatin:
Sooo true SignyM. Cable news is as much to blame as movies. Look how cranky Bill Oreilly and Shawn Hannity make the Republicans. And look how bent Jon Stewart and Phil Maher make the Dems. Embracing these shows as THE TRUTH inhibits gaining knowlege from people with different points of view.

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Originally posted by Geezer:
I think a lot of the problem with supposed mis-direction of threads is that different folks care about different parts of some of the broader ranging issues we discuss. If I want to talk about tax complexity and someone comes in with a post about electronic security of tax data, it's probably because that's the part of "tax" they are concerned about, not because they work for H&R Block and don't want discussion of simpler tax forms.

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Unfortunately, as noted in another thread, some of us have pretty set opinions of others of us. You begin to expect an argument rather than a discussion, and get too touchy. When I get this way I usually try to just not deal with the other person for a while.

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Originally posted by SignyM:
In fact, to continue the thought on understanding versus responding to. In some cases, our responses actually prevent understanding because we may be so intent on responding as we see ourselves (a homosexual, a woman, a white guy) that we simply reinforce stereotypes in our own head. Perhaps we may even precipitate the reaction that we fear.

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Originally posted by rue:
BTW, I think Europeans may have the advanatage over USers b/c they have to deal cheek by jowl with other cultures, religions and political systems every day.

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Originally posted by rue:
Fortunately, I don't have cable TV. And I found when my remote sensor stopped working, my TV watching went way down. And now I have more time and feel so much more connected with life.

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What I'm suggesting is that we all need to see each other as human beings first, because we all see someone as the Other.

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Originally posted by SergeantX:
I try to tell people about this experience on occasion, and they think I'm being some kind of culture snob or something. You just don't realize the warping effect TV can have until you've been away from it for a bit. Then you can't believe you ever wasted so much time with it.

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Originally posted by rue:
One of the rare times I actually have responded to this one. But I see no outrage from - Causal, BDN, Sli... oh, I promised ... Geezer, or any of those who are SOOOOooooo outraged when it comes from the 'left'

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Originally posted by Malbadinlatin:
I'm pretty new here. I came to the site because I love Firefly. I have found here an interesting mix...Trolls, stuffy Brits, Ne-Cons, flaming liberals, people who consider themselves very very intelligent, and so on... What confuses me is why some people expect the thread to be orderly in accordance with whatever criteria they've created in thier heads. It's politics!, which should be chaotic. You can't put all these variations in one room and expect sanity, or even civility for that matter!

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Originally posted by SignyM:
Unfotunately, my daughter and SO just LOVE company watching TV. And for some strange reason that I can't fathom it's not enough to keep each other company, they need my company!

Please, someone rescue me!

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