Passion, Politeness and Politics

On Saturday morning (January 8) I was going through my normal morning routine of slowly dragging myself into consciousness with the aid of significant quantities of caffeine, and reading the morning paper. Two things in the paper that morning struck me. First was a quote from a top aide (an ex radio talk show host) to newly elected Representative Allan West of Florida. The aides quote was "If ballots don't work, bullets will". The idea that one of our Representatives would endorse such a point of view was shocking to me.

The news that morning also contained an article about the sad state of affairs in Pakistan where recently the Governor of Punjab, Salmon Taseer, was assassinated for having failed to support the blasphemy laws of Pakistan which basically allow any citizen to accuse another citizen of blasphemy against Allah and then have them summarily executed. What in many ways was even sadder then Taseer's execution was the reaction that followed it. The man who assassinated Taseer, Malik Qadri,, was then treated as a hero by radical Muslims throughout the country and the Pakistani press, in fear for their own lives, refused to counter it.

I think my reaction Saturday morning was probably typical of most Americans. I found the whole state of affairs in Pakistan sad and worrisome, but part of me thought, thank God that can't happen here. I was wrong. It can happen here and is happening here! By now most of you are aware that later that Saturday morning U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, a federal judge and 17 other people were either killed or wounded by a clearly unstable man named Jared Loughner.

Following the assassination FBI Director Robert Mueller said "hate speech and other inciteful speech" presented a challenge to law enforcement officials, especially when it resulted in "lone wolves" undertaking attacks. He's right! I am constantly shocked by the vehemence and vitriol that is taking place in the media. From Fox News to MSNBC the degree of polarization and viciousness in the media is truly disturbing. We have experienced a little bit of it ourselves in some of the emails we get here at EnergyBible.com.

The primary purpose of our Web site is to inform the public about renewable energy. But we have never shied away from advocacy when we felt it was in the public interest. At times we have been strongly critical of the Republican Party for its positions on global warming and energy policy. At times we have been critical of the Obama administration for its opinions on the use of mythical "clean coal". Whether to the left or right we have always attempted to base our points of view on sound, scientific data and we have always encouraged our viewers to share their views both for and against.

The ability to engage in rational discussion of critical issues is at the heart of all successful societies. That is why the violent act this Saturday is so serious. I have no idea whether this particular gunman had viewpoints on the left or the right. It seems highly likely to me that the guy was just plain nuts. However, in the vast numbers of comments I have seen on the Web and in the traditional media, what no one seems to question is that public opinion in our country has become excessively vitriolic and vicious. So what are we going to do about it! Here are a few simple suggestions:

• Be Polite - There are few things that will do more to stop this nonsense than simply being polite to one another. If you take great care to listen carefully to those around you and avoid insulting anyone when expressing a point of view it will not only go over better but the person might actually listen to you the next time you have something to say.
• Be Truly Informed - Read a newspaper, better yet read several newspapers. Watch PBS and any other non-partisan news show you can find, though admittedly there are not many left. Avoid like the plague on both TV and the Web, Fox News, MSNBC and any other demagogic show masquerading as news. They are not there to inform, they are there to propagandize, and to make a whole lot of money doing it. If you know the opinion of a news source before you ever read it, don't read it!
• Be scientific- I could have said be rational but every crazy demagogue out there from Limbaugh to Beck to Olberman swear they are presenting rationale arguments. So when you can, follow the rules of the scientific method. Create a hypothesis, test it by getting objective opinion from multiple sources who have no stake in the outcome, and challenge all premises.
• Be Calm - Passion has its place, but when trying to develop a point of view on any critical issue, the odds of finding the correct answer are better if you set aside your passion and just try to work through the issue. If you can't avoid being passionate then be passionate about the process of getting the most accurate data from the most sources.

Those are my admittedly passionate recommendations!

Dan Daniel

Editor, EnergyBible.com