Comments on: A crash course in American coarseness – Tim Rutten http://stevebell.com/2009/10/a-crash-course-in-american-coarseness-tim-rutten/ Singer Songwriter Storyteller Tue, 15 May 2012 13:17:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Nolan Balzer http://stevebell.com/2009/10/a-crash-course-in-american-coarseness-tim-rutten/comment-page-1/#comment-748 Nolan Balzer Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:57:05 +0000 http://stevebell.com/?p=4831#comment-748 Interesting read. The addendum to the concluding Daniel Patrick Moynihan quote should be, "Unfortunately, that which constitutes 'fact' is rarely as simple to define as one would expect." Besides the loss of civility we have also become increasingly adept at 'the Spin', and that you can blame directly on political power play, both ancient and contemporary. Based on the example of our leaders the masses now 'know' that, depending on our perspective, facts can be interpreted and redirected to represent whatever we want them to represent. Not only are the tools of discourse in increasingly short supply, they are fading into obsolescence. Interesting read. The addendum to the concluding Daniel Patrick Moynihan quote should be, “Unfortunately, that which constitutes ‘fact’ is rarely as simple to define as one would expect.”

Besides the loss of civility we have also become increasingly adept at ‘the Spin’, and that you can blame directly on political power play, both ancient and contemporary. Based on the example of our leaders the masses now ‘know’ that, depending on our perspective, facts can be interpreted and redirected to represent whatever we want them to represent.

Not only are the tools of discourse in increasingly short supply, they are fading into obsolescence.

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