Because I believe we have elevated criticism and attack to such a high pedestal, I think it's necessary for us begin making an effort to rein some of it in. I'm going to make a daily effort to find something written by someone on my side-- the political left-- that seems an unnecessary attack on the right or the center.
Mind you, I am not someone who believes everything or even most of what's published by those of the right is valid by virtue of it being an "opposite" view of something from the left. People from the right are much more likely than those on the left to lift their own "feelings" or "intuitions" or perception of what "common sense" dictates to be true without taking a properly critical view of how much it can be verified or not. Clearly, though, there are times when those of us on the left-- though normally less guilty of this, in my opinion-- make the same effort. My goal, mind you, is not to attack the person whose posts and articles I wish to criticize; rather, the purpose of this will be to draw attention to the manner in which we criticize too much, too personally, and for reasons of too little import. Hopefully, someone on the right will make a similar effort. The ultimate objective behind this will be to in time be noticed by enough daily readers to become able to apply social pressure on those who publish in the traditional media and the blogosphere to consider how important a criticism they may make may truly be, and also to cause them to question how personal they need to make their attacks.
I will attempt to put one up by tomorrow AM, PST, and will attempt to include something most every day going forward.
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