Red Vs Blue? Opt out

Believe it or not, I don't read a lot of blogs regularly. I tend to click a link on my alliance blog roll and see where it takes me and then follow a link from there to somewhere else. About once a week I visit DailyKoS or Instapundit to see what's up. Slowly this random blog surfing has reinforced one belief of mine and that's this: There are a lot of sheep out there. Red sheep, Blue Sheep, and just plain freaky conspiracy theory oriented sheep that think the Illuminati stole their wool. (That last herd of sheep can make for some highly entertaining reading though.)

I'll come back to that later. Having been on the internet now for 12 years and having been a BBSer before that I am well aware of one of the true downsides of e-communication. It allows people to behave really badly in "public" with no real consequences. Then came blogs where you could yell whatever you want all day long. And boy is it ugly out there. I get 1300 hits on Google when I search for the phrase "Kill all liberals". Is the country really that divided?

Nope.

But there are those who have elected to be spoon fed their information by sources they know are biased and they have bought every word lock stock and barrel. They have isolated themselves from any voice other than that which they already want to believe. And those media sources sell a "we are better than them" package of goods. And I'm sure that's comforting to some and its nice to feel that your right and superior and all. But its an illusion. Nothing more.
The Democratic Party stinks. The Republican Party stinks. Why? Because they are both all about money, influence, and agendas. Theirs. Not yours.

And to this end they are buying media so that more people can further insulate themselves from dissenting voices. And we are falling for it en masse.

So here's a radical idea.

Opt Out.

We aren't going to get real solutions that work to solve this countries problems until most of us decide to stop being spoon fed biased pablum and become engaged in the national debate. If all you are doing is regurgitating what some pundit or talking head said then you are part of the problem. Real answers come from real debate and the free exchange of NEW ideas. If you're buying what they are selling you then you aren't contributing new ideas.

And frankly this is a new world that's changing every minute of every day and America needs every new idea it can get. The competition is fierce out there.

Here is what I am asking you to do, watch some BBC News, read some Reuters, go see what the Libertarians are up to, go chat with members of the Reform party, and the next time someone spouts off an opinion that's the complete opposite of yours ask them why and then actually listen. Why? Because they may not be completely wrong. Complex problems get solved by looking at them from every angle. Not right angles or even left angles. (I know, but work with me here)