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The difficulty with discussions like these, and I am certain this has been addressed by others, is that there is a tendency by conservative thinkers to look at issues as right or wrong, black or white, etc. and a tendency of liberal thinkers to see nuance and uncertainty. This puts the footing of all of these discussions on very shaky ground. The discussion of the 2nd Amendment is a great example. Pan sees this as clear cut, while Renka and JumpinJesus do not. They can see Pan's point, simply do not agree, and seemed a bit perplexed as to why he sees things this way. Meanwhile Pan can't understand why they don't get his position since he is obviously supplying them with facts. It's what makes this an enternal debate and since society's norms and understanding of the world is in constant flux I don't ever seeing mankind overcoming these differences. Thank God! (If you believe in him/her/it - if not just go with Thank Goodness! - this probably tells you which side of the aisle I sit on) If we all agreed, this world would be both boring and in really bad shape.
On another note, since the resurgence of the liberal movement, MSNBC has become the Fox News of the left and I actually think that is just fine. Humans like to hear people who agree with them and like to see those they don't agree with put in their place - hence we have Hannity, Rush, O'Reilly, Olbermann, Maddow, Mathews et al. Neither network is fair or balanced and conservative, market-driven Republicans should be happy to see an exstablished company like GE taking advantage of a rising market segement (i.e. liberals) and making money off them with Olbermann & MSNBC.
Personally, Olbermann gets a bit tiresome but he is a hell of alot funnier than anyone on the right and Maddow's show is sometimes laugh out loud funny.
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Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."
-Douglas Adams
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