Tribune Blog Lowers the Level of Public Discourse
The Salt Lake Tribune had a blog entry recently about State Senator Curt Bramble stopping to help someone on the side of the road, finding out that this woman was WAY on the other side of the political spectrum. What I can't stand, however, are the numerous implications throughout the entry that are infantile and lower the level of discourse in our state.
The implication is that Sen. Bramble probably wouldn't help anyone out if they're of differing political stripes. I'm totally sure he pulls out his "Liberal-O-Meter" before deciding if he's going to help someone who's been in a car accident and this one time it ran out of batteries. This kind of personal attack is uncalled for and has zero place in political discourse. To even imply that someone checks their human decency at the door when interacting with "the other side" is inappropriate, slanderous, and more often than not untrue.
People who disagree with you are not bad people. They just disagree. Calling into doubt someone's basic human decency is the lowest form of attack, and it's shameful that a major newspaper would see fit to do such a thing.
Jesse
Shauna
I didn’t read it the way you did. I think the post was fair to Bramble. Quoting the stranded driver as saying, “He didn’t do it for political gain,” for starters. We learn that he did help a person of different political stripes. I think the post was helpful in changing the perception that Bramble is as thorny as his surname suggests.
Where do I get a Lib-O-Meter
Tyler: Maybe so, but “St. Brambo”? “[C]hanneling Mother Teresa”? Doesn’t that strike you as a bit of a mocking and sarcastic tone?
Yes, I agree. Sarcasm is hard to read in its written form.
Likely, half the people who read that, took it the way I did, and the other half understood the facts.
I wouldn’t worry much about the Tribs contribution to reasonable discourse.