on "liberal" and "conserative" thought

In our country today, I would argue the education system and the media have a general bias towards “liberal” viewpoints. Overwhelmingly. Therefore, most of the information input a person will normally get, whether they seek it or not, is along this line of thinking. If you add to this, “liberal” thinking at home, a young person in America could go through their whole upbringing and only have this very one-sided worldview.

Not so with a “conservative” viewpoint. No one is exposed to a general “conservative” bias unless they seek it out. Much is said about “conservative” radio talk shows, FOX news, and blogs, but they have a very small total information “market share." You have to choose to listen, watch, or read. All other print media, television news, T.V. shows, and movies lean decidedly in the other direction.

In education, unless you are home-schooled or in a “conservative” private school, your exposure leans greatly toward the “liberal,” as well. What are the implications of all of this?

Well, for one thing, if you tend to be a “liberal” person, there is a chance you may never have been exposed to intelligent “conservative” thought. The only “conservative” viewpoints you hear are the extreme ones which are isolated by the mainstream media for your perusal. “Conservative” people have no problem being exposed to intelligent “liberal” thought. It is all around them and they have been exposed to it all of their lives.

Personally I don’t fit into any category comfortably. I try to learn from anyone whom I judge is using good logic and reason to make their argument and that can be “conservative” and “liberal.” I find myself hanging around with very “liberal” people some time, and very “conservative” at others. My general observations are the same.

The more heat and aggressiveness, the more use of cleverness and sarcasm, the more manipulation you use with your language, and the more logical fallacies you choose to fall back on, the more likely you have no idea what you are talking about, and in fact have little confidence in your own position. Now, even in the best of cases we may not know what we are talking about. Yet, if you can give me a careful, straightforward, reasonable argument from a viewpoint you totally disagree with, I will keep listening. Else we need to move on to a different topic, because neither one of us wants to waste our time, do we?