There is a saying that “All is fair in politics.”
But, is that true? Are politicians playing fair when they campaign, or after they are elected?
|
|
What are lies? And, what are truths?
Do the smear tactics take us away from what purpose is trying to be achieved?
Last year, former Vice President Al Gore released a book: “Assault on Reason.” The gist of the book was that a culture of fear has corrupted the public life of a governmental official.
His first chapter was titled, “The Politics of Fear.”
Gore’s first words say, “Fear is the most powerful enemy of reason. Both fear and reason are essential to human survival, but the relationship between them is unbalanced. Reason may sometimes dissipate fear, but fear frequently shuts down reason. As Edmund Burke wrote in England twenty years before the American Revolution, ‘No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.’ Our Founders had a healthy respect for the threat fear poses to reason. They knew that, under the right circumstances, fear can trigger the temptation to surrender freedom to a demagogue promising strength and security in return. They worried that when fear displaces reason, the result is often irrational hatred and division. As Justice Louis D. Brandeis later wrote, ‘Men feared witches and burnt women.’ Understanding this unequal relationship between fear and reason was crucial to the design of American self-government.
Another book, the “Politics of Fear” was written by Frank Furedi, who is of a different political persuasion. Furedi argues that the traditional terms “left” and “right,” as applied to politics, have been both distorted and proved inadequate by a number of developments, notably the Cold War and the Culture Wars.
In this edition of The Observer, it is evident that there is unfairness in how we are treating each other. When there are stabs of possible untruths at specific individuals or governmental bodies, The Observer will try to get a response for our readers.
But, should we not play fair?
Attacking a governmental official or candidate is not fair, and it is not a good practice to engage in. For, after the political battle, we all have to live together and work together.
Comments
No comments posted.