Consider: "Sarah Palin Is Not Stupid"

Brian Dunning at Skeptoid.com argues that the popular commentary -- "Sarah Palin is stupid" -- is a profoundly unproductive way to express disagreement or have a conversation about important issues. I'll go further and say that it's substantively tantamount to exclaiming "Obama is a nazi". If that kind of rhetoric disturbs you (and it should), then catch yourself. We regularly reduce complex issues into quips and one-liners, yet we treat them as if they mean more than they do. As it turns out, there is very little room in civil discourse for character-bashing (ad-hominem attacks). Consider this short excerpt about the fact that stonings still occur in parts of the Middle-east:

"It’s not because they’re crazy. It’s because they’re smart people who are profoundly dedicated to their belief system, and who were raised in a frame of reference that lets them stone a person to death with the same regard as a Westerner might kill an enemy in battle. It’s a necessity, it’s a duty, and it’s the right thing to do. If you dismiss these people as crazy or as zealots, you are factually wrong, you’re missing the point, and you’re failing to understand what it is you object to."

I think Dunning's most important message is this:

"With few exceptions, most honest promoters of bad information have good intentions. They’re not crazy raving lunatics out to get us. If you want to have an informed, rational conversation with one of these folks, and you want them to be receptive to your statements, approach them as you would any public figure who works hard in the public good. At a fundamental level, they’re on our same team: They want what’s best for people."

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Read or listen to the piece here:

"Sarah Palin Is Not Stupid"
Podcast & Transcript
by Brian Dunning

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Image Source: Wikimedia Commons, photo by Robert H. Goun