Death Of Persuasion

Are we moving steadily closer to the day when persuasion becomes officially extinct because people will refuse to let their minds be changed. I see the intolerance and closed minds more and more today. For example, most people looking for news on the Internet go to sites that will confirm what they already believe to be true. People don't seek truth or knowledge as much as they seek affirmation of their current belief. And the Internet makes it easy for us to read only the opinions we have that we want to confirm as being true. Just look at all the special interest opinion web sites who appeal to like minded people and which are never objective.

We have, as a world, become increasingly suspicious of folks we think don't believe as we do and more and more convinced of the righteousness of our own positions. From the fanatical Muslim terrorists to the intransigence of leaders like George Bush we see so many people who never conceive they could be wrong or could compromise on an issue. And I do not mean one should give up his or her beliefs, only that he or she should open the mind to hear the other views. We are doing much less of that now.

In my own country now one is scorned on if criticizing President Obama. It's as if because Obama is our first minority president we must agree with and worship him. To do otherwise means we are branded as "racist".

One dare not even dispute and discuss an Obama policy as that too is defined as a"racist" attitude. When George Bush was president his own supporters took a similar stance of "George is God and thou shall not criticize or question him". This intolerance and refusal to look objectively at the other side is a modern trend here and world-wide.

I find it sadly ironic that in the age of so much mass communication, personal communication is in such decline and the art of debate and persuasion are becoming dinosaurs.