COMM 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Amen, Liberal Democracy
21 Feb 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
The united states is the world"s oldest continuous democracy. We live in a world unprecedented by technological access and power. Therefore we should be living in the greatest period for democracy in history. Complex issues as far-ranging as immigration, health care, military interventions, taxation, and education seldom lend themselves to simple, consensual solutions. The public interest i well served by robust public argument. Our founding fathers engaged in lengthy oral and written debates that shaped our founding document and created the foundation for our democracy. Extremist rhetoric isn"t illegal and isn"t always bad, but it is dangerous. Extremist rhetoric is more prevalent in entertainment- and it makes for great entertainment. It"s entertainment value can lull us into neglecting its dangers. Extreme rhetoric: often is hard to distinguish from extremist rhetoric because it takes language out of the same rhetorical playbook, but those who speak the words do not subscribe to an extremist ideology.
