Red states, blue states. Republicans and Democrats. Fox News versus CNN. In the final weeks of the presidential race, the United States of America seems anything but united.
American society is more polarized today than ever before, and public discourse resembles more of a shouting match than a meaningful exchange of ideas so crucial to a democratic society, according to this year's speakers at the third annual LaBrosse-Levinson lecture series.
A group of journalists and professors from around the country all spoke to the theme of "Discourse and Democracy" in the Dome Room of the Rotunda in the two-day series, which began Wednesday.
New York Times columnist David Brooks addressed the Bush administration's communications strategy as well as the polarization of American society.
Brooks said the Bush administration is justified in not admitting its mistakes because doing so in a polarized society would only open itself up to criticism.
"The nature of Washington is such that ... you can never admit a mistake," Brooks said.
Brooks also said politicians feel a tremendous sense of loyalty to "their teams," and added such loyalty can lead to distortion.
"In this world, loyalty to one's brethren is more important than loyalty to the truth," he said.
Brooks attributed the deep political divide in the country to a number of factors, including a more educated electorate, media and geographic segmentation as well as diverging opinions about good leadership qualities.
Ultimately, people seek out people like themselves, Brooks said, and party affiliation in many cases precedes individual ideologies.
"People filter reality through their partisan labels," he said.
Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, a communications studies professor at the University of Minnesota, began Thursday's lectures with a discussion about corporate ownership of the media. She said democracy should control capitalism rather than capitalism controlling democracy, which she said is the current situation in the country.
Todd Gitlin, a journalism and sociology professor at Columbia University, sharply criticized President Bush for his refusal to explain his decisions to the media.
"The President of the United States does not know any better than he says and does not think he needs to know," Gitlin said.
He said the degradation of discourse is a consequence of the Republican Party's four-year domination of the federal government, which he characterized as a "coup d'etat."
John Searle, a philosophy of mind and language professor at the University of California-Berkley, approached the topic of democracy and free speech from a more philosophical standpoint, saying humans can only achieve their full potential by verbally expressing themselves.
"Democracy is based on the assumption that rational discourse and the presentation of arguments is essential to decision-making," Searle said.
Searle also said democracies have a built-in hatred for free speech.
"It's very tempting for the majority in a democracy to put a stop to the most revolting views," he said.
The LaBrosse-Levinson lectures are co-sponsored by the Center on Religion and Democracy and the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture.
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