News
By Lauren Todd Pappa
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October 22, 2004
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.
