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I do agree that politics have become increasingly polarized and virulent. There is less and less respectful disagreement and more and more ideologically-driven villification of dissent (and dissenters).
But I don't see that the trend is any less apparent on the left than it is on the right. Yes, Bill O'Rielly is a demagogue who reduces complex issues to oversimplified schemas that reinforce the self-satisfied prejudices of his audience. And this makes him different than Michael Moore... how?
Over and over again, in Wheaton's article and in these responses to it, liberals have characterized anyone expressing a conservative viewpoint as brainwashed. What was Wheaton's phrase? "Pod people?" How exactly do these characterizations contribute to an atmosphere of respectful disagreement?
With Wheaton, I lament the increasing incivility and decreasing respect for dissent in our political discourse. But in his absolute blindness to the left's contribution to it, he is rather an example of than an antidote to the phenomenon.
