Is this where we are as a country?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Are "the president, the President of the United States, refused to shake another world leader's hand and made mean faces at her"* and "how does Tomi Lahren feel about abortion?" really where we--as a country, as a people--and our political discourse are now?

Seriously?

*and no, Sanchez, the relationship between Obama and Netanyahu is not equivalent to this. Political backstabbing is not public, personal, immature disrespect.

[KingSweden]

Pretty much. Reality television and social media has destroyed America and its ability to have productive discourse

[Mr. Reactionary]

News stories are basically just "WE are winning and THEY are losing. Observe this anecdote as proof."

[publicunofficial]

It's where we're at as a internet forum.

[courts]

It's where we're at as a internet forum.

the forum started to really go downhill after 2005. partially because a lot of the gen x and baby boomer users left. although it's probably a bit better than it was in obama's first term when it seemed like the median age of the forum was around 14.

[Tartarus Sauce]

Pretty much. Reality television and social media has destroyed America and its ability to have productive discourse

[Inmate Trump]

Anyone who is breathing should be upset about this. It's not like these people are our enemies. Two world leaders. One is an adult, the other is a 70 year old baby.

[Associate Justice PiT]

News stories are basically just "WE are winning and THEY are losing. Observe this anecdote as proof."

     There is very little interest these days in having a discussion with anyone who thinks differently from you. People seek out echo chambers both IRL and on the internet, where specious conclusions drawn from anecdotal evidence can take the place of fact-based arguments, because nobody is going to call you out on being intellectually lazy.

[courts]

Anyone who is breathing should be upset about this. It's not like these people are our enemies. Two world leaders. One is an adult, the other is a 70 year old baby.

to be honest i was also bothered by this. this has not been a good month.

[ApatheticAustrian]

looking for debate isn't the problem.

convincing or making a point would be the difference and that can only be made in an academical or crypto-academical environment.

i usually try to understand the other person and ...if the other person does too...this obviously ends with "we agree to disagree".

[Silent Hunter]

One hopes Trump is an aberration. However, the causes of his election (namely a massive loss of trust in Washington DC) remain and they need to be dealt with if the US is to survive in itself current form.

[Dr. Arch]

Unfortunately, this is not even close to how bad it can get if Trump keeps snowballing in failure like this.

[Associate Justice PiT]

looking for debate isn't the problem.

convincing or making a point would be the difference and that can only be made in an academical or crypto-academical environment.

i usually try to understand the other person and ...if the other person does too...this obviously ends with "we agree to disagree".

     Looking at political argument as an effort to convince your opponent is usually a mistake. It can happen, but more often you can sway fencesitters. It's no mistake that in political debates the candidates address their responses to the crowd and not to their opponent.

     At any rate, I also try to understand the other person. If nothing else, it helps me to better develop my own position to know what people think and why. I'm not nearly so arrogant as to claim that I have all the answers, or perfectly formed ideas. For that reason I need to actually sit down and listen to what different sides have to say.