All The Hate Around Here -- Is It Personal, Or Just Business?

When you knock Obama or Clinton or Edwards, is it personal with you? I mean, do you really, really dislike them as a person, totally, with every fiber of your being?

Or do you just want your candidate to win, and therefore if another candidate has to be trashed in the process, so be it?

Is it personal with you, or just business?

Does having a strong opinion about why you could never support Candidate X count as hate? If you defend your opinion, does it constitute "trash talking"?

These terms must be clarified before any meaningful discussion can occur.

Okay, replace the word "hate" with "strong anti-candidate sentiment" and "trash" with "negative rhetoric".

How about that?

I will agree with you about "strong anti-candidate sentiment."

I will disagree on "negative rhetoric." Pointing out facts -- even facts which do not reflect favorably on one or more candidates -- should not be counted as negative rhetoric. It is simply pointing out facts, which many people here do. I would describe "negative rhetoric" as knowingly presenting false or misleading information as facts with the intent of making one or more candidates look bad. While some of that does occur here, I dare say it is not a common occurance. Presenting actual, verifiable facts with the intent of making one or more candidates look bad is pointing out facts, not engaging in negative rhetoric.

The highest priority of trashing is to do damage and the ends justify the means, so those who are out to trash a candidate can and do intentionally distort information.

The highest priority of critical analysis is to reveal Truth and to try to get "the other side" to recognize that they don't own Truth, because there are, at minimum, alternative perspectives on the same concrete facts (just like anyone can look at any object from a direction that is different from the one that we are being told by others is "the reality" of the thing) and there is ALWAYS information that is missing from whatever we are being told is "reality".

have really surprised me their vitriol and lecture series that always include finger wagging. Thats been the most disappointing for me personally. I'm still torn between Kucinich and Edward's and i fully i understand many du'ers totally disagree with my choices but thats ok, i understand they have their reasons for supporting who they do and i'm not interested in telling them they're candidate sucks, it's non productive and just in general hurtful and mean spirited.