2021-07-09 17:02:31
From David Pakman:
I have an admission to make today that might strike you as a weird thing for someone who hosts a show about American politics to say. And that is that I absolutely hate politics. That’s not to say that I don’t care about the issues we cover on a day to day basis — I do care about them deeply. But I do hate the way elections are the way they are, that the country is the way it is, and that the political system is the one we have. American politics is all based on a huge portion of this country being a combination of ignorant bad faith actors and people whose views are completely retrograde and antithetical to the direction that we need as a country and as a planet. I hate the fact that when we take phone calls, for example, so much time is spent on trying to unwind how so many ideas are rooted in misunderstandings and a completely backwards view of morality. Unfortunately, this is what it means to engage in American politics today because the level of discourse is so toxic and remedial.
I hate that because of these reactionary, right-wing movements, when we have a pandemic we actually have to fight people to just get them to accept uncontroversial science. I hate that when we could be figuring out how to move away from dirty energy and start treating this planet with some respect and reorganizing our economies and societies to be more sustainable, we're still dealing with people who don't even think abortion should be legal, or that two gay people shouldn’t be able to get legally married. Having to counter these right-wing narratives is frustrating but at the same time important because otherwise their beliefs go unchallenged and more people fall for them. But we begin to realize how much we are really missing in our ability to make progress. Here, at least in the US, the modern political media space ends up saying very little about what are some of the big questions of our time. Now obviously to change the system you have to engage with the system, so maybe this isn’t a problem that can be solved anytime soon. But there is so much wasted time and it’s this aspect of American politics that I could really do without.
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The David Pakman Show is a news and political talk program, known for its controversial interviews with political and religious extremists, liberal and conservative politicians, and other guests.
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