Middle America's Worldview

I miss the days of Dragnet. I recall the same plea over and over again. "Just the facts ". When I went to school we had a bad ass English teacher that drilled it in our heads, just the facts, just the facts. I hated English, as you can see in my grammer. But as I grow older and notice the news, mags, and stories, it seems their English teacher did not have the same adament desire.

If you noticed the 'news' are more of ideology than facts. Its not how it is, rather than how it is perceived to be. This is something I learned the hard way while I debated online. Regardless of how many facts you throw at some people, they still choose not to accept it. What the hell. You can lead the horse to water but cannot make that horse drink it.

So in debating, I come to the simple conclusion. The opponent will not change my view, I will not change the opponent's view. I may find more information from the debate, but the major outcome will be those on the sidelines listening in on the discussion. The kicker is which opponent has the most information on the subject as well as the resources to back it up. The problem is the side-liners probably will not take the time to go look at those resources, if given, rather take whichever sounds the best or fits into his/her own ideology. This is what I am finding more and more of. There is so much spin on the same subject matter you can lean left or right.

Where's the days of facts? If either debator addresses their view of the facts, they generally leave some of it out or word it in such a matter of their view. I guess I am just ranting tonight but does anyone else see my point here?