I had certainly noticed the trend during the Bush and Obama years that CNN/MSNBC and Fox News alternated between being essentially state media when their guy was in office and opposition media when the other guy was in office. This really ramped up during the Trump years to a theater of the absurd, at least to me. It seemed to not matter if a policy made sense, it only mattered who proposed it. If Trump proposed it, everyone at CNN thought it was a terrible idea and would surely lead to totalitarianism, even if Democrats had favored it prior. Likewise, it Trump proposed it, everyone at Fox thought it was brilliant, even if Republicans had traditionally opposed it. I had to chuckle as both Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell stood before microphones supporting or opposing policies they were on record taking the other side of during an earlier administration. How can they keep a straight face?
Both Fox and CNN recognized during the past 20 years that viewership improved when its core audiences were angry. How many headlines did I read on both sites that included the word, outrage. Outrage over a Trump tweet, outrage over an AOC comment, outrage over something CNN reported or didn’t report, outrage over a Fox opinion piece. I thought to myself, I wish political discourse had more Spock and less McCoy.
Real Trekkies (fans of the Star Trek franchise) would not consider me one. I am at best a casual fan of the original series and the subsequent Next Generation. I don’t know much about the other spin-offs. But I was influenced by a Star Trek paperback I read at some point in my youth. I don’t remember the title nor the plot, but it contained the story of how the planet Vulcan transitioned from a planet of highly emotional inhabitants to one whose inhabitants show no emotion at all. Emotion was deemed responsible for all the wars and tribal infighting that plagued the planet for centuries even as its technology was advancing (sound familiar). A philosopher named Surak began espousing a new way of thinking in which the use of logic was celebrated as was the repression of illogical emotion. Eventually Vulcans embraced this philosophy and virtually all emotion was purged from its society.
The fun in watching the original Star Trek was the tension between the logical Spock and the highly emotional Dr. McCoy, affectionately known as Bones, as they each counseled Captain Kirk. The famous Captain Kirk, played by William Shatner, seemed to always find the right balance between logic and emotion.
I don’t propose to start a movement similar to the one started by Surak on Vulcan. We are humans and we are emotional. I enjoy laughing with my friends and cheering when my team wins. What I want is just a little more Spock in the political discourse and a little less McCoy. Let’s be for or against something because of its merit, not based on who might benefit politically. As such, there will be times that I will sound like a CNN liberal and other times I will sound like a Fox News conservative. That’s because when I attempt to apply logic, sometimes the folks on the left have it correct and sometimes the folks on the right have it correct.
I’m also aware that the best way to have a popular blog that people flock to is to be provocative. Unfortunately, I don’t consider myself a partisan and am not out to provoke anyone. I’m happy to engage with anyone who has a different take on an issue addressed in this blog. I reserve the right to change my position if someone offers a logical justification for an alternative path – I don’t see this as a sign of weakness like some politicians. If you’re all McCoy and no Spock, this site is probably not for you.