Friday, August 07, 2009

Is Public Deliberation A Possibility?

As I am preparing to teach a public address course on the rhetoric of rights, I keep seeing online videos that show screaming matches and, in some cases, violence at town hall meetings. You can see some violence here and here. At times like these, it would seem easier to teach in a department that public deliberation is not a practical concept.

In the first video, a opponent to heath care reporter pushes and assaults a supporter. It does not help that the opponent states that the supporter of health care reform "attacked America."

And Harrogate, did you think the violence would end if Obama won the election?

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