Monty Python on How to Be A Partisan

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Created: 10 Aug, 2017
Updated: 17 Oct, 2022
1 min read

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y

We've all seen it: a news network will convene a panel of pundits from opposing political parties to discuss an issue.

Five minutes later, the entire conversation has devolved into the pundits yelling over each other, with arguments deteriorating into such intellectually-devoid statements as “yes they did!” and “no they didn’t!”

We’ve also seen the two political parties change their stances on several topics.

For example, the individual mandate in healthcare originated at the conservative Heritage foundation, and was featured in a bipartisan bill in 2007. In addition, 2008 candidate Barack Obama opposed it, but it later became the cornerstone of Obamacare.

Without realizing the two parties have held similar beliefs at some point in their history, pundits often avoid discussing the nuances of their current positions and instead turn conversations into arguments, often for arguments’ sake...which reminded me of a Monty Python skit.

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