Moral Values Part II
To further breakdown this issue, I can't help but wonder what "Moral Values" mean. When one person is asked they could mean Christian Biblical values. But, someone else could mean the values of Islam or Buddhism. The point is that the term is vague.
This is from the New York Free Press.
Dick Meyer at CBSNews.com notes that the exit polls that claim "moral values" trumped every other issue—from taxes to terrorism—were vague and exceedingly misleading. People were given a list of items to check off, with "moral values" on the list but not exactly defined. Anything could be considered "moral values," including Bush's attitude toward Osama bin Laden ("evil"). And if the other issues on the list were less specifically broken down, they might have topped "moral values."
"If, for example, one of the issues on the list was a combined 'terrorism and Iraq' [instead of each listed separately], it would have been the top concern of 34 percent of the electorate and nobody would be talking about moral values," Meyer observers. "If 'taxes, jobs and the economy' was on the list as one item instead of two, it would have been the topper at 25 percent. If, say, abortion rights, gay marriage and moral values were both on the list separately, the numbers would be very different."
The overall message I am trying to impart is not that moral values aren't important. However, polls can be tilted to highlight a certain message and I believe the exit polls of the past election are so tilted.
3 Comments:
Yea, sure, when people in America are talking about moral values they are reffering to the values of Buddism.. or Islam.
Yea, ...riiiiggghhhttt.
To even post such a disingenuos article lets others see your true colors. That being: We (you)must denigrate or at the very least marginalize the Conservative Republicans value in the last election.
I find this whole tact, dirty.
No one attacks the other sectors of America for fear of offending them. But as you so inadvertantly declare: Christians are fair game to be denigrated, marginalized or attacked. Why not, it's such a target rich enviroment.
I dunno what post Raugh was reading. Doesn't seem to have been this one, though.
"Moral values" is vague. No one religion has the sole claim to telling the truth, for example. For that matter, I've known professed atheists who exhibited a stronger moral center than some professed Christians.
Obviously "moral values" in this context got interpreted to mean the conservative Right's agenda. But, equally obvious is the fact that there are huge non-Christian minorities in America who hold moral values too.
To be clear, the exit pollers should have either prefaced or followed up the moral values question with a question about religious affiliation or belief system.
Typical of Kevin to marginalize the Christians of the USA. HUGE non christian religions in the USA? You mean like more than 20% of the electorate?
Or are you reffering to the miniscule islamic sector, or perhaps the almost non existant Buddist sector?
Kevin as usual needs to get a grip in reality and face the FACT that over 80% of America considers itself Christian.
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