Was watching TV with Jolene the other day and caught a story on the news… the gist of the story was that – for the first time – a mother, father, and son were all going to be deployed to active duty. All three are in the Reserves and all three are going to Afghanistan.

While we were watching the story unfold, I was half tempted to check my Facebook feed and see how this played out amongst Red and Blue friends, but then I got to musing about how some of the news channels would spin this…

CNN: I saw the story for the first time on CNN, but the recap above took out all of the spin. Their take on the story was that it was sad that all three members of the family had to deploy at once and the reaction of the family that it sucks.

NBCNews: 90% of the segment would be spent on why this is all Bush’s fault and 8% on why these Reservists should be allowed to not be deployed because it’s their right to refuse. 2% on the fact that there is a war in Afghanistan and Obama would have ended it, if it wasn’t for Congress.

Today: All information on how the deployment will impact the children and grandchildren. Maybe a mention of recipes that family with members deployed can whip up quickly.

WSJ: Focus on the monetary benefits that joining the Reserves can get you and a mention of how much money has been spent on Afghanistan.

Fox News: Simultaneous praise for the family’s patriotism and dedication to country and condemnation for a President who won the office on campaign promises of reducing the number of troops deployed. Followed by the innuendo that if we don’t send more soldiers to Afghanistan, that we’ll lose said war, and have to start a draft.

What saddens me is that if you’re wholly Red or Blue, you’ll believe only one of these stories wholesale and spend the rest of the day telling everyone else they’re wrong.

It’s not that there’s so many points of views that we can’t agree that makes me sad… it’s the fact that people can no longer entertain other opinions: they are convinced that their opinion is the right and only opinion. They then feel that they have to correct everyone else that got it wrong. And before you say “not me, because I’m conservative or liberal” yes, it’s you too! It’s the just norm now, be it Red or Blue… 95% of the nation has been polarized into one of two colors and are happy to be so. What’s even worse than the drunken and passion pride of belonging to a side is the fact that most people can’t even articulated the position of their color and explain why it’s so “right”.

The only thing that makes me smile in this is that the Blue side has become as intolerant to alternative ideas and points of view as the [Red] Catholic church has been for thousands of years… makes me perversely chuckle that the same stones are crashing through the same windows of both houses.

Either way, I’m happy to paint myself purple and hide until election day.