Time To Quit The Name-calling

As I write this, as of the most recent information I have heard, Congressman Scalise is still in critical condition after having been shot yesterday.  First and foremost, we should all hope and pray for his recovery.

Some people have begun to call for a gentler tone when it comes to political talk.  A great example is this commentary by Scott Pelley of CBS News:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/commentary-scott-pelley-attack-foreseeable-predictable-self-inflicted/

Mr. Pelley makes some very good points.  But part of the problem is that each "side" tends to think that the other "side" is worse.

There's nothing wrong with debating policy, goals, and possible avenues to reach those goals.  In fact, good debate is a positive thing.  However, the reality is that both "sides" are guilty of straying from the merits (and/or lack thereof) of various policies and into the realm of verbal attacks and name-calling against the people who hold opposing views.

Beginning nearly two years ago--well prior to the determination of the nominees for President during the 2016 campaign--I started keeping track for a while of some of the different verbal name-calling that I was seeing on Facebook. I made note of name-calling in posts that might be deemed political, keeping track of when liberals used the name-calling tactic and when conservatives used the name-calling tactic.  Here's what I found:

Conservatives said of liberals:

…This is an evil man

…this idiot

…these creeps

…a distraction from the other traitor

…Libtard

…douchebag

…Dumb A** (edited by me)

…nut case

 Liberals said of conservatives:
…poor dumb SOB’s;

...ignorant white dudes

…a very crafty greedy evil man

…Knuckleheads

…These people are stupid beyond belief

…lunatics

…he’s just so….icky!

…moron…blathering idiot…unelectable turkey…

…angry misanthrope

…idiots

…such a buffoon

…Ludicrous, cheap, uninformed, and sleazy

…F****** sociopath (edited by me)

…this turd

…the idiot

Basically, both "sides" have been guilty.

 I hope that Americans will continue to debate ideas and philosophies.  I also hope that we will cease to resort to name-calling and verbal attacks against those with whom we may disagree.