Have we reached the boiling point?

Have you ever gotten into an argument with someone that you reach the point of what our feline friend here is doing? One of the alarming things I have noticed in the last few months or so are the downright dirty nasty attacks that people have been doing to each other in various forums.

Yes, part of this does have to do with the current political climate that we are in, but it's not just limited to that.  I have seen it slowly creeping into everyday life with just common issues.

Is there something in the water that we don't know about?  I'm being serious about this. 

Ok, on the political side, here in the wonderful U.S. we have 2 main political parties.  Yes I know there are others, but those are the two that hold the vast majority of the power right now.  The sad thing is, instead of talking about their ideas, and solutions to the various different problems, BOTH sides have degenerated into flat out mud-slinging to the maximum degree that they can.  I know it has been a problem that has been slowly growing for the last 20-25 years.  I know it goes further than that, but considering I'm 42, I've only been paying attention to politics for that amount of time and can use it as a personal reference.

This last decade seems to have been the worst by far as it steadily gets worse.  I used to enjoy a lively debate with someone who had different ideas just to be able to expand my knowledge base.  I find myself unable to have these kind of debates anymore.  It seems that there are too many people out there that just can't seem to think for themselves, so they use what I call 'one liners' over and over which have no real substance in the discussion for their side of the debate.

Honestly, I don't debate or talk to people that do that since its no fun to 'go into combat' with an unarmed person.  If you don't know any facts about what you believe in, do some damn research!  Form an opinion, then look me up.  Don't base your knowledge off of what some 'talking head' said on t.v. or radio.  There are times I think the general population is getting dumber with all of this technology instead of smarter.  With today's technology, there is NO excuse about not knowing about what you are talking about.  If you don't, your just being lazy, and you know what?  Lazy people do not get anywhere in life.

So all I can say is this.  Get up, research different things, get involved.  Do SOMETHING besides sitting on that couch.  I don't care if we disagree on things but arm yourself with the knowledge.  It does make discussions much more fun and interesting when you take out all of the BS and stupid talking points.  You never know, you might be able to come up with a few SOLUTIONS to the problems.

 If people will do this we won't reach that boiling point I was talking about.  If people don't wake up soon though I have a bad feeling things are going to go downhill in a way no one really wants to see.  The last thing we need is for this great country to be destroyed by its worst enemy......APATHY.