Unfortunately, that's nearly impossible in this society. On both ways. Those raised in Republican households are taught that liberal is a dirty word, and those raised in liberal housholds are taught that republicans are money grubbers. And depending on which tv channels you watch and which radio stations you listen to, kids will only get those opinions reinforced. It sucks, and its really hard to just think on your own.
I was lucky in a sense. My dad's a Republican and my mom's a Democrat. So, I didn't get propaganda from either side shoved down my throat. But how's this for a predicament? I'm on a conservative Christian campus in the most Republican county in the nation (Sioux County, Iowa-- voted over 98% Republican in the last election) and I'm a moderate. I get fleeced for my beliefs... I can only imagine how the few liberals here feel.
Eh, I don't think it's quite so bad. I figure most more moderate republicans don't teach that "liberal"'s a bad word. The problem is that the more extreme side of the right seems to be getting more powerful these days (c'mon, I think we all remember a time when "neo-con"s and "theo-con"s weren't considered to be the bulk of the political right). I think more people are beginning to think that "liberal" is a bad word because they hear that viewpoint so much these days. To be honest, the "money grubbers" thing usually seems to be directed more at politicians in general. Traditional conservatives like their government small, they're not going to mess around with ways to get money or any other nonsense like that.
The problem with TV channels is that they seem to try too hard to stay in the middle. Well, except for Fox News anyway, but their take on news is really just for wingnuts anyway. I figure a truly biased news source would be as ignorant and pigheaded as Fox News or Air America, and not try to be politically correct or try to appear centrist. Most of the mainstream media is just trying to sloppily present the facts (as they see them) as quickly as possible - usually with a human interest story involving a good looking white person if they can. I'd seriously doubt that the media could reinforce views that weren't consistent with majority opinion anyway (majority opinion in politics being mostly moderate but fairly conservative as it is). They have viewers and advertisers to please, after all. I think that most people know better than to pay attention to the propaganda-based station though.
Balance is a good thing. That's one thing I really miss from some of the Clinton years - a President of one party and a congress of the other. That was a better thing for our country than either party will ever admit. Good luck with that campus - for some reason, mob mentality goes a step further with Christian groups, and they associate dissent with sin (if that's not an un-Christian and un-American idea, I don't know what is, but still, it's usually the case).
