This morning, the GMQC crew posted this show tease on WQAD’s Facebook page:

Allegations of cheating last season prompt changes to voting on tonight’s premiere of Dancing with the Stars. What you need to know before you vote…on GMQC.

To which someone named “Dave” replied:

No one cares

This kind of comment fascinates me.  For one, Dave cared enough to leave a comment.  If he didn’t care at all, he would’ve ignored the post about DWTS.  Dave actually justified the tease post because it garnered a reaction, which is the goal of any WQAD post.

Of greater interest is the fact Dave is flat out wrong.  Dave used a definitive statement, which is inaccurate.  If “no one” truly cared, then 21 million people would not have tuned in to watch last season’s opening episode.  Dave is either guilty of believing that everyone thinks like him or uses words which he doesn’t actually mean.  A true statement would have been “I don’t care” or “Some people don’t care.”  “No one cares” is just flat out wrong and diminishes Dave’s credibility.

Okay.  It seems like I’m picking on Dave.  That is not my intent.  Dave’s comment serves as an example of what’s wrong with public rhetoric.  All too often, people use words and phrases as absolute statements for things that are not absolute.  It often comes from a place of “I’m right and you’re wrong” or can contribute to that mentality in others.  It’s easy to believe the majority thinks like I do.   When passionate about something, it’s even harder to recognize that I might share a minority opinion.  That, too, is a sign of perceived self-importance and superiority, which contributes to the “us vs. them” mentality that may be the worst part of current public rhetoric and is not reflective of a respect for a democratic society.  It falls more in line with dictatorship.

Or, everybody hates Dancing With the Stars.