Pioneer Editorial: Prepare yourselves for the silly season

The two major political conventions are over, and now it’s time for the real silly season to begin. We can expect the usual amount of negative advertisements and mailings leading up to the Nov. 6 general election, because that has proven to be a successful tactic.
How unfortunate.
While it was clear that speakers at the Republican and Democratic national conventions were preaching to their respective choirs, the messages were relatively positive and tame compared to what’s about to come. Billions of dollars will be spent on ads that paint opponents as scoundrels. Much less will be spent to tell us what candidates plan to do if they are elected.
The result is that many Americans simply tune out or discard the messages. They become disillusioned of the campaign season. They can’t wait until it’s over.
That is sad, because the election itself is so important, and voters should not have to sift through so much drivel and negativity in order to decide how to cast their ballots.
Another relatively new phenomenon is the proliferation of political views on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. If you have any question about how polarized America has become, take a quick look at some of these posts.
We saw an amusing message on Facebook last week that read:
“Your relentless political Facebook posts finally turned me around to your way of thinking.” ... said nobody, ever.
We’re not so naive as to think this little diatribe will make a difference, whether it be in advertisements or social media posts.
But maybe, on a local level at least, it could.