By Bob Beanblossom
3 October 2016
It seems to me that many of us are caught up in the anger games. Mudslinging is the big game in town. Fueled by the ”I’m right–you’re wrong certainty that we have spent years perfecting, personal attacks on the social media seem to predominate the posts, and are the most often shared. All sides of the political spectrum are more active bashing the opponent (and sometimes each other) than in describing and discussing critical issues that affect our country.
Hate expressed is often the characteristic response of a loser who has run out of legitimate arguments. There are enough vital issues out there that need to be addressed that we should have no problem finding them and bringing them to the table. It is asking a lot. We would have to move a bit beyond illustrated one-liners and actually research potentially fake postings and engage in some original research–as in reading well documented sources–to make this happen.
It is counter-culture to even suggest this at the moment, but I wonder if there is one clear-headed activist out there who would open a new venue in campaign talk by discussing important issues and solutions proposed by the candidates or from the masses?
Maybe the dearth of worthwhile discussion is simply because the prime candidates have not identified any issues and proposed any solutions worth discussing? It is a little late in the election cycle to discover this. Maybe We the People are so used to caustic blogging that we don’t consider the issues–only the personality that strikes our fancy.
I’m afraid that the major issues for the prime candidates revolve strictly around their primary goal and objectives: to get elected at any cost so that they can do as they please at any cost (to the taxpayer)–‘Me-ism’ at its finest. Or worst. They play to our lack of depth perception through the highly slanted polls and press. And, they do it well.
As a friend noted on the original Facebook posting of this article, ” ‘We’ have become the culture” that focuses on curb appeal rather than structure. Quoting my favorite cartoonist [Al Capp (1909-1979), creator of Li’l Abner]: “We have met the enemy and they are us.”
My friend summed up the driving attitude well: ” ‘I’ will be fine if ‘you’ change.” We are giving away America so that we can be rugged individualists, so that we can be ‘right’ at any cost. The cost will be great.
Thanks for your comments, Walt. Now for the solution.
Although it is difficult to find honest documentation written or compiled in the last several years, there is still good material available if we look. One place is at the original sources. Read the original instead of what someone wrote about it.
Our Founding Fathers had a very good concept of debate, earned the hard way as they came to consensus after consensus that led to the break with England, the formation of the United States, and that magnificent document we call the Constitution. They were many learned and highly opinionated men who, often forcefully, presented their viewpoints, then worked in common to achieve what none before them had ever done.
The First Amendment was one important link in that process–a monumental legacy to us. That Amendment as written–not as interpreted today–guaranteed citizens freedom of speech, NOT freedom of hearing, or freedom from getting their feelings hurt. As adopted, it guarantees that ideas and ideals could be freely brought to the table and discussed. Today, that is not the case. Interpretation, not content has changed. New Think has decided that that document is organic and changes with the tide, phase of the moon, and orders of those in charge. Our sensitive egos are protected from hearing–and seeing– things that may upset us. Taxpayer dollars fund porn in the name of art, the entertainment industry and social media is rampant with foul language and personal attacks, foreign interests at odds with our national interest wield serious political and financial clout, but the values that are actually written into the Constitution have been decreed as offensive and even ‘illegal.’
Other than this approach being patently wrong according to the rule of law–Constitutional Law–today’s willing partakers who have never read or heard unadulterated history don’t realize that under this relativistic system, what is ‘in’ today will be “out” tomorrow, and that one day they will be the oppressed instead of the oppressor.
The solution is simple and probably unachievable in today’s society: restore freedom of speech, bring real knowledge and clear thinking back to our educational and political systems, and be willing to achieve the greater good through reason and compromise–incremental improvement rather than wholesale destruction.
While I am idealistic, I am also realistic. I do not expect to see honest rational behavior from the populous, and therefore, not from the politicians. They will behave as we direct if we direct with the force of our united voice. Prove me wrong. Please.