Friday, September 28, 2018

Free Fallin'


The current furor over the potential appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court is a perfect example of why we find ourselves so polarized as a society. The only voices that are heard are people who have fixed and immovable positions. He’s a rapist or she’s a liar. That’s basically it. There are some offshoots of those arguments, but they are basically anchored in one or the other premise. And herein lies the problem. TRUTH and FACTS are no longer necessary for us, as a whole, to take intractable positions.

The idea that rational thought is a thing of the past is horrifying, but I honestly don’t see a way to turn this around. As social media continues to grow as the de facto news source for the majority of Americans, we get farther and farther away from the search for TRUTH. The TRUTH, has become our truth. If I believe it, then it’s true. That’s the new national creed.

It would be interesting to get into an honest and open conversation about the current situation on Capitol Hill, but what would that conversation be based on? The only thing we have to go on is the 40 year old recollection of two people. I believe that Dr. Ford was assaulted and I believe that she believes that Brett Kavanaugh was the person who assaulted her. I also believe that Mr. Kavanaugh is not the saint that he paints himself out to be (who could be?). I believe that he and his friends certainly did things that crossed many lines (both of decorum and the law). However, when it comes to the particular incident in question, he has denied any participation or knowledge of it.  
So where does that leave us in the age of individual truth? It leaves us in opposite castles using catapults to launch bombs at each other. We are incapable of discussing the matter without claiming the other side is absolutely wrong. We reserve just as much anger for those who refuse to take sides, because in the age of individual truth, you are either with us or an idiot/racist/rapist/communist/liar/abuser.

In an age of unfettered access to information, we have managed to become less informed, less aware, less reasoned and less intelligent. We have become petty and selfish as a nation. We have become about the battle and we are no longer about the war. We are shortsighted to a fault. I have no idea how this Kavanaugh situation will resolve itself and frankly, I don’t care. The Heritage foundation has a long list of candidates lined up if this nomination were to fail. They all have similar conservative pedigrees and they will aid in pushing the court firmly to the right.

There will be those on the left who will be filled with great joy if this nomination fails. They will feel some sense of accomplishment. Not because anything was really accomplished in the long run, but hey, a win is a win. A win for individual truth!

I want to pass along some TRUTH. I wrote this back in July of 2016 when I heard the wave of indifference that was being pointed in Hillary Clinton’s direction,

We can be thoughtful and careful when we decide who to vote for in November.
OR
We can act like children and decide to take our toys home. I always thought that people who consider themselves liberal/progressive/socialist had a bigger world view than their own front door. I always thought that it was the conservative/republicans/libertarians who would only think of themselves. I thought they were the ones who could be talked into voting against their own self-interest. 

I can boil this election down to three words: THE SUPREME COURT. If you don't understand the ramifications of those three words, then frankly, you shouldn't be voting.”

I will end this the same way I ended that particular rant from 2 years ago…And that is all I have to say about that. 

4 comments:

Commander Zaius said...

The bad thing about reading history like I do is that I know just enough to make some foolish statements based on a superficial understanding of past events. With that in mind, I say what the hell so I will go ahead and make another statement that I truly hope I am extremely wrong about.

Long story short, democracy might be dead in this country. Democracy requires rational thought and compromise, and both of those items are become rare. The crazy thing is that both parties are to blame. On one side you have right-wing nutcases that want to recreate some idealize 1950's fantasy America that never existed. On the other you have radical progressives that want a social Utopia and get upset when their various pet issues are not addressed immediately.

I quietly fumed back during the early Obama years when Democrats controlled the senate and House because progressives whines their agendas were not being passed. And I laughed when Congressional republicans after 2016 couldn't get enough votes to outright repeal Obamacare.

The political zealots always seem to fail to understand there are very few totally blue and red districts. That it would be to meet in the middle someplace.

Whatever, I'm tired and feeling frustrated.

Later, Dude.

Mycue23 said...

I am as frustrated as you are. I have very little patience for the current discourse in the country.I try my best to ignore the noise, but it is practically impossible. It's a sad state of affairs and I don't see a way out.

SJ said...

These are mindblowing times. I honestly thought the Bush years and Obama years were about as bad as things could get as far as people selecting their own reality, and using their beliefs and chosen party affiliations (religious, political, philosophical) as the only lens through which to process and assess the world's events. I continue to be wrong as there seems to be no bottom, no end to the extent to which people will ignore information and facts that don't allow them to say and profess whatever they feel they want to. Many days, I feel very out of touch and have had to pull back from Facebook, and most of the social media I used to enjoy, because today, even good friends, many people I used to respect, are broadcasting a kind of "pollution" in the way of re-posting nonsense from various websites that promote opinions as facts, or making sweeping pronouncements aimed at demonizing entire swathes of the U.S. population they have never met... And then there's our president.
The man is simply an embarrassment of unprecedented scale, and yet, perhaps he is exactly what a nation that no longer reads or values its journalism deserves.

Mycue23 said...

We get the leaders we deserve. We wanted a reality tv government and so we elected a game show host. I remember when jfk Jr. Started his magazine George. The idea was that politics was the new brand of entertainment. I had no idea that he was really predicting our future. Politics has become as scripted, predictable and mindless as reality tv and we signed up for it. God help us all.