Thursday, September 14, 2006
It's not about apathy, it's about fear:
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)
As I've been staying away from the news on purpose I've noticed that I get the news anyway. When I go out there are papers all over the place with big bold headlines. There are more TVs around, and if they're not tuned to CNN or (shudder) FOX News, the station that is on has a news ticker below the program. Even if I try to not watch it or read it, it catches my eye.
Then there are my well-meaning friends who send my emails about the news, and Live Journal usually has posts about the news. I could avoid email and Live Journal but then I'd feel like I'm punishing myself. I consider Live Journal a community, though not a replacement for flesh-and-blood contact.
But through all that filtering the news gets softened a little. What I've seen for a long time is the propensity of the news to be loud, aggressive to the point of verbally abusive, biased, over-simplified, pro-business to the point of being anti-human, corrupted by money and politics, pandering, and above all – fear-mongering. It was fashionable long before the Bush Administration to go for an emotional response with every news story, they just became the fear-mongering publisher's wet dream.
And then the quote I put at the top of this entry appeared.
And I realized that people are not apathetic, they are scared. This is a hell of a realization for me. It also changes how I view the world around me, making me a little more understanding and compassionate. I know understand that ignorance and fear-mongering are driving many people out there. They are not happy with the way their lives or the world is going but they have no idea how to change it.
Civic participation is no longer being taught, another victim of the testing obsession in American education today. When young people no longer understand how their government works things like re-districting are not seen as the threat to our democracy they are. They don't understand how important their vote is, so they don’t vote. Normally this ignorance would lead to apathy, (where I believed the problem resided.)
But we don't live in normal times. Fear has been force-fed to all of us since the 80's. The attack on 9-11 and our government's complicity in it just made things worse. (4 out of 10 Americans think our government played a role in the events on 9-11. That figure is higher outside the United States.) The Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal has been around since the 80's. In Washington they call them "The Crazies." This stuff is not new.
Remember when Franklin D. Roosevelt said; "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." That is true. What may also be true is our government knew about Pearl Harbor before it happened and even antagonized the Japanese as an excuse to enter the war. It's well-known the Japanese were on the edge of surrender when we dropped atomic bombs on their tiny island. We wanted to use these new weapons, flex our muscle, show the world we were the new super-power on the block as the British Empire declined.
So not even 9-11 is new. Would the Bush Administration and the Pentagon under Cheney and Rumsfeld let 3,000 Americans die simply to further their agenda?
I'll leave you to answer that one for yourself.
The people in power in this world do not think in terms of years, they think in terms of decades. They study history, except they don't use their intelligence, education, wealth and power to help humanity. They also hope that we won't study history or think about it on a deep level.
The press and our government say the economy is great, but that's not what I hear. Every time it's mentioned in any group I hear people say how fucked up things are.
People who are disabled get $900.00 a month from the federal government at the bottom of the scale, and that's the majority. Have you ever tried to live in San Francisco on $900.00 a month? Even if you take the dispassionate attitude they should "go somewhere else," how would they move on less than that amount? They cannot "save up to move" because they are barely getting by. And even if they do, $900.00 a month doesn't go very far anywhere in America.
My brother is a small-businessman in Texas, and he says the economy sucks, business sucks. My friends who are job-seeking, or working at underpaid jobs they are vastly overqualified for, say the same thing. Even people who have "good" jobs are concerned about the economy and their livelihood. What's the tipping point for lay-offs at your company? A drop in the stock price?
Health care is in trouble too. Billions of dollars are sucked up by the managed care industry, consolidation has placed the revenue in the hands of the few, taking care and services away from the many. Doctors hate insurance companies. Politicians are bought and paid for by the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. The corruption and graft is staggering. Even the most cynical among us ordinary folk cannot deny this.
Is it any wonder people are terrified? How many of us are a step away from homeless? Suddenly that person on the street corner begins to look more and more familiar. Our media and our government and our societal structure are generating fear-based messages, but none of those entities are offering alternatives to the fear. Americans are more isolated than they were 20 years ago, as many recent studies have shown.
Terrified and Alone. What a horrible pairing.
Our spouses and our friends are more precious than gold. We need them now more than ever, yet fear and isolation are pushing us away from each other. Physical contact is vital to our sanity and our physical health. We need love and affection, even if it's purely platonic. They aren't just sappy homilies from the 60's. The Beatles wrote; "all you need is love," but we have somehow missed the understanding of "need." Need is not a desire, a wish, a hope – need is that which we cannot live without.
We need each other. Together we should reach out and help ease the fear of others. I'm not moralizing here – we need to solve these problems and we have to be united to do so. The Crazies want to start a third war with Iran. Everyone knows this. We cannot afford to start another war, which will drag our economy down even further, and increase our level of fear.
These recent changes in my personal life are giving me a new perspective on things, but my beliefs remain the same. It's just my attitude that needs to change. It's not easy dealing with frightened animals, even human ones. I will say that, of all the species, we seem to have a special talent for hiding our fear. Today I can see that I need to treat everyone as if they were a scared animal. Easier said than done, I know. It's really hard for me to be nice to someone who is not being nice in return. I'm not currently programmed that way. I don’t know fully how to change that programming right now, but I have some ideas, I'm initiating some actions, and I'm learning. Avoiding the mass media helps.
The last time I watched live TV I was struck by how loud, aggressive and obnoxious it has become. Everything is shrill. They're not exhorting us to buy their product, they are screaming at us to do so. If people behaved that way in our homes we would ask them to leave. I've found it's not worth it to see a new "Simpsons" or "Family Guy" if I have to put up with all that shrill, violent and overwhelming advertising. (I suspect FOX is particularly bad about this.) TIVO is an option if one is diligent about skipping the ads.
Listening to music has been helpful. Writing helps. Art helps. Playing my drums helps. Being around my partner and my friends helps more than words can express. I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing, reach out a little more if I can, and try to be patient and kind. I'm starting to believe they are the only things that truly make positive change possible.
Hope for the best. Strive for the good of us all.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)
As I've been staying away from the news on purpose I've noticed that I get the news anyway. When I go out there are papers all over the place with big bold headlines. There are more TVs around, and if they're not tuned to CNN or (shudder) FOX News, the station that is on has a news ticker below the program. Even if I try to not watch it or read it, it catches my eye.
Then there are my well-meaning friends who send my emails about the news, and Live Journal usually has posts about the news. I could avoid email and Live Journal but then I'd feel like I'm punishing myself. I consider Live Journal a community, though not a replacement for flesh-and-blood contact.
But through all that filtering the news gets softened a little. What I've seen for a long time is the propensity of the news to be loud, aggressive to the point of verbally abusive, biased, over-simplified, pro-business to the point of being anti-human, corrupted by money and politics, pandering, and above all – fear-mongering. It was fashionable long before the Bush Administration to go for an emotional response with every news story, they just became the fear-mongering publisher's wet dream.
And then the quote I put at the top of this entry appeared.
And I realized that people are not apathetic, they are scared. This is a hell of a realization for me. It also changes how I view the world around me, making me a little more understanding and compassionate. I know understand that ignorance and fear-mongering are driving many people out there. They are not happy with the way their lives or the world is going but they have no idea how to change it.
Civic participation is no longer being taught, another victim of the testing obsession in American education today. When young people no longer understand how their government works things like re-districting are not seen as the threat to our democracy they are. They don't understand how important their vote is, so they don’t vote. Normally this ignorance would lead to apathy, (where I believed the problem resided.)
But we don't live in normal times. Fear has been force-fed to all of us since the 80's. The attack on 9-11 and our government's complicity in it just made things worse. (4 out of 10 Americans think our government played a role in the events on 9-11. That figure is higher outside the United States.) The Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal has been around since the 80's. In Washington they call them "The Crazies." This stuff is not new.
Remember when Franklin D. Roosevelt said; "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." That is true. What may also be true is our government knew about Pearl Harbor before it happened and even antagonized the Japanese as an excuse to enter the war. It's well-known the Japanese were on the edge of surrender when we dropped atomic bombs on their tiny island. We wanted to use these new weapons, flex our muscle, show the world we were the new super-power on the block as the British Empire declined.
So not even 9-11 is new. Would the Bush Administration and the Pentagon under Cheney and Rumsfeld let 3,000 Americans die simply to further their agenda?
I'll leave you to answer that one for yourself.
The people in power in this world do not think in terms of years, they think in terms of decades. They study history, except they don't use their intelligence, education, wealth and power to help humanity. They also hope that we won't study history or think about it on a deep level.
The press and our government say the economy is great, but that's not what I hear. Every time it's mentioned in any group I hear people say how fucked up things are.
People who are disabled get $900.00 a month from the federal government at the bottom of the scale, and that's the majority. Have you ever tried to live in San Francisco on $900.00 a month? Even if you take the dispassionate attitude they should "go somewhere else," how would they move on less than that amount? They cannot "save up to move" because they are barely getting by. And even if they do, $900.00 a month doesn't go very far anywhere in America.
My brother is a small-businessman in Texas, and he says the economy sucks, business sucks. My friends who are job-seeking, or working at underpaid jobs they are vastly overqualified for, say the same thing. Even people who have "good" jobs are concerned about the economy and their livelihood. What's the tipping point for lay-offs at your company? A drop in the stock price?
Health care is in trouble too. Billions of dollars are sucked up by the managed care industry, consolidation has placed the revenue in the hands of the few, taking care and services away from the many. Doctors hate insurance companies. Politicians are bought and paid for by the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. The corruption and graft is staggering. Even the most cynical among us ordinary folk cannot deny this.
Is it any wonder people are terrified? How many of us are a step away from homeless? Suddenly that person on the street corner begins to look more and more familiar. Our media and our government and our societal structure are generating fear-based messages, but none of those entities are offering alternatives to the fear. Americans are more isolated than they were 20 years ago, as many recent studies have shown.
Terrified and Alone. What a horrible pairing.
Our spouses and our friends are more precious than gold. We need them now more than ever, yet fear and isolation are pushing us away from each other. Physical contact is vital to our sanity and our physical health. We need love and affection, even if it's purely platonic. They aren't just sappy homilies from the 60's. The Beatles wrote; "all you need is love," but we have somehow missed the understanding of "need." Need is not a desire, a wish, a hope – need is that which we cannot live without.
We need each other. Together we should reach out and help ease the fear of others. I'm not moralizing here – we need to solve these problems and we have to be united to do so. The Crazies want to start a third war with Iran. Everyone knows this. We cannot afford to start another war, which will drag our economy down even further, and increase our level of fear.
These recent changes in my personal life are giving me a new perspective on things, but my beliefs remain the same. It's just my attitude that needs to change. It's not easy dealing with frightened animals, even human ones. I will say that, of all the species, we seem to have a special talent for hiding our fear. Today I can see that I need to treat everyone as if they were a scared animal. Easier said than done, I know. It's really hard for me to be nice to someone who is not being nice in return. I'm not currently programmed that way. I don’t know fully how to change that programming right now, but I have some ideas, I'm initiating some actions, and I'm learning. Avoiding the mass media helps.
The last time I watched live TV I was struck by how loud, aggressive and obnoxious it has become. Everything is shrill. They're not exhorting us to buy their product, they are screaming at us to do so. If people behaved that way in our homes we would ask them to leave. I've found it's not worth it to see a new "Simpsons" or "Family Guy" if I have to put up with all that shrill, violent and overwhelming advertising. (I suspect FOX is particularly bad about this.) TIVO is an option if one is diligent about skipping the ads.
Listening to music has been helpful. Writing helps. Art helps. Playing my drums helps. Being around my partner and my friends helps more than words can express. I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing, reach out a little more if I can, and try to be patient and kind. I'm starting to believe they are the only things that truly make positive change possible.
Hope for the best. Strive for the good of us all.
# posted by Phillip T. Alden @ 3:59 PM 
