Pure Energy Toward Understanding

"I wanna know what you're thinking.
There are some things you can't hide.
I wanna know what you're feeling.
Tell me what's on your mind."


-- Information Society (Pure Energy)


In some ways I don't believe what I am saying here. I don't really want to hear what most people think. I'm rather closed-minded when it comes to those who are closed-minded, and that seems to be the attitude of choice from the vocal conservative minority in the United States.


With folks like Sarah Palin making comments about Michele Obama which are racially motivated and demeaning in print, while her daughter calls someone who criticizes her show a "faggot", there are plenty of people who resonate with such ignorance. They're lauding her for "sayin' it like it is." They seem to champion brutal honesty as some sort of reactionary protest to political correctness. But in the process they're undoing civility, sanity and humanity.


I've never been a flag-waver for the cause of the political correctness movement. First of all, those two words are not indicative of what the intention of the ethic is. Second, politics should have nothing to do with it. Finally, it really isn't about "correctness". It's about admitting that one isn't correct, and applying humility to ones words and statements. So that term is really antithetical to the goal of cultural civility.


But the backlash from the right is simply wrong. While I cannot completely blame these befuddled masses for their brashness and disregard for the humanity of those with whom they disagree, I have to hold them accountable for the results of their histrionics. Sure, there are folks who they listen to as modern-day prophets of punditry like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh. These sorts have been highly successful at manipulating the passion of the right and warping it into a misshapen victimstance. 


Continually stoking the fire and indoctrinating their listeners with new mantras, these monetizers of mania have found a way to profit from perceived suffering. 


They've become not unlike the voice of Gríma Wormtongue, the chief advisor to King Théoden of Rohan in the Lord of the Rings. They're continually whispering poisoned thoughts into the ear of the King. The King is unaware that Grima is actually a conduit for the wishes of the now evil wizard Saruman, who is in legion with the pillar of evil Sauron himself. 


The King becomes an ingrown, pale, shadow of a human being, dead to the suffering around him. He makes choices based upon misinformation, and turns away even those who he once loved when they come to him for compassion or assistance.


It takes the heroism of white wizard Gandalf, back from the depths of the earth after vanquishing the demonic balrog, to wrest the choke-hold of Wormtongue from King Theoden, and restore sanity and life to the kingdom of Rohan. He confronts a shrinking Grima:


'The wise speak only of what they know, Grima son of Galmod. A witless worm have you become. Therefore be silent, and keep your forked tongue behind your teeth. I have not passed through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a serving-man till the lightning falls.' 

-- The Two Towers: The King of the Golden Hall, p. 118


The fact that Rush and Beck in particular have been brash enough to state in public that they're simply entertainers trying to make as much money as they can, and that their listeners haven't cared, is the most troubling thing. There is not a place for truth or for facts to matter to this sort of people. They are driven by self-interest and delusions of what the American Dream is, and a revision of the history of what we stand for in this country.


Rush has even gone so far as to say that they ought to abandon the causes of the middle-class and support the interests of the rich. Well, we're certainly reaping that now. Folks like the Koch brothers with their shadow funding and creation of bogus orgs have changed the political landscape, and we're all suffering for it. People who are suffering the consequences of the failure of the economy, the deterioration of health care, and the changing climate are standing in the streets bearing signs in support of their oppressors. They must be laughing in their penthouse offices...


It's confounding the rest of the developed world, watching from an objective perch. They cannot understand why those who aren't benefiting from the failed economic policies like deregulation, and employee-sponsored health care are passionately fighting to keep things as they are.


Progressives are painted as communists and atheists. People who speak with civility and honestly like Michele Obama are painted as racists by people who are unwitting racists. There are those who support "telling it like it is" that will not afford the same to those who they disagree with. They truncate the speeches of their opponents to remove the context and box them in with misshapen quotes.


They claim that their opposition does the same. But that's just not true. The antics and tactics of the right are unique to them. Sure, they're successful at this point in history, but they're doomed to fail. The left will not engage in the same sorts of battles, and with the nation moving center-left as each generation grows up into adulthood, and the reality of the global interconnectivity shaping world-views, they've only got a generation or two left to gloat and promote.


Seriously, if you survey the thirty and under set, they're politically left as a whole, and it's not because of any sort of ignorance of youth. In fact, they've shown themselves to be less so than their parents. They've had more interaction globally with different cultures, more opportunities to have their beliefs challenged, and more rapid technological advancement than any generations in history.


What results is a more apolitical, center-left, optimistic, free-thinking society that leans toward european socialism. We're not that far off from following in the footsteps of N. Europe in this way. No matter what the bitter minority tries to do to change this, there will be a shift in ideology. 2008 proved it. A midterm didn't get these same folks quite as motivated to be politically active, and the bitterness of the ads certainly turned them off, but that won't last forever. There will be a rebound in 2012. 


Anyway, the point is that we're moving toward a more progressive future for USA, and I welcome it with open arms. I support open dialogue in all forms, especially with those I disagree. But there has to be a safe space to do so, with terms set before conversing that insure introspection and engagement will trump emotion and rhetoric. I'm okay with disparate opinions, as long as they're well-articulated and owned by the person who claims them.


But we're a society which is increasingly defined by the marginal extremists who are more identified by what they're opposed to. Ask the same what they stand for and they might regurgitate a mantra of shallow philosophies, but these can be quickly uprooted by simple questions.


Then again, they're the puppets. They'll not likely be able to see their own fallacies of reason. 


What we need is a Gandalf to speak into this madness and extract the poison of the corporate corruption and destructive self-interest that has hamstrung our nation for over twenty years. Please, someone, break this spell...