It's Week 2 of this semester, and I've already managed to waste time. I'll get back on track, because I have to. But this is more political in tone. I've had trouble with political posts before, so there will be no comment option on this blog. Any unfriendly viewers, please get over anything I say that you don't agree with. I'm not writing to piss you off. Here is my list of things that concern me about the current political/cultural climate.
First off, some terms I feel are misleading or being misused in regular discourse.
- "Creeping Socialism": socialism doesn't creep, it's established by revolution because it's generally distasteful to everyone and does not work. I don't think it can sneak up on people. And there's a Socialist Party in the U.S., they were on the national ballot and everything.
- "Grassroots" movements are movements that start from the bottom up, not the top down, and they don't come with corporate/network sponsors.
- The difference between news and editorials. There is a difference, and it's important. I like to read my news because there are sections of the paper labeled "Editorial." There may be some opinions laced into the news section, but they usually have quotations marks around them, and I like that.
- Yelling. I don't like yelling. It makes me cry. Beyond that, yelling doesn't make a point more legitimate. It makes it more emphatic, but not more right (or wrong). And it's not nice. Be nice, it's what Jesus would do.
- The Internet is allowing people to be more cranky-meany-pants than they would regularly be. I used to think it was just with message boards and stuff, places people could say terrible things and hide behind the anonymity of a pseudonym. Blogging and Facebook have taught me otherwise. Now I think some are just more willing to say mean things to people they know because they don't have to see the look on their face when the statement is delivered. I suppose it has just made it so some feel less need to think about things they say before they say it. I'm excited that the Internet allows for a broader dialogue on so many things, I just wish it was more polite, that everyone remembered they were still dealing with regular people, not icons.
- The tone of politics/political discourse. I've seen the 'term' idiot used way too much. It's totally cool to disagree with someone else's opinion, but there's no need to be an asshole about it.
- I fear that tone is going to lead to a generation of people disaffected or discouraged out of politics. Of course there will be plenty who just don't care, and that happens. I'm worried about those who will grow up believing politics is simply an arena for venting extreme opinions and withdraw themselves. I was reading about how that happened after the political intensity that was the 1960s and 70s. During the 80s and early 90s politics in certain arenas were able to get away with some pretty serious debauchery because no one was watching. That's bad. My chest tightens every time someone mentions health care, immigration or gay marriage around me because I'm afraid they will yell at me if I disagree. I wish that wasn't the case.
- Racism. This is probably the most discouraging thing I'm running into right now. I grew up thinking that racism had been mostly done away with after the Civil Rights Movement in the 60s, that the only racists left were old and crazy or secluded in northern Idaho. I was totally wrong, its out there in young, educated Utahns. I've gotten to the point that I almost prefer people to be out in the open about their views on race, rather than being unpleasantly surprised later. And there's a lot of shaded racism. Some people are just scared, and to that element I quote Yoda (I know, he's fictional, but so wise): "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” I'm no historian, but in my recollection, I can't think of history ever being on the side of racists or super nationalists.
No comments:
Post a Comment