A friend of mine was using sarcasm today when talking about the Glenn Beck rally being held in Washington D.C. today, on the anniversary of Dr King's "I Have a Dream" speech. This friend's sarcasm came in the form of a Facebook comment supporting the idea that Mr Beck's rally will be remembered for generations to come, and how he only speaks the truth, God talks through him, etc. The following started out as my response to that, and then kind of just grew into another of my rants.
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Maybe I've grown too cynical and militant in my middle age, but I am honestly beginning to think the public at large is too ignorant to understand sarcasm, satire and irony. I think Mr Beck's little rally today will be big news for a cycle or two. He may even try to keep it going in the public's mind through various means. But, in the end, he is a buffoon and a clown, lacking even the small amount of gravitas enjoyed by a Senator McCarthy.
One of the drawbacks of the modern communications era is that it is much easier for the backward thinkers, reactionaries, and just plain crazies to find an audience. In the end, though, those people are no more than a distraction away from the real fight. They, in a sense, set themselves up to be straw men.
The more we try to knock down the straw man, to argue against a false argument, we loose sight of what's actually happening behind them. As long as the right keeps us fighting against falsehoods, (death panels, Obama is BOTH a Nazi AND a socialist, mass kidnappings in Arizona, just to name recent examples) we miss our opportunities to set the agenda and promote our own ideals.
The right has learned that the more outrageous they make themselves, the more clownish they become, they can distract us enough to get their way.
My hope, my optimism, comes from the suspicion that they have gone, or are about to go, too far. The extreme right has been emboldened to come out of the woodwork, not just in the entertainment / distraction industries, but even with candidates for congress. The same modern communications era will make it much easier for every one to see just how far out there these people are.
28 August 2010
16 August 2010
People suck: or, Why we need a Constitution
Recently there has been some controversies (the mosque and cultural center in NYC and the gay marriage issues in California) that have me thinking about the big picture in our nation. The following started out as a short reply to a Facebook post. As it grew, I decided it should stand alone.
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It's times like these that we can see people's real values at work. Individuals can and do have inherently contradictory values all the time. These values, however, cannot be weighted equally. It's one thing to value freedom of religion and freedom of expression in an homogeneous environment, but quite another in a heterogeneous one, if you also have strong xenophobic tendencies. (I'll define xenophobic as anything that compels one to treat the "other" in a negative way, regardless of perceived motives.)
Now, some people will believe that loyalty to their religion is a higher calling than loyalty to a system of government. Some will value money and profit higher still. Some value a sense of security over our written system of government. And some value a personal freedoms highest.
Unless one wants chaos, some system of rules are needed. These rules should do as much as possible to allow the most freedom to the largest number of people possible. This is precisely what our Constitution does.
Why did the framers of the Constitution do this? Why let just anybody speak his or her mind? Why let everyone choose to follow their own religions? Why not put everything up to a majority rule vote? They did this because they knew something that many of us have forgotten: people suck.
Sure, governments can suck from time to time, but all governments are, are people. (At least until the day the robotic overlords come.) They knew that, given a chance, people would start to see their own views as being the views that everybody should have. The only problem with that is, no view is universally held. Maybe you hate the idea of homosexuality, or feel that Islam is a dangerous cult that has to be stopped. That's fine if you feel that way. I encourage you to use your constitutionally protected freedoms to try to convince people you are right. Maybe you'll do a great job at it, and pretty soon no one wants to be gay or Islamic.
But now you want to pass a LAW that says you cannot marry a person of the same sex, or that you cannot build a place of worship and community center. The Constitution disagrees. Why? Because you suck! (I'll define sucking as being too short sighted to understand what is good for you and yours in the long run.)
That's right, suckers. You've just opened a door that allows the tyranny of the majority to dictate freedoms. Next thing you know, the self righteous suck even more than you do, and go after something else. Maybe next on the chopping block are Mormons. After all, they're not "real" Christians. Probably the Catholics and Jews next. Then the infighting can begin. Who knows where the fashions will go next. Maybe something you care about will be looked down upon. What's left to protect you? Not the Constitution. You just allowed your short sightedness to ruin it for everybody.
The trend in this country is to ensure the freedoms expressed in the Constitution expand to more and more groups of people. As the public conscience grows, we come to realize that some people have been left out. Women, "racial" minorities, and now the LGBTers. White Christians are feeling marginalized. They are feeling that their freedoms are being taken away. They aren't really. It's just that others are enjoying the same freedoms, and they aren't the only players in town anymore.
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It's times like these that we can see people's real values at work. Individuals can and do have inherently contradictory values all the time. These values, however, cannot be weighted equally. It's one thing to value freedom of religion and freedom of expression in an homogeneous environment, but quite another in a heterogeneous one, if you also have strong xenophobic tendencies. (I'll define xenophobic as anything that compels one to treat the "other" in a negative way, regardless of perceived motives.)
Now, some people will believe that loyalty to their religion is a higher calling than loyalty to a system of government. Some will value money and profit higher still. Some value a sense of security over our written system of government. And some value a personal freedoms highest.
Unless one wants chaos, some system of rules are needed. These rules should do as much as possible to allow the most freedom to the largest number of people possible. This is precisely what our Constitution does.
Why did the framers of the Constitution do this? Why let just anybody speak his or her mind? Why let everyone choose to follow their own religions? Why not put everything up to a majority rule vote? They did this because they knew something that many of us have forgotten: people suck.
Sure, governments can suck from time to time, but all governments are, are people. (At least until the day the robotic overlords come.) They knew that, given a chance, people would start to see their own views as being the views that everybody should have. The only problem with that is, no view is universally held. Maybe you hate the idea of homosexuality, or feel that Islam is a dangerous cult that has to be stopped. That's fine if you feel that way. I encourage you to use your constitutionally protected freedoms to try to convince people you are right. Maybe you'll do a great job at it, and pretty soon no one wants to be gay or Islamic.
But now you want to pass a LAW that says you cannot marry a person of the same sex, or that you cannot build a place of worship and community center. The Constitution disagrees. Why? Because you suck! (I'll define sucking as being too short sighted to understand what is good for you and yours in the long run.)
That's right, suckers. You've just opened a door that allows the tyranny of the majority to dictate freedoms. Next thing you know, the self righteous suck even more than you do, and go after something else. Maybe next on the chopping block are Mormons. After all, they're not "real" Christians. Probably the Catholics and Jews next. Then the infighting can begin. Who knows where the fashions will go next. Maybe something you care about will be looked down upon. What's left to protect you? Not the Constitution. You just allowed your short sightedness to ruin it for everybody.
The trend in this country is to ensure the freedoms expressed in the Constitution expand to more and more groups of people. As the public conscience grows, we come to realize that some people have been left out. Women, "racial" minorities, and now the LGBTers. White Christians are feeling marginalized. They are feeling that their freedoms are being taken away. They aren't really. It's just that others are enjoying the same freedoms, and they aren't the only players in town anymore.
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