This is my first blog entry; should I congratulate myself? I swore up and down I would never do it. I was sure that I would be misunderstood and misquoted (a narcissistic view that anyone would even read, let alone quote my blog), that I would spend inordinate amounts of time pondering and punching keys, that I would eventually reduce myself to yet another shadow voice in the great electronic void.
Well, I plan on this being cathartic. I want to feel better. I wish to clear my cognitions and conscience while I rummage the piles of ideas hiding in my basement. So here’s my opening rant:
We live in a time of great possibility. We have the ability and chance to vector towards sustainable energy systems, reduce consumption, and use our brains to observe that American ideas and opinions aren't necessarily the brightest anymore. Our intentions, in case you haven’t noticed, are underlain by the crudest of desires for superiority and lavish lifestyle. We have been sold a bill of self-righteous goods, and we can’t do this anymore. Or can we?
I am growing more concerned about how stupid we are. We rank lower than ever in percentages of college graduates, math scores, and a host of measures that clearly display our ignorance. We rank higher than ever in divorce rate, teen pregnancy, and in a host of categories that exhibit our stupidity. We must like being ignorant and stupid. Or is is just simpler that way?
Twenty percent or more of people here believe Obama is either Muslim, was not born in America, or is promoting a fundamentalist Islamic agenda. An unknown percentage of Americans believe that Jesus will reappear in our lifetime, and that abstinence-only sex education will work (“just say no!”). It’s as if we believe that talking about something makes it more likely to be true.
At its roots, this is all about the desire for simple answers in a world of growing
complexities. Isn’t it oddly convenient to converge the world into a set of axioms born in the Middle Ages? Is it OK to believe that because the bible says God created the Earth in seven days that the Earth must be 6.000 years old? Yeah, it’s “ok”, it's your right to believe it, but it’s ignorant. Is it stupid to think that a political candidate who does nothing but criticize, who has no concrete plan to enact, will be a good choice? Yeah, it's your right to think this, but it’s stupid. Is it acceptable to hide you head in the sand just to protect a scant few more years living the “American Dream”, when reality shuts us down like a 7-11 selling beer to a minor? After all, it was all just a dream.
Last time I checked, dreams were subject to reality checks.
We have to understand why people want such simplicity. The answer is itself, simple: fear narrows our vision, demanding the easy answer, and we are a very frightened nation. We always have been afraid; that's where all the bravado and self-importance originates. It requires less time and less effort to believe such things and I fear our increasing laziness.
More next entry.
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