Originally written in August, 2015:
Last night I couldn't sleep - words were swirling in my head making rest impossible. At midnight I finally caved and came to the computer and ushered the words out of my head to quiet the thoughts. Below is what happened. When I woke this morning, I heard the news of two newscasters being brutally murdered on air in what appears to have been a premeditated revenge killing. I don't know the details - we've intentionally avoided the 'news' so our children aren't soaked in the repetitive images of violence. What I expect though is that many a critic is using this violent act to champion gun control laws or to champion the right of people to pack heat when they go into work. Folks - policy won't fix the hell we've gotten ourselves into. We've forgotten how to be people. We've forgotten that we're all connected. We've forgotten that life was never promised as an easy road and we've forgotten that sometimes we have to work on ourselves and ask people for help before we can fully participate in what life has to offer. My heart aches for the families and friends of those slain people. And my soul trembles that their last moments are forever recorded and have been broadcast over and over and over again. We are a nation with a sorry sense of one anothering. We've become a nation that is getting shown up by wild animals in the 'how to care for your cohort' department.
America is in crisis. I could feel it as I grew up but now, living in another country, I'm watching it from the outside looking in. It's embarrassing really - the US comes off as a super-powered circus more often than not. Sometimes, well often actually, I wonder if the United States where I grew up is a country of past tense. Anecdotally, I offer the following observations and thoughts regarding how we got here and how we might (if we're lucky) dig ourselves out.
For starters, the 24-hour television news business is bollocks. When you think about it logically, the notion that news is business is absurd. Businesses create and trade goods - the fact that our media are in a race for profit and viewership connotes that they create what they're selling. It stands to reason, then, that the people who make large sums of money 'reporting' what's billed as news are characterized as television personalities, right? Um, no. News, by its very nature is fact. I could sit in a chair and report the day's news with my hands tied behind my back for far less money and the news wouldn't, or rather shouldn't, change. Being at home full time with kids in school I've figured out the cycle - morning news shows repeat what was breaking news the night before for about 3-4 minutes at the top and bottom of each hour. Between these bursts of repeated stories there's fluff - about a new 'scientific' study debunking a has-been study, fashion trends, live musical performances and weather. This goes on for FOUR HOURS each morning. Following the morning news shows are the midday local news shows that repeat what they reported before the morning news show came on. There's a brief respite on major networks in the early afternoon to make room for soap operas and self-help shows. Once we've had our daily dose of televised therapy, which is great because it serves to make us feel better about the junk in our own lives not being as bad as the junk in the lives of people who went on NATIONAL TELEVISION to air it for the world to see, it's then time for local evening news. Again - recap the early morning news, morning news and midday news and there *might* be a tidbit of new information as the broadcast closes to make room for the nightly national news to air. The nightly national news is where the pithy new news debuts each day and gives you a preview of what's to come the following morning. OH MY WORD!?!? There is NO END - and this cycle doesn't even touch what's on the channels solely dedicated to reporting the 'news' TWENTY FOUR HOURS A DAY.
The stories that folks choose to cover feed the kerfuffle. The past week or so has been filled with calls of righteous indignation about the evils of website hacking and the 'dark web' (which sounds ominous and, frankly, I wouldn't know how to find it). The 'victims' of this Ashley Madison debacle are all up in arms because their privacy has been violated. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? These self-proclaimed 'victims' accessed a website in the dark hinterlands of cyberspace and intentionally sought out the perfect match for an intentional AFFAIR! This is the degradation of self-respect and honor to the highest. Isn't the wrong actually wrapped up in the malicious and intentional action these folks took to undermine the fidelity they had promised to actual PEOPLE? Better yet - consider the clod that came up with the idea of even starting this website and has gotten rich helping people be subversive in cheating on their partners? How do you live with yourself? And what in God's name were you thinking when you coined the tagline, "Life is short. Have an affair."? It is clear that the issue is far bigger than a mere data breach. We're talking about people's lives - partners, children, parents, supposed role models who were willing to risk it all AND PAY for the thrill of a chase. This whole ordeal, frankly, has made me embarrassed to be human.
American political process is unnerving as well. It's August 2015 and I've watched 2 pre-Presidential debates and heard more conjecture about whether a former Secretary of State/Presidential hopeful knew whether emails were classified or not than I've heard about how our country will actually come together and capitalize on what unites us. Let's think through this logic - a person appointed to help lead our nation through matters of foreign policy and security is being accused as incapable of deciphering whether an email was classified or not. OH MY WORD! I want folks who are smarter than that in charge of those things; and if they're not smarter than that, please just find someone with common sense who chooses to err on the side of caution.
We've reduced our political leadership to its lowest common denominator. When is the last time we heard someone actually say they had an idea they thought was good JUST BECAUSE IT IS GOOD FOR OUR COUNTRY? When is the last time an idea came out of our nation's leadership that served to unify us all as Americans and not divide us down party lines? PEOPLE - DONALD TRUMP is leading the Republican polls for the party's noimation for PRESIDENT. This is a travesty. I contend he leads the polls because he's gotten the most press and we, as Americans, have allowed ourselves to function as lemmings when it comes to political elections. We follow the loudest voice wherever it leads us - unaware that we're walking right toward a cliff that we'll all tumble down to our doom. It's time to WAKE UP. Remember those 24-hour 'news' shows? Guess who they've hosted over and over and over again in the highly coveted world of 'free' PR? Yup - Trump - hair and all.
We share an identity - we are Americans. But political and media leaders alike prefer for us to wallow in our differences so we forget that there is power in our unity. I really believe that politicians don't want us, the general public, to remember that we can rise above their bullshit, stand up and say, "Stop. We are Americans. Sure - we have different stories, we have different lives, we have different philosophies, we have different backgrounds. But - we are ONE NATION, we expect you to govern us in that manner and respect ALL of us enough to believe we can function as adults." Wouldn't that be a sight to behold?
Proposal: Let's make news networks non-profit. How would that play? It would free up some cash to share with other sectors that are grossly underfunded - say, education?
Proposal: Let's commit as a people to simply doing the right thing. And let's be unapologetic when the right thing makes us get our hands dirty or have hard conversations or delve into places in ourselves we'd rather not go or admit that we haven't treated people different than us respectfully. Seriously people, when did doing to the right thing become the anomaly?
Proposal: Let's ban television and radio commercials from all political campaigns. Think about it - doesn't our decision to elect the leader of the free world deserve more attention and scrutiny than the brand of cereal we choose for breakfast? What can we possibly take away, substantively, from a 30-60 second sound-byte about how a person will lead us into our future and not our lemming inspired doom?
America is great, but it's teetering on the brink. I really believe we can rein it in - if we get honest about our flaws and how to work together to overcome them. But for us to get there, we've got to get our heads out of our behinds and commit to taking some personal responsibility for getting her back on track. We citizens love to blame Washington for its broken policies and failed attempts, but we citizens put those people in Washington - whether we voted or whether we dismissed our right to vote. And people now want to put DONALD TRUMP in Washington??? To make change happen, we've got to make our voices heard; that starts with educating ourselves about who has a vision for our nation that will unify us as a people so together we can change broken systems. Then, we must help them define their cause by being honest about what we can live with - even if it means we don't personally win every battle. We have to show up. Then, and only then - after education and championing people who seek to do what's right - not what the latest poll, lobbyist or PR staff person tells them to seek, do our votes really count. An ignorant, knee jerk vote or a passive refusal to vote will break the back of the American story - our votes bear responsibility. It's up to us to choose whether to take it on or whether we'll give it to the loudest voice with the deepest pockets.
