Me

Me

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Why We NEVER Move Forward

It is always the same statistics and the same stories used as evidence. But, two separate conclusions derived from said evidence. The conclusion, however, is irrelevant because that essentially is  not what it is about. It is about fitting the evidence to the story and the pre-determined political narrative, which I feel negates the argument from the beginning. It is all irrelevant if you are not going to take the evidence and formulate the proper conclusion from it, regardless of what you personally want the outcome to state.
What the hell am I talking about? Politics...duh. I hate modern politics and everything that goes along with it. I focused part of my thesis on political ideology, I am obsessed with keeping up on current events, and I find the more I do this with anything in life, the more ridiculous I find it to be. Politics is no different. Democrats, Republicans, Liberals, Conservatives, and Libertarians use the same tired arguments over and over and over again. Regardless of situation, regardless of the argument, regardless of the date, and regardless of how long our society has existed. And, dare I say, regardless of the original problem that so desperately needs a conclusion or God forbid action.
Can you imagine the dire straits society would find itself in had the evolution of the entire medical technological industry went into every study or experiment with a pre-determined outcome of what they wanted to find. "Oh, well, that did not work the way we wanted it to, so we have 2 options, 1. Scrap it, it will never work, or 2. pretend it worked the way we wanted it to and we will deal with the consequences later." Can you imagine the outcome if they had this theory when developing the polio vaccine? Impartiality is a thing of the past when people can use the same statistics to define the argument the way it suits them best. Quite frankly I just cannot figure out why we are okay with the whole notion of, “It is what I say it is, because I say it is, and even though you came up with a different conclusion with the same evidence, just means that you manipulated it, not me.” Whose fault is this anyways? Postmodernism? The media or politicians? Our sorry state of education?
I find it quite old fashioned to be using the same tired arguments over and over again. When you think about this phenomenon, ideology aside, it is convenient to do, because you already have a tailored argument for every problem that arises. What I am beginning to believe is that we have lost our philosophical way. To be clear, there are voice out there. Innovative, intellectual minds who are yelling, “Wait a minute! This might not be relevant anymore.” But, innovative intellectual is beat out by innovative technological and that is all we value. So inevitably, we revert back to the same old “Founding Fathers” argument and we go back to our respective corners to discuss our next move, which inevitably has already been used, bringing everyone back to square one. Or circle one, because isn’t that what we are doing, just arguing in circles.
To be less abstract...I swear to God that I will scream if I hear one more conservative use the whole argument, “Well, if we let them do this, then where will they stop.” Seriously, it is not like we are one the verge of a new reign of Hitler and if you seriously think that is what Obama is you are messed up in the head, same with those who thought that of Bush. In 2012, this is a cliche and soon we will be comparing buying health insurance to something as irrelevant as buying broccoli. Oh...wait. Or the whole obstinate argument of, “I do not know how much more clear we can be, we are the 99%.” Seriously, you think that clear and what the hell does that really mean? The latter give such little credit to our society and the voice we have in our government, the other give too much credit in thinking that 99% of people feel alienated or that we really have hours to sit around and let everyone air their grievances while we shout the repeat. I mean, for God’s sake, when you think about the grand scheme of IT ALL, it is pretty silly when people on this small planet are being massacred by their governments, or setting themselves on fire in protest of their oppression. Being able to buy something that you need, or protesting for months in a park without having to work, is pretty insignificant to having to choose, in the middle of a Somali desert, which one of your children is going to get the little bit of food you have and which you will have to bury in said desert. I obviously feel like our country is a far cry from tyranny and despotism and argue otherwise...see above examples.I think we are safe from communist infiltration, and most things people are afraid of. Or have we all just become so comfortable with conspiracy theories that we truly believe we can't let our guard down to enjoy life even in the slightest bit because, Muslim jihadists, mega corporations, and the Russians will take over and soon we will find ourselves sending 24 children to an arena to fight to the death?
And this is the problem with one of the greatest countries in the world. It is not 1776 anymore, and for that matter, it is not 1945 either. In 2012  we can fly to the other side of the world in less than 24 hours. We have corporations with offices in cities around the world. We truly are a global society. This alone, makes so many national issues black and white, not gray. Most of our electronics are made in China, a fact which ironically conspiracy theorist ignore. I mean they could be putting secret cameras and recording devices into our products in a bid to gather information and gradually take over our country, but that is another topic. Anyways none of this matters if we continue to use the same tired arguments and cliches to fight against changes that need to be made. None of the arguments used quite frankly do not trust Americans to make the right decisions, in the privacy of a voters booth, and the fact that statistics can now and are manipulated so regularly makes the whole idea that someone is right and someone is wrong completely trivial. Is there even a truth to anything anymore? Crap, now I sound like a conspiracy theorist.
There is one thing that can be said about Americans. They never do things half-assed (Vietnam aside). Go big or go home should be the national motto right? So, it is only appropriate that we have taken democracy to a whole new level. We let political parties effectively pit citizens against one another. The only new rite of passage now, in conjunction with the right to vote at the age of 18, is to pick sides. In one corner there is God, Guns, Country Music and “Freedom”, in the other drum circle there is Consensus, Civil Rights, U2, and Free Speech. I find myself asking, why are those the only dominate choices? Why can’t “Freedom” and Consensus go hand and hand. How come only guns and freedom? What about Free Speech and God? And what the hell is wrong with listening to Johnny Cash and Stevie Wonder? More importantly, can someone please explain to me how buying broccoli is so similar to buying health insurance?