Jeff Wilder's Soapbox

Broken America.

That’s something I’ve seen on here quite a bit over the last day or two. Especially in light of the shootings of Alton Sterling and Philandro Castilko and the 5 cops shot dead in Dallas.

A few weeks ago, there was a mass shooting in Orlando. Meanwhile, the presidential election is shaping up to be a contest between a narcissistic bully and a woman of questionable at best character.

Why? What has happened?

I find myself reminded of an article I linked on Facebook a few months back by journalist Pete Hamill called “Endgame”. The article was written in 1994. But is even more relevant today. It can be found easily by googling “Pete Hamill Endgame”. Thankfully it’s still available for reading.

The fact that this was written 22 years ago illustrates that where we are at now did not begin with Obama. It did not begin on 9/11 or with Bush. It did not even begin with Clinton.

Yes, in the past 22 years there have been things that have exacerbated the problems Hamill talked about in the piece. Social media sites which are hotbeds of gossip and misinformation, more or less the online equivalent of high schools. The decline of real education. The arrival of cable news channels dominated by screaming for both sides (MSNBC on the left, Fox on the right). Pundits on both sides that see the other side not just as wrong or misguided in their thinking. But evil. They have no problem screaming it into their megaphones.

The media in general has been problematic for years. Whether it was realizing it could make more money with entertainment than hard news as the prescient movie Network warned or get higher ratings by scaring people with stories about “urban crime creeping into the nice wonderful suburbs”. Today we see people like O’Reilly and Olbermann who are basically political Andy Rooneys passing off opinion as news.

Culture of fear. Are there bad cops out there? Are there street thugs? Yes on both counts. In the case of the former, there are some who need to be disciplined, some who need to permanently hand in their badges and some who need to spend time in prison. However, many if not most cops are good people, doing a job many of us would be scared shitless to do.

Likewise, despite what many paranoid types think, the streets are not swarming with thugs.

Culture of fear.

Michael Moore is one of those pundits I referred to earlier. He’s basically a leftist version of the likes of Limbaugh. However, he did point something out that makes sense: you can make people do anything if they’re afraid.

The media and their sponsors see this. Make people afraid and make it easier to sell products. Make people feel hopeless

It is far easier to be passive consumers than it is to be active citizens. The latter requires us to think and to act on that thinking.

It is easier to do so. Then we wonder why we end up with what we have in office. That leads to a point where we have the choices we have right now. When you recall a video that showed that more college students knew about Snooki and celeb trivia than basic American History, is it any surprise that Donald Trump is the front runner for president? 30 years ago, it’s likely Trump would have been run out of town by now, relegated to the role of fringe candidate.

But before we romanticize the past, let’s remember that racism and brutality were far more prevalent in the 60s. Today, it’s still out there, no question. But it’s not written into the law of the land.

Indeed I suspect that many people who romanticize the supposedly Utopian past are those who are the biggest supporters of the aforementioned Trump (many not all).

Scare people. Make them long for a supposedly easier time. Make it easier to be passive consumers, sell products and win elections. Meanwhile, you have a populace that far too often sees anyone who may think or act differently as the enemy. Occasionally, when a major tragedy happens, we’ll pull together. But before long, the cease fire ends and the gloves are back on the table.

Demonize. That’s the approach.

Is America doomed? Can we roll back the darkness? I’m not a fortune teller or an expert by any means/ But I can’t hel but think of the following quote from the aforementioned Pete Hamill piece:

“ We have to learn how to pipe down and back off. We have to stop shouting for a little while and learn again how to listen. “

Agreed. We have to stop seeing the other side: be it Black, White, Liberal, Conservative, Democrat, Republican as the enemy. We have to stop letting ourselves get scared by bogus stuff designed to make us more passive. We have to stop being passive consumers and start being active citizens. And yes, stop shouting and learn how to listen. That’s the only way.