Is it because we aren't capable of parsing shades of thought? Is it because our attention spans are too short to take in layers of different perspective? Is it just easier to digest black and white, yes and no, right and wrong as we're texting and running and working and calling and shopping than to sit down and understand something that maybe isn't quite so obvious or broad? Is it that CNN and FOX have been feeding us sound bytes like sugary cereal in an effort to get to the next commercial for so long that we've lost the ability to deal with complex issues?
A scary thought considering the times we live in.
I don't know the answer to these questions.
But I do know that what Jimmy Carter said was this: "...an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity towards President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man." That, to me, is a relatively measured statement. At no point does he say that any and all criticism of the president or his policies is based on the color of his skin. And yet that's exactly what has been divined from his statement. That is what has been repeated and repeated and debated. That is what is now considered truth.
That's all the ammunition FOX needs to martyr themselves on the cross of victimization. People like Bill O'Reilly, who believe that the idea of the existence of racism is ridiculous, because we don't have a race issue in this country, are now jumping up and down claiming that Jimmy Carter said that to criticize Obama is to be racist. To them, racism is not a reality, it's a political tool used at the president's behest to insulate him from criticism. (Never mind the reality that he has almost compulsively distanced himself from the issue of race even when it was staring him in the face. The one notable exception being his speech after the Revered Wright upheaval.) In turn, it permits the Bill O'Reillys and Glenn Becks of the world to be the fighting underdogs. The strong, noble truth tellers unafraid to be branded "racist." The problem is, they've cast themselves in these roles based on either willful or accidental misunderstanding of the facts. Jimmy Carter never said that criticizing the president always comes from a racist place. That's simply not what he said.
You might agree with Jimmy Carter. You might disagree with Jimmy Carter. But at least base your opinion on fact. Not overblown, exaggerated, convenient fiction.
It also seems that Joe Wilson yelling "You lie" was racist. Again, what has gotten lost in that debacle is that it's not what he yelled, it was that he felt that he could. Many presidents have stood in front of that body and in front of the nation and said all sorts of things. Sometimes to applause. Sometimes to silence. But never to heckling. It's simply not done.
If we wish to discuss racism in this country, we must grow up and delve headfirst into that world of subtlety. Sometimes it's not what we say or do, it's why we say or do it. Joe Wilson felt that he could heckle the President of the United States in a setting that no one has ever heckled the President of the United States before. At least not since the Age of Television began. The question must be asked, why did he think that this course of action would be acceptable? I don't know what was in his head. After doing some research on him, I'm guessing not much. But it certainly does seem that for some reason he didn't feel it necessary to forward the respect to President Obama that has been forwarded to every other president.
There is one very simple question I'd like to ask him: Why?
More tomorrow.
4 comments:
Another perceptive post Roger. If you were to ask my partner the big "why" you pose in your opening sentence he would lay the blame purely and simply (maybe too simply) at the feet of the educational system. Any system that requires teachers and students to teach to testing and not to critical and/or analytical thinking produces minds that are incapable of complex thought. Hence we have bred at least two generations of increasingly "dumbed down" Americans.
i would agree that a lot of it can be laid at the foot of teachers and our educational system, which is just one of the many reasons i'm so very proud of my husband and how brilliant he is at his job.
that said, i've watched him deal with parents for the past decade. teachers can only do so much. without parental support, of which there is often none, the teacher is facing an uphill battle at best.
we live in a country that doesn't revere education. and if we don't revere education and pay our teachers what they deserve, then we aren't going to be attracting the best candidates.
actually, we tend to be rather proud of our ignorance. we wear it like a banner. we allow someone to run for vice president based almost solely on the fact that she's dumb and uneducated, which makes her just like the rest of us and therefore not a member of the "washington elite."
in order for us to truly arm the next generations of children with a first class education, we must move the education crisis to the front of the domestic policy line. or, at the very least, move it up from the back of the line.
by the way, thank you thank you thank you for your comments!!! nothing makes me happier than seeing that there is a comment on something i wrote.
Wow!!!!! I have been trying to articulate the exact same sentiments that you two have shared in these comments for as long as I can remember.
I am absolutely appalled at the lack of concern for the education of our country. "They" keep removing critical funding for the arts and sports programs and do not pay educators near what they're worth. The NCLB act is one of the most appalling things that came out W's administration. The rest of the world puts education and health care at the forefront. We laugh at it's importance.
Most people over the course of the last year or so have really laid into me when I express my disdain at the "dumbing down" of Americans.
My question to them is this..."Why do I have lower my standards just because everyone else has?" or..."Why is okay that the dumbing down of Americans is okay?"
I know I'm late and all with regards to this post, but my mama (RIP) always said that it has to do with home training. You can blame education and all that, but when are parents gonna take repsonsibility. Even when you have reached the age of "maturity", and that age varies for EVERYONE, you still have to consider your home training.
People no longer censor themselves and they think it's alright to say whatever they want, whenever they want. That's why the Kanye Wests of the world are outrageous, but when Jay Leno asked him, "What would your mother say" Kanye looked liked he was about to cry! Home training people...no matter how old you get or how successful you are, your parents will always be somewhat responsible for the way you act. And it's you job to not make people question the way you were raised!
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