Are We Screwed?

As a nation, as a people, as a society, are we screwed?  Are we doomed to lose our way of living, our way of functioning that has evolved for the past 250 years?  I’m worried that, yeah, maybe we are.  Maybe.  It all depends on what we do right now.

A respected and beloved faith leader in my local community recently posted on social media about social media being an inappropriate place for people to share or push their political views.  The leader stated that this is a complete waste of time and causes many people to tune out and ignore completely a person who posts about politics.  They also stated that all news is slanted to varying degrees and that both sides have lost their minds.  They stated this would be their only political post about the 2020 election – in other words, they are not going to talk about current issues or ‘politics’ in our country on social media.

The leader’s post was very thought-provoking for me.  Though I agreed with many of the points, in certain respects I disagreed fundamentally.  Having read the post probably five times and pondering it  for the better part of a week, it occurred to me that my feelings about it might make a good essay topic of my own.  So I thank my friend the anonymous local faith leader for his thoughtful post, which inspired me to write this post of my own.

Where Do Political Conversations Belong?

The leader feels that political conversations are meant to be held face-to-face.  For me, the number of people in my lifetime who have asked to discuss politics with me face-to-face is exceedingly low – as in, count-on-one-hand low.  My view is that people do NOT like talking about politics face-to-face, especially when they disagree.  Most people don’t want that type of conflict in a face-to-face conversation.  I feel that presenting a message at arm’s length – i.e. on social media – can be a more effective way to reach people.  They can access and digest the information at a time and pace of their choosing, without the pressure to provide an immediate reaction – or any response at all.

The leader derided political social media posts as ‘virtual arguments backed by digital courage’ and sees no value in them whatsoever, that it is delusional to believe a person can use their voice to change the world.

I couldn’t disagree more.

Recently – perhaps ironically? – I came to the exact opposite conclusion:  staying silent is pointless.  Perhaps I reached this conclusion because I do not have constituents and am free to say whatever I want about events that occupy the thoughts and hearts of all Americans.  Perhaps I reached this conclusion because I am scared to death of what is happening to our country and worried that we are running out of time to avoid damage that will be permanent, damage that for one reason or another, millions of my fellow Americans are blissfully unaware of.

So I decided finally to get off the sidelines.  I started a blog to document my thoughts and take a stab at changing the world.  With 278 page views, 21 Facebook reactions, and 5 Facebook comments from my first blog post– it’s safe to say I’m not there yet. 

People use social media to spread messages and ideas about all manner of topics – sports, business, ethics and morals, leadership, military, current issues, religion, and on and on.  Why should posting about politics on social media be taboo, while other sensitive topics are fair game?  I don’t buy it.

Maybe the leader and I are both right, or both wrong.  Maybe there are times when a blog post or social media post is the right vehicle for thought stimulation for certain people in certain circumstances.  Maybe there are times when face-to-face conversation is the more appropriate vehicle for thought stimulation.  Maybe there are times when one or the other, or both, are not appropriate – when people should be tuning out other influences, either keeping their thoughts to themselves or not thinking about these things at all.

All "Journalism" Is NOT Created Equal

Yes – every article or opinion piece or blog post or segment is tinged with some sort of bias or angle.  After all, words are spoken and written by human beings, who have personal feelings based on personal experiences.  However, some journalists, TV programs, reports, radio programs, and bloggers are far more substantive, stimulating, truthful, thorough, insightful, neutral, accurate, and/or honest than others. Good sources of information exist; in today’s digital age, more people than ever – citizen journalists? –are producing information online and making it available for consumption.  Many people just don’t know where to look, or what to look for, or what questions to ask, or have no interest in looking for new or contrary views.

It is simply NOT the case that all media on “both sides” of the political aisle are equally biased, or that journalism is dead.  Likewise, the idea that journalism has been almost completely hijacked by conspiracies and ratings-driven ‘news’ just isn’t accurate.  As someone who has spent 2-3 hours a day for the past several years searching for information to better understand what is happening in the world, I make that claim without reservation or hesitation.

Certainly, our society is experiencing increasing and alarming levels of mistrust, hatred, skepticism, division, and despair.  It is not accurate to say that journalists or the media bear the majority of the blame for that.  That honor goes to the President and his administration.  They have been working very hard at it since before the President took office – and they are very, very good at it.  Yes, the media has played a role but it is a far less prominent one than that of the President and his people.

Today’s Big Issue Is NOT About Politics

Perhaps my disagreement with the leader regarding the suitability of social media as a vehicle for political posts can be explained by semantics or a difference in terminology.  I do not post memes or other oversimplified opinions or catch phrases as it relates to current issues or politics or whatnot.  Certainly, I agree that many of those types of content are political in nature and that people are both very unlikely to change their minds and quite likely to tune out when seeing those types of content.

My contention is that the issue facing our nation today – a corrupt president who continues to act in his own best interests and against the interests of the American people while ignoring norms, ethical guidelines, our and the law – is not about politics.  It is far more important and fundamental than that.  It is about the country, the people, the law, the truth, justice.  People should be united in wanting the President removed from office.  Yes, we should.  All of us.  Regardless of our political party or our political ideology or our policy preferences or our age or our religion or our ethnic background or our economic situation or anything else.  The misdeeds are serious and many, and they are clear.

There is no policy position or legislative result or judicial appointment – NONE – that justifies ignoring the behavior of our President and the destruction it is causing our country now and the long-term damage it is inflicting and the peril in which it is placing us all.  We need to stand together as Americans against the nefarious forces that are being thrust on all of us by the President and his administration – disinformation, lying, propaganda, intimidation, fear, violence, authoritarianism, lawlessness, corruption, and on and on and on.

If people cannot see the common ground in rejecting and fighting against these awful destructive things, if people think this is political…we are screwed.