Excellent Responses...

A good friend and long-time sounding board wrote this in response to the above posting:

(name deleted for privacy), I believe you are absolutely correct. The media has fed us this line that conservatives and liberals must be at war with each other. I have known many right wing, conservative, religious folks (they are of course hard to avoid in Prescott) and some of them I have even respected and liked very much. Others are just zealous idiots that need a good beat down to knock some sense into them. Sadly, that can be said of many liberals as well (they are of course hard to avoid on the small island that is Prescott College and most universities for that matter).

Unfortunately, I believe that a lot of Americans are lazy morons that wholly buy into the BS that Fox Newses and Huffington Posts try to feed us. I’m going out on a bit of a limb here since I haven’t actually paid much attention to either. But the source isn’t that important, the key is that these organizations play on human fears, emotions and strongly socialized xenophobia. It’s just a lot easier to make complex issues black and white – us and them, good and bad etc. etc. The problem with this is that good, innocent people suffer because of this and shit-talking idiots tend to flourish and gain power (the Minutemen and Rush Limbaugh come to mind as good examples of this). Polemic is easy, makes for good headline material and gives us someone to blame so we don’t have to look at ourselves and take responsibility for our part. Actually solving problems is hard work that requires personal introspection and accountability; neither of which are all that dramatic or glamorous.

I think that zealotry in any capacity is more often than not extremely dangerous and destructive. When someone straps on a couple pounds of C-4 and walks into a crowded marketplace or bombs planned parenthood in the name of god, words can’t describe how thoroughly appalled I am. I think there is a profound disconnect between the universal truths of kindness, compassion, understanding, peace and love that most traditions seem to espouse in some capacity and fear based myth that regrettably, almost always come along for the ride.

Unfortunately, this is the way powerful societies are built – by manipulating people. Set up a system that requires everyone to work obscene amounts so we are too tired to care or think on our own then bombard us with lies to make us patriotic and hate the “other”. Throw in some religion to appeal to our need for deeper meaning and it’s a winning formula. That is until people are pushed too far and those in power get too greedy. Then you have a revolution and some idealists force their way into power and eventually follow the same path and become simply a different brand of tyrant. The oppressed become the oppressor – Israel always strikes me as a good example of this, although that probably isn’t a very popular opinion. Maybe Palestinians aren’t being herded into gas chambers but oppression is oppression no matter the severity.

It’s sad and humbling to realize that we swim in these waters every day. And no matter how great or special we like to think America is, we are no different. Our lives are intimately controlled by major corporations and the politicians that are bought and sold by them to a frightening and insidious degree.

My only hope is that some day, humanity will evolve and grow beyond all this. I don’t see it happening in my lifetime but you never know. I like to think that every person who wakes up to these lies can make a big difference and eventually the sands will collapse at a critical mass. I keep thinking about Bob Marley’s redemption song. “Free yourselves from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our mind”. Until more of us heed this advice, the Sarah Palins and Bill O’Reillys will continue to peddle their own brand of fear based mythology and promises of salvation and we will continue to swallow it whole.

For me, I believe that we all have our fears, we all have our faults and prejudices. We have all done things that have harmed another at some point in our lives. I have to continually remind myself that no matter how despicable I find another human being, we are connected. We are one and the same and every fear that he or she acts out, I live in that fear as well, to some degree. I am no greater and no less. We are all in this boat together and no matter how enlightened I like to think I am, I can’t go it alone. It seems that the true value of religion/spirituality lies in this understanding. And it’s not about making ourselves to be evil sinners; that’s just bullshit. It’s about understanding our humanity and accepting it. It’s also about realizing our sacredness and divinity. The fact is that we’re all just shooting in the dark here no matter how loud we yell and scream that we have the answer.

I could go on but I should stop rambling. I think I just need to remind myself of these things from time to time. And the Buddha said it all just a little better anyway.

Peace my friends.