We’ve
all seen movies where a bad guy finds himself in a situation where he
really doesn’t have a way to escape so he grabs some innocent
bystander and uses them as a human shield, putting them directly in
the line of fire, in order to save their own miserable hide. Bad guys
grab another guy. Really bad guys grab a woman. Really, really bad
guys grab an elderly woman. However, the worst of the worst are those
that grab a small child. Whenever this happens in a movie, the
visceral, correct response is, “Fuck that guy!”
Putting
someone who is the most vulnerable between you and the consequences
you brought upon yourself is pure cowardice. Using a child as a human
shield is as cowardly as one can get. This is EXACTLY what
Republicans are currently doing when it comes to their strategy to
attack Democrats regarding abortion, Critical Race Theory, crime
prevention, transgender issues, etc. All the arguments Republicans
are using rest almost entirely on, “Think of the
children.”
Abortion-”Dems want unlimited abortion,
on-demand, to kill as many babies as possible. Think of the kids.”
(This belongs in a special, “Think of the children,” place
because it isn’t really about thinking of the children but thinking
about the possibility of a child. It is a meta-bullshit argument.)
Critical
Race Theory-”Dems want to teach your precious little white children
they are racists. You don’t want that, do you? Think of the
children.”
Crime Prevention-”Dems are defunding the police
and crime is out of control. It isn’t safe for your precious young
ones to ride their bikes, walk to school, play in the part. Think of
the children.”
Transgender
Issues-”Dems want men to share the bathroom with your precious
daughters. They want men to humiliate them in sporting events. They
want men to be able to prey on them. Think of the children.”
“Think
of the children,” is the go-to move right now when it comes to just
about every Republican political attack. There are two main reasons
why this is the case: 1-It works; And, 2-They are moral cowards.
“Think
of the children,” works because it is a natural inclination to want
to protect children, whether they are our own or others. Children are
vulnerable and dependent on adults to keep them safe. Risking your
well-being and possibly your life to protect and save a child from
harm is socially viewed as an act of heroism. Rightfully so. This
line of attack also works because just about every single parent
wants to believe they are a good parent, whether this is true or not.
Buying into a “Think of the children,” attack allows someone to
do the very minimum possible and feel they are being a good
parent/person.
“Think
of the children,” is the “thoughts and prayers,” of political
involvement. It takes no real effort, no real commitment, no real
anything other than voting for the people who use it as a political
cudgel. Like offering up thoughts and prayers when there is a
tragedy, buying into the “Think of the children,” arguments and
voting for the candidates pushing them is literally doing nothing
other than trying to make you feel better about yourself. It’s as
useless as it is intellectually lazy.
Even
though, “Think of the children,” works, that is only part of the
reason Republicans are using it with such intensity and frequency
right now. The other part is they are moral cowards. They know they
can’t go to the American public and say what they really believe,
what they really want to do because they’d be politically exiled for
the next fifty years. They know they can’t go out on the campaign
trail or on Tucker Carlson’s show and say, “We want to undo the
Civil Rights Act. We want to put women back in the home where we
believe they belong. We want minorities to be second-class citizens.
We want Christianity to be the national religion. We want fewer
people voting and those who do must meet our criteria. We want the
LGBTQI community to be viewed and treated as degenerates and cast
from society. We want fewer nonwhites in the country and we really
don’t care how we achieve this goal because we believe whites are
naturally superior to other races and it is our God-given right to
have this view. We want private businesses to be in charge of
everything because making a buck is more important than things like
rights, public good, democracy. In fact, we really don’t believe in
democracy at all.”
This
is what they really want. This is what they hint at all the time.
This is what the laws they propose at state and federal levels imply.
This is what they’ve been talking about in articles, conferences,
blog posts, online for decades. To anyone who has paid the slightest
bit of attention the past fifty years, none of this should be
surprising. It should be self-evident. That they don’t come out and
be honest about what they really want but instead hint around the
edges is cowardice. That they hide their true intentions behind,
“Think of the children,” is cowardice combines with immorality
with a poison cherry on top.
No
one with any sense of politics or history of modern-day conservatism
can possibly believe Republicans give a single fuck about kids, in
general. Sure, Ted Cruz cares about his kids. That’s why he sent them
to Cancun when Texas was hit with a cold spell that resulted in some
Texans freezing to death. His kids needed protection. His kids needed
to be safe. However, Ted didn’t give a flying fuck about the children
of Texans who weren’t part of his social network. He didn’t give a
fuck about them so much, he fled the country to “protect” his own
kids at the posh resort where they were staying instead of lifting a
single finger to help those people and children in Texas who really
need it. He offered “thoughts and prayers.” Meanwhile, Beto
O'Rourke and other Democratic politicians, many who don’t even come
from or represent Texas, were organizing shelters, food, medical
care…for those affected by the cold.
Republicans
don’t give a fuck about children, in general. They have time and time
again cut or denied funding for programs that actually help children.
They have time and time again pushed to roll back or outright get rid
of healthcare for children, especially those who need it the most.
They have time and time again refused to do anything about paid
maternity leave or pre-K schooling or daycare…things that really
matter to and benefit children. They’ve refused to do anything about
environmental issues that negatively impact children like lead pipes,
contaminated drinking water, lax food inspection, etc. They’ve
refused to do anything to address the real problem of child sexual
abuse and/or the cover up by churches. They have done everything
possible to damage public education, especially in areas that need it
the most.
Don’t
talk about how important it is to, “Think about the children,” if
you aren’t willing to do things that actually help them. Don’t grab a
child and use them as a human shield when everybody knows full well,
you don’t give a damn about that child. Don’t use, “Think of the
children,” when doing so is intended to protect yourself from
people really knowing what you are up to.
If you really care
about children, then support people and policies that are designed to
promote their health, education, well-being, safety. If you think a
law school graduate-level topic like Critical Race Theory is more
important for the safety and well-being of children than clean water
or well-funded schools, you are delusional and a huge part of the
problem. If you think transgender women are preying on your
daughters/grand daughters and this is a bigger concern than kids
having access to good, quality healthcare, you have serious problems
and no real capacity to understand issues and risk assessment.
“Republicans DO care about kids!” No. Republicans care
about select groups of kids and by coincidence, their kids always end
up belonging to these groups. They do not care about children in
general. There is no history of this in any meaningful sense from the
GOP for the past half century.
I
live in Michigan. I watched the Republican governor and
Republican-led legislature watch the children of Flint suffer for a
long, long time with high levels of lead in their water. Lead in the
bloodstream of a child causes long-term, permanent physical and
cognitive damage. What Republicans did was offer up thoughts and
prayers and didn’t really lift a finger to help the children of
Flint. Meanwhile, if a white kid from Bloomfield or East Grand Rapids
claimed they were psychologically harmed by a teacher who showed them
“12 Years A Slave,” the entire Michigan GOP would have written,
passed, and signed a bill in twenty-four hours not only condemning
what happened but making it punishable under law. They would have
passed this bill under the guise of “Think of the children,” but
the fact is they passed it to prevent their precious white kids from
learning anything that might pop the bullshit bubble that is their
belief in white superiority.
This is what the entire Critical
Race Theory is all about-making sure white kids don’t learn the
history of white people’s beliefs and behaviors towards nonwhites in
America. It isn’t about protecting little Barron and Tiara from being
called “racist.” It is about them learning their parents,
grandparents, and great-grandparents sometimes believed, did, and
said racist things. The attack on CRT is holding kids hostage to
protect white people from talking about and owning up to their
histories.
Whenever
a Republican pulls out the, “Think of the children,” line, you
should have the same reaction as when a bad guy in a movie snatches
up some child and uses them as a human shield to protect
themselves-”Fuck that guy!”
Two
months ago, I took myself off of social media because after a decade
or more of constant bullshit and stupidity, I’d finally reached a
breaking point. I’ve watched people, sometimes family and friends,
who I used to think were level-headed, rational people, lose their
minds. People I once considered reasonable, even if I disagreed with
them politically, seem more than willing to believe and pass along
absolute nonsense without the slightest hesitation or speck of shame.
In
the past two months, there have been some things happening that
really have brought out the dumbassery. The doesn’t even include all
the pre-existing dumbassery of the 2020 election or the pandemic.
Two-thirds of Republicans still don’t believe Joe Biden fairly won
the election and to a lot of this group, having to wear a mask is
equivalent to the Trail of Tears, The Bataan Death March, and Dachau
all rolled up in one freedom-killing, complete waste of time. Never
mind there hasn’t been a single example of voter fraud from any state
and how every time mask requirements are put in place, cases of COVID
go down and every time they are relaxed, cases go up. Fucking facts
getting all uppity and pretentious with their truthfulness.
So,
what has happened in the past couple of months that have raised the
Dumbassery Threat Level?
Let’s
start with Russia. Russia invaded Ukraine and all same people who
were election and viral disease experts perfectly pivoted without
hesitation to their foreign policy and Russian/Ukrainian historian
bona fides. You know, the same people who claimed the COVID vaccine
contained a microchip and who willingly drank bleach and ingested
animal deworming medicine to cure a virus they claimed was a hoax.
Those same people are now experts in all things Russian and
Ukrainian. What could possibly go wrong?
It
is a thing of beauty to watch the “Party of Reagan” become Putin
and Russian aggression apologists. Putin is a thug. Ukraine is a
democracy and not a democracy like Iran and Russia are democracies.
They aren’t Nazis. The role of fascists in this tragedy is being
played perfectly by the Russians. This isn’t debatable. The only
“sin” Ukraine committed is being next door to Russia. This has
been their “sin” for centuries and the only people who deem this
a sin are the Russians.
It
doesn’t matter the people on the right who are defending Putin and
Russia couldn’t find Ukraine on a map if it was highlighted in neon
pink and had a pin in it with a bedazzled flag that said, “HERE IS
UKRAINE!” sticking out of it. It doesn’t matter they know
absolutely no one scintilla about Ukraine or its history with Russia.
It doesn’t matter that Russia is intentionally bombing hospitals,
schools, food storage supplies, places of refuge… All that matters
is Putin is a white nationalist, anti-gay, autocrat that Trump
idolized and spoke highly of. I mean, Thomas Jefferson is the one who
said, “The tree of white nationalism must be refreshed from time to
time with the blood of civilians who get in the way of a dictatorial
oligarchy.”
Of
course, you can’t talk about Russia without bringing up how badly
Biden is screwing hard-working Americans with high gas prices and
inflation. America is the only county experiencing high gas prices
and inflation, right? Wait. Do you mean every other country is
experiencing the very same things? Doesn’t matter, we’re America
dammit. We didn’t stop after the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor. In a
world economy, if we had a “real leader,” we could fill up our
tanks for pennies and prices would never go up. On anything. Ever.
This
economic idiocy comes from the same crowd who talks about and praises
“the free market,” like they are vegan Mormon missionaries who do
Crossfit. Yet, the most basic concept of their beloved economic
theory-supply and demand, somehow is a complete mystery to them.
“What do you mean, when more people want something the price goes
up?” “What do you mean, when production can’t meet demand, prices
go up?” “What do you mean, I couldn’t spell ‘cat’ if I was
spotted the 'c’ and the ’t’?”
Speaking
of that mysterious, elusive concept of supply and demand having an
impact on prices, the people bitching the loudest about the cost of
gas are the same ones who refuse to drive a vehicle that gets good
gas mileage, who refuse to do anything to increase renewable energy,
who won’t use or invest in public transportation, who drives a huge
SUV even though the only things they “haul” are a couple of kids
and bags of takeout food.
“Fuck
you! You don’t know what it is like for a hard-working, blue-collar
guy who needs a gas-guzzling monstrosity to carry the tools of his
trade.” One of my jobs is painting houses. I have lots of equipment
in two large, plastic bins, two ladders, a six-foot step ladder, and
a multi-positional ladder that can open up to twenty-two feet. I can
fit all of this into my Chevy Trax along with my photography
equipment, bags of groceries from the store, and my daughter. BTW, I
get 30+ miles a gallon. There are some people who legitimately need
larger vehicles to do their jobs. However, a huge section of owners
of such vehicles doesn’t need them. Not one damn bit. It’s a status
symbol for some. It is an ego thing to others. It is not, however,
necessary in so, so, so many instances.
If
you want lower gas prices, use less gas. It is that fucking simple.
Stop acting like there is some Manifest Destiny where Americans who
make up 4.5% of the world’s population but are the largest consumers
of oil, in the entire world, are entitled to not only be the
beneficiary of such a grotesque imbalance but immune to the basic
laws of economics. The arrogance to think and demand this is only
topped by its sheer stupidity.
These
same economic geniuses are the ones saying things like: “Gas would
be less expensive if the Keystone XL pipeline has been allowed to be
built.” “There are thousands of idle oil wells because Biden is
stopping them from being operated.” “America is “energy
independent,” the only reason gas prices are high is that Biden
sucks.”
Sure,
John D. Crockafeller. That’s exactly what is going on. Never mind the
simple facts that the type of oil the Keystone XL pipeline would have
carried isn’t the kind that is processed into gasoline and would be
sold on the open market or the reason thousands of wells are idle is
that private businesses who own them have calculated it would be more
expensive to operate them than not or “energy independent” is a
meaningless term when your country imports 8.5 billion barrels of oil
A DAY. America is oil independent in the way a thirty-year-old living
in his parent’s basement having “Mommy,” make him breakfast every
morning and cut the crust off his bologna sandwiches is independent.
This might sound good when you say it to yourself or to the woman at
the end of the bar who keeps trying to not make eye contact with you
and begging to cash out but in reality, it is a bullshit statement
that isn’t supported by facts.
Also,
if you take the current annual oil consumption rate of the U.S. and
divide it with ALL the known U.S. oil reserves, we’d run out in 5
years if we were truly, “independent.” Just to put it into
perspective, the U.S. ranks 11th in the world when it comes to known
oil reserves. Even this ranking is misleading when you consider the
leader, Venezuela, has 8.5 TIMES more oil reserves than we do. The U.S.
has 2.1% of all known oil reserves in the world. 4.5% of the
population. 2.1% of the oil reserves. Uses the absolute most oil of
any country. Yeah, we’re “oil independent.”
Russia,
gas prices, inflation…these are certainly leading contenders in the
Dumbassery Bracket but the two number one seeds are Critical Race
Theory and Transgender Rights.
The
anti-trans bullshit from people is really ire-inducing. As if most of
the people bitching about a trans athlete competing gave a single
fuck about women’s sports or fairness for women. The Venn Diagram of
people bitching about lack of fairness in women’s sports wrt
transgender competitors and those who are against equal pay for women
for equal work or equal say over their healthcare decisions is an
almost perfect circle.
Also,
enough with the phrase, “competitive advantage.” Lebron James has
a competitive advantage by being Lebron James. Michael Phelps’
biology gave him an incredible competitive advantage over his
competitors. I don’t hear anyone bitching about “competitive
advantage,’ when Lebron backs down a smaller defender and dunks on
him or when Michael Phelps was winning gold medal after gold medal.
Since
we’re on the subject of trans athletes competing in women’s sports,
the idea that there will be an onslaught of men going the trans
route, in order to compete in and win women’s athletic events shows a
complete lack of understanding a whole lot of things but mostly,
social pressures. Do you really think some guy is going to go through
all the physical changes and social pressures/ridicule, just to win a
game/match/event? If you do, you really don’t understand men in
general and what being a trans person is specifically.
I
grew up a white, Christian male where those traits were the desired,
viewed as the best-of-all-possible-worlds traits. Yet, I never felt I
belong or was allowed to be myself. This didn’t come until I moved
away to grad school when I was twenty-five. Being able to be me for
the first time in my life was revolutionary and life-changing. I
cannot even begin to imagine how it must feel to not be able to be
yourself, how you really know yourself to be and be at the bottom of
the social value chart. Trans people, especially kids deserve every
single bit of love and opportunities other people get. If a trans
person loves swimming and is good at it, they should be encouraged,
not berated because they may beat some other person who also loves
swimming.
What
is outrageous is all these people who don’t have kids in sports
adding their two cents of stupid to the conversation. THE ONLY REASON
they are doing this is they are hooked on outrage like an addict is
hooked on heroin. In no possible way does some trans woman competing
in a sport truly impact these people’s lives. In the same way gay
marriage being legal didn’t impact a single non-gay person’s life,
trans people doing anything, including sports, doesn’t affect
99.9999% of the population.
Another
thing that angers me is those people who placed 14th and 15th in the
latest swim meet where a trans woman won bitching about how unfair it
was. Really? Is there some universe where bragging you placed 13th or
14th in the prelims carries more weight, opens more doors, has more
meaning for your life than 14th or 15th place? If so, you have many,
many more problems than being a mediocre competitive swimmer.
Speaking
of mediocre, watching Republican Senators roll out every single
possible racist, misogynist, bullshit trope about blacks, black
women, Critical Race Theory, liberals being “soft on crime,”
especially child pornography, during the confirmation hearings of
Kentanji Brown Jackson’s SCOTUS nomination, is something to behold.
Not something to behold like seeing a double rainbow at Angel Falls.
More something to behold like watching a drunk Mel Gibson go on an
anti-semitic tirade or listening to Alec Balwin leave a drunken
message for his daughter. The idea that a black person, let alone a
black woman is qualified and really, really good at her job doesn’t
even enter the minds of these Senators because they deep down, to the
core of their very beings, believe minorities are inferior to whites.
KBJ’s
confirmation hearings are not just a chance for Republicans to spew
their racist bullshit but to throw out every single possible
conspiracy theory about liberals they can possibly come up with.
Liberals hate God-loving Christians. Liberals are soft on crime.
Liberals are cool with child pornography. Liberals hate America.
Liberals want to kill babies. All these attacks are de rigueur for
today’s Republicans. It is neither unexpected nor surprising. What is
interesting is in their attacks on Justice KBJ, they’ve exposed some
of their true beliefs and goals. Their own words show they want to
not only roll back the protections of Roe-v-Wade but make all
abortion, for any reason, a criminal offense. They want to undo the
personal freedom’s of Griswold-v-Connecticut, especially when it
applies to birth control. They want to undo Obergefell-v-Hodges and
make gay marriage illegal. They want to undo Loving-v-Virginia and
make interracial marriages illegal. They want to undo NLRB v. Jones &
Laughlin Steel Corp and bring back child labor. These are all things
Republican Senators have directly brought up this week. All of these
are couched under an argument these civil rights cases should be left
to individual states. Rights don’t work like that, especially civil
rights. They can’t be given/taken away at a state’s border, something
that is as arbitrarily created as it gets.
State’s
rights was the main argument for slavery and for segregation. It was
bullshit and on the wrong side of history and ethics then and it is
now. Conservatives HAVE TO construct a world where the things they
believe and the thing they do are at the top of the social/cultural
pyramid. Being white HAS TO BE given top billing. Being Christian HAS
TO BE deemed better than not being Christian. Being married to
someone of the opposite sex HAS TO BE given priority for no other
reason than for conservatives to have another thing they do and
believe in be the special/preferred thing.
There
have been a lot of dumbass, “gotcha” questions from Republican
Senators to Judge Jackson. My personal favorite was Sen.
Buy-a-Fucking Comb Blackburn’s trying to box Judge Jackson into some
imaginary corner where the “far-left agenda” is finally exposed
by asking her if she knew what the definition of “woman,” was. As
a student of Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language, I would have told
the idiot Senator from Tennessee that meaning comes from use. Words
are tools. And, like tools, how you use them gives them their
definition. I can use a hammer to hammer nails or prop open a door.
In one case the definition of hammer is “hammer.” In the other
case, the definition of hammer is, “doorstop.” It all depends on
how it is being used. Words are the same.
This
isn’t a controversial or difficult to understand concept. “White,”
when used to describe race, has been used to exclude certain groups
of people that are now included under the same definition. The Irish
were not considered, “white,” at one time because the powers that
be didn’t want the Irish to have the rights white people did, at the
time. This is why race is an artificial construct. Words like “white”
are intentionally used to denote the privileged group and terms like
“black,” “immigrants,” “minorities,”… are intentionally
used to denote “does not belong to the privileged group and the
rights that group are granted. All words are made up. EVERY SINGLE
ONE OF THEM. From “man” and “woman,” to “one” and “two.”
Sometimes, for convenience sake, we maintain a strict adherence to a
particular definition. It would really fuck things up is the
definition of “two” fluctuated or was flexible.
If
we use “woman” to mean whoever identifies as a woman, does it
really fuck up anything? If Meryl Streep won the Best Actress Oscar
for portraying a man no one would raise as much as an eyebrow. If she
won Best Actor for the same role, would it really matter? If the
Oscars went away from Best Actor and Best Actress categories and just
came up with a different category, would it make a difference? To
whom? Why? Whose lives would really be changed? Would Ma and Pa
Liberty in Texarkana’s lives be altered in any real way if this
happened? Of course not. If a trans person identifies as a woman or a
man, does it really impact a single person other than her/him/they?
It shouldn’t.
At
this point, some dumbass will bring up, “I don’t want a man in a
public bathroom when my daughter is in there.” First, it isn’t a
man, it is a woman. Second, just like gays, trans folks are not
sexual predators. Those would be your run-of-the-mill heteros. I’m a
million times more comfortable having a trans person or a gay person
in the bathroom with my kids than I am a youth pastor, Scout leader,
or Republican politician. There is a huge pile of evidence that shows
these people are sexual predators and a nonexistent pile that
supports the fear of the LGBTQI community. Watching Republicans
attack transgender individuals is like watching a horror movie where
the innocent outsider stops in a strange town to ask for directions
and the locals end up killing them because they are “different.”
It is morally reprehensible.
Of
course, no conversation about dumbassery would be complete without
talking about Critical Race Theory. “How am I going to explain to
my innocent, beautiful white children they are evil and racists
because they are white?” I’d start by telling your kids you are a
complete dumbass who doesn’t understand what CRT is and have no
passable understanding of U.S. history. The next thing I’d do, if I
was you, is call CPS and have them take my kids away because I’m too
stupid and too reactionary to be a parent.
NO
ONE. NOT A SINGLE FUCKING LIVING SOUL has ever said the mere fact of
being white makes someone a racist. What is said, and supported by
four hundred years of our history, is being white is the default
position when it comes to status, power, economic prosperity, legal
protections, rights… What is said is the mere fact of being white
in America affords you certain things non-whites don’t get with the
same intensity, frequency, authority. What is said is being white in
America is like having an American Express Card-membership has its
privileges.
As
a white male in America, when I go to a bank to apply for a loan, I
am much more likely to get it and at a better rate than someone who
doesn’t have my traits.
When
I am out driving, I am much less likely to be pulled over by the
police because of the color of my skin. If I am pulled over, I am
much less likely to be given a citation.
If
I am arrested, I am much more likely to be presented in a positive
light, both with a picture and description of who I am.
If
I commit a crime, I am much less likely to spend time in jail and
have a lower bond.
If
I am found guilty, I am much less likely to be jailed and my
“potential future” will talked about and used to lighten my
sentence.
If
I am jailed, I am much less likely to spend as much time as POC who
committed the same crime.
If
I go to a doctor, I am much more likely to be believed when I
describe my symptoms and pain.
If
I apply for a job, I am much more likely to get it over equally or
more qualified candidates of color. If I assault someone, my story of
events is more likely to be believed by the police.
If
I am an academic and submit an article, my article, if not presented
anonymously, will be more positively received because of my male
Anglo-Saxon name than someone who doesn’t have this trait.
When
I was in school, my outbursts, insubordination, breaking the rules,
etc. would have resulted in much less punitive consequences.
If
I am wandering around in an area where I don’t live, I am much less
likely to have the police called on me.
The
schools I attended K-12, were much more likely to be properly funded
and staffed with more qualified teachers.
When
I attended schools, I was much more likely to learn about my history
taught to me by people just like me than not.
If
a new highway is being planned, my home, my business is much more
likely not going to be negatively affected by its construction.
If
I plan on voting, I am much less likely to wait in long lines that
last for hours, have old voting machines that break down, and have my
district constantly gerrymandered, in order to make my vote count
less.
My
wealth is going to be considerably more than POC who have the exact
same education level and even those with much higher levels. My
family’s wealth going back generations is much more likely to have
contributed to the economic status in which I was born, the schools I
was able to attend, the help I was able to get, the connections I was
able to make…
I
could go on for pages. From the economic situation I grew up in to
currently enjoy, to the schooling, financial, health,
political…advantages I AUTOMATICALLY get for no other reason than
being a white, Christian male, to say these are not privileges and
somehow, I don’t benefit both directly and indirectly, is asinine.
All of these things are true, regardless of my personal, individual
views of race. This is how systemic racism works. This is what CRT
addresses. Not whether little Billy or Tammy are racists because they
are white. This, “what about the children,” Republicans hide
behind to justify their horrid beliefs and actions when it comes to
minorities and the LGTBQI community is not just dumbassery, it is
intentional dumbassery that is morally reprehensible. It is also an
entirely different topic for its own separate essay.
Just know that the dumbassery that has been on display the
past few months is just the beginning. It is going to get a lot worse
between now and the 2024 election.
I’m
an information junkie. Have been for as long as I can remember.
Whether it was consuming pop culture through countless hours of
watching television or falling asleep, well after midnight every
night, reading a volume of the encyclopedia or some other reference
book series, information was my drug of choice. Information was just
that, a drug. It was something I craved. It was something I had to
have. I didn’t know anything different than consuming information,
especially facts. It wasn’t until I was in an American Lit class my
first year of college that I realized I hadn’t read just about any
popular, critically acclaimed novels. I knew about them and could
tell you lots of facts about authors, plots, characters… However, I
had never read any of them. If it was fiction, I had no real use for
it.
This constant diet of information made me a really good
Trivial Pursuit (Original Edition) player and it provided me with
very useful, specific tools when it comes to searching for,
evaluating, and mentally organizing information. Way back in the
Paleozoic Era of information, before everything was available 24/7 to
anyone with access to WiFi or a phone in their pocket if you had a
question about something, you had to spend real time and energy
finding the answer. Sometimes, this meant nothing more than getting
off the couch, heading upstairs to the bookshelf where the
collections of encyclopedias, the Time-Life Books series, and other
reference books were kept, searching through which book(s) were
relevant, and finding the answer. At other times, it meant doing some
serious work by going to the local library, searching through
possibly relevant sections, thumbing through card catalogs, and
winnowing the options down to the one(s) that would give you the
right answer. Finding an answer could take days, weeks, even months.
If you haven’t spent hours at home or in a library going
through volume after volume searching for the answer to a particular
question, it is impossible to describe the effort and time involved.
It is impossible to describe the frustration that often came from
searching. It is also impossible to describe the joy of finally
finding the answer after so much effort. For me, it was like being
Indiana Jones finally discovering a gold statute in some ancient
temple in South America after months and years of analysis and hard
work. However, instead of a physical object, my reward was a fact-a
fact that was hard-earned, unassailable, and to me, as precious as
any golden idol.
Growing up, information was a drug. A drug
that forced me to go out constantly looking for a fix. Before the
internet, getting a fix took a lot of time and energy. Once the
internet took off, it allowed my drug of choice to be pumped directly
into my brain with little to no effort whatsoever. It takes no effort
to access information using the internet. Sorry, but sitting on the
toilet, touching your phone’s screen a couple of times and scrolling
doesn’t take effort. It is convenient and accessible. Convenience and
accessibility should never be mistaken for effort or quality or
anything other than convenience and accessibility. For someone like
me, the internet was like a heroin addict having a never-ending
supply of 100% pure China White in an IV drip being pumped into my
veins non-stop. It was nirvana, ambrosia, and Shangri-La all wrapped
up in perfectly for me at my fingertips. Did I also mention, I have
an addictive personality?
Hopefully, you see where this is
going. If you give an addict an unlimited supply of what they crave,
a few things happen. First, they dive into whatever they crave like
Scrooge McDuck into a room full of money. Second, they NEVER, EVER,
UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES want the edge they feel to stop. There is no
dimmer switch if you are an addict. Addicts don’t ever say, “That’s
enough. I’m good.” If they could do this, they wouldn’t be
addicts. Finally, if at all possible, addicts want the good stuff.
They don’t want a water-down, cut version of their drug of choice.
The purer the better.
For a while, when the internet was new,
it wasn’t a problem for me. In fact, it was about as perfect a
situation, as I could ask. Non-stop information that I could search
for and discover from the comfort of my own home whenever I wanted.
And, since I had developed really good research skills, I knew what
questions to ask and how to search in ways that mostly avoided
nonsense, half-assed opinions, and the garbage that often passes for
knowledge… Going back to my Raiders of the Lost Ark analogy, it
would be like Indy being able to discover the golden idol without
being almost killed by a gigantic boulder, being betrayed by Satipo,
or eventually having the idol taken from you by the Hovitos and
Belloq. No trauma. No drama. Here is your prize. No one can take it
from you. And, you never have to leave the comfort of your
home.
Having grown up in an ultra-religious fundamentalist
area around people who, for the most part, weren’t/aren’t driven by
intellectual curiosity but quite the opposite, I know all too well
what it is like to be overwhelmed with bullshit and beliefs so flimsy
they make gossamer look like titanium. For the first twenty-one years
of my life, this is pretty much all I knew. For reasons I’ve
discussed elsewhere, arbitrarily signing up for and walking into an
Intro To Philosophy Class at USU was the universe throwing me a life
preserver. For the next twenty-five years, things made sense and I
felt a peace I didn’t when growing up. The frustration and anger I’d
felt for so long and so intensely, were gone.
These feelings
of contempt and happiness lasted until the internet was
“democratized.” Once this happened, the very same people
I’d worked so hard to distance myself from and ignore were brought
right back into my life and they brought tens of thousands of their
idiot friends with them. For many years, I was fairly successful in
getting my information drug fix from the internet and either ignoring
the stupid masses or at least not letting them negatively impact me.
However, in the past decade or so, one thing after another has
happened that has made it harder to keep the stupid at bay.
The
financial crisis in 2008/09, the election of Barack Obama, the
passage of the Affordable Care Act, the Black Lives Matter and Me Too
Movements, the election of Trump, and the COVID-19 pandemic have been
the milkshakes that brought all the stupid to the yard. The internet,
for all its wonderful potential, also created an environment where
every racist, bigot, misogynist, fear-monger, hate-monger, and
all-around jackass not only got their opportunity to scream their
bullshit in the public square but were rewarded for doing so with
confirmation via likes and/or with money.
The internet just
didn’t just dummy down information, it weaponized and monetized
something that should not be monetized. It didn’t/doesn’t matter how
accurate the information is. The only thing that matters is can it
turn a profit, can it be used to harm someone. Facebook absolutely
knows it has/does allow misinformation about elections, vaccines,
etc. to be spread on its platform. No matter what Zuck says in
Congressional hearings, he really doesn’t care about truth and
accuracy because Facebook makes a ton of money from this
misinformation. Facebook, to a lesser extent, followed the FOX News
model of information where the goal isn’t
truth or good information. The goal is selling advertising. Facebook
is a free service. Yet, Facebook is valued at $128 billion. The
difference between free and $128 billion was created by pushing the
idea that beliefs are as factual as knowledge. The difference between
free and $128 billion was created by treating the dissemination of
facts as something that can/should be democratized,
consequences-be-damned.
The “democratization” of
information, like political democracy, only works if the citizenry is
properly educated. Thomas Jefferson was absolutely right about this.
“All beliefs are valuable and should be given equal time
and weight in a public forum and may the best beliefs win,”
might sound good on the surface, but in practice it is atrocious,
border-lining on sociopathic. The ONLY way this view works is if
everybody has a sound, working skill set where they can properly
process and assess information. It is an idealistic view of humanity
that is completely invalidated by humanity. Agent K in “Men In
Black,” said it best-“A person is smart. People are dumb,
panicky dangerous animals and you know it.” Our brains are still
pretty primitive in many ways. This is especially true when it comes
to our Fight or Flight responses. We can be easily manipulated by
fear, hatred, anger… Every propagandist knows and exploits this
aspect of humanity.
This “Golden Age of The Internet,”
didn’t last very long. Once the Libertarian-minded dudebros in
Silicon Valley decided the “smart” and “just”
thing was to “democratize” and monetize information and
open up the gate-keeping of “knowledge” to any Chad, Billy
Bob, and Neo-Nazi, the Golden Age of the internet was officially
killed. Say what you want about the past when news and information
were controlled by gatekeepers, as many potential and real issues
there were with this, there were, for the most part, at least smart,
experienced, dedicated people in charge. Now, any moron with access
to the internet can dictate, control, and change public perception.
This isn’t healthy. In fact, as we’ve seen during the last election
and the pandemic, it is literally dangerous.
When what Joe
Rogan or the multitude of talking heads on FOX or AM radio says about
a topic, any topic gets more clicks, views, listens…than actual
professionals who have spent years, sometimes decades, carefully
researching their various fields, it’s a big fucking problem. People
like Rogan are the kind of drug dealers who cuts their product with
baby powder, bath salts, oregano…to the point, it isn’t just a
crappy product but causes real harm. People like this have no problem
selling bath salts as top-shelf cocaine and don’t give a damn how
many people it kills because they make lots of money and they have
lots of people telling them how smart they are.
Personally, I
want my drug of choice to be as pure as possible. I don’t trust just
anybody or get my supply from a shady character who has no
qualifications. If I’m going to buy meth, it is going to be from
someone like Walter White not from the guy driving a rusted-out Ford
panel van, wearing mismatching shoes who can’t string two coherent
sentences together or someone whose previous job was that of an
unsuccessful comic.
I’m fortunate enough to have grown up when
there were gatekeepers. More importantly, I learned how to properly
search for, assess, and process information. My kids have never had
these opportunities or really been able to learn these abilities
because the entire bedrock of what constitutes information has
shifted. Information is no longer presented and viewed as something
that, when properly studied, is pretty solid and accepted. What
passes as information now is something that basically boils down to,
“I really believe it.”
Knowledge is now being
equated with belief. “If I really believe X is true, then it
is.” I don’t even know how to teach my kids how to view and
research information the way I learned because the systems of how
information is accumulated and disseminated are completely different.
More importantly, the foundations of what counts as legitimate
evidence and sound arguments in the public square, which wasn’t
rock-solid but fairly solid, have been turned to sand. Belief has
replaced knowledge as the standard as to what is true and what isn’t.
We’ve entered the George Costanza era of knowledge-“It isn’t a
lie if you believe it.”
All of my life, I’ve heard
conservatives wail and gnash their teeth about the perils of moral
relativism being pushed by the left. “If gays can get married,
what’s next, people can marry their pets?” “If women are
allowed to control their reproductive health, what’s next, they’ll
demand men get impregnated?” “If we allow sex education in
schools, what’s next, field tips to brothels?” If anything is
allowed, then everything is allowed. There are no standards of
morality. Of course, none of these dire outcomes have ever happened,
let alone even suggested. However, when it comes to information, the
right is more than happy to push relativism. This is exactly what
elevating beliefs to the level of knowledge is-relativism. There are
no longer standards of truth or what counts as evidence or valid
arguments. There are feelings as beliefs. However, this “standard’
only applies to themselves. Their feelings and beliefs and only their
feelings and beliefs are allowed the status of factual, truthful.
Of
course, anyone with two functioning neurons knows there is a massive
chasm between knowledge and belief. I can believe I’m the last
Russian Tsar and believe it with every fiber of my being. Yet, no
amount of emotional investment makes this true. All it really shows
is not only I am wrong, but delusionally so. This is how it should
work in a just and perfect world. This is how it sort of worked
pre-internet where actual arguments and evidence mattered much more
than they do now. We used to live in a world where facts mattered to
some degree. We now live in a world where this is rarely true.
Beliefs and feelings have replaced evidence and knowledge at the top
of the Truth Pyramid.
There are many reasons why this has
happened. First and foremost, is the "democratization” of
information. Second, is the influence of fundamental religion in all
aspects of American culture. Under any reasonable Truth Pyramid,
religions can never attain the top levels because they are not
founded on or maintained by facts. They exist almost entirely on the
concept of faith. “Trust us, X is true because we say it is and
at some point, most likely after you die, the "real truths”
will be shown to you.“ Religions are not built on facts or
arguments. They are built on statements that all too often, have the
same merit as when I claim, "I’m the last Russian Tsar.”
For a system of knowledge, based mainly on beliefs, feelings, and
faith to exist and function, it can only really do so if it has some
built-in mechanism that prevents actual evidence/facts from entering
the system and gumming up the works.
Don’t get me wrong, all
of our knowledge systems rely to some degree or another on belief and
faith. How much and who/what they are tied to is the difference
between people who get vaccinated during a pandemic and those who go
drink their own urine to prevent being infected. It is the difference
between rushing your kid to the ER when they have a fever of 105 and
hoping thoughts and prayers will make it go away. It is the
difference between thinking Comet Ping Pong in Washington D.C. is a
mediocre pizzeria and believing it is a front for child sex
trafficking. The more someone centers and relies on faith and beliefs
for their knowledge, the less tethered they are to facts. The more
someone trusts untrustworthy, unqualified people for their knowledge,
the less tethered they are to reality.
Beliefs being treated
as true have always been a problem. It has become a much bigger
problem in the past few years because, thanks to the internet and the
concerted efforts of Evangelical Fundamentalists, the Republican
Party, and a whole lot of justices who have been placed on the
courts. These justices have started to legally legitimatize the
concept of “deeply held beliefs.” If you really believe
something, then how you act on it cannot/should not be prohibited. If
you believe The Pill is an abortifacient, no matter how absolutely
not true this is, it doesn’t matter, you can stop your business’s
insurance plan from paying for contraception. If you really believe
people who are gay or trans or whatever are subhuman and not entitled
to basic rights, then your discrimination is legally protected.
Of
course, it is only the “deeply held beliefs” of
conservatives that are allowed to be elevated to the status of truth.
It is apparently just fine for a “Christian” doctor to not
treat someone who is gay, trans, a drug addict…because they don’t
approve of their choices/lifestyles. However, the first time an
atheist doctor refuses to treat someone who is an Evangelical
Christian, for the very same reasons, the gates of Hell will open up
and every single conservative “deeply held beliefs”
defender will be screaming how outrageous, unfair, ridiculous it is
that someone’s beliefs are allowed to override anything they
want.
This convergence of dumbass Libertarians in Silicone
Valley “democratizing” the internet and the push by
evangelical fundamentalists to elevate beliefs over facts has created
the Perfect Storm of Stupid. Having actual knowledge of something
takes time and effort. Anyone can believe anything and it takes no
effort whatsoever. I go back to something my mentor in the Philosophy
Department at Utah State University said to me one night at his house
while drinking gin and tonics and discussing a wide range of issues,
“Being right and believing you are right are not the same thing.
It is more important to be right than believe you are right. Being
right takes a lot of time and effort. Believing you are right takes
no time or effort, at all.” I kind of always knew and
appreciated this growing up. It is the reason I felt pride in
discovering a new truth or finding the answer to a puzzling question.
You can’t Participation Trophy and orange slice your way to
knowledge. There are no shortcuts.
This is where the cries of
“elitism” come in from the peanut gallery accusing me of
being arrogant and condescending. Okay. I guess that is one way of
looking at it. Another way is gaining real knowledge is a skill and
you don’t learn and master a skill without putting in serious time
and effort. Pointing this out shouldn’t be controversial. We used to
not question someone who was at the top of their field because
Barbara down at the deli said they were wrong. Yes, there have always
been those on the lunatic fringe who wouldn’t believe the most
decorated, revered person in a particular field but they were just
that-the lunatic fringe. That lunatic fringe has been mainstreamed
and given a place at the adults’ table by the Libertarian internet
dudebros, by conservatives, by fundamentalist Christianity because
these groups know they cannot compete if the knowledge playing field
is level if there are actual standards of what counts as good
evidence and arguments if knowledge is treated more importantly than
beliefs.
I don’t want this to come across as if I have all or
even a lot of the answers, I don’t. There are certain things I know a
lot about and am very confident in my knowledge about them because
I’ve spent countless hours making sure I’m not wrong and if I am
wrong, I’m wrong on the fringes, not core concepts. There are a bunch
of other things I think are really true but if counter-evidence comes
up that would make me question these beliefs, I would be very
surprised but not upset. I’d adjust my belief system accordingly and
move one. Then, there is a whole other set of things I really don’t
have much knowledge about, and rely on people who have earned my
trust to tell me what is true and what is not. Sometimes, one of
these people turns out to be a scam artist or for whatever reason,
sells out their previous views, mostly for money or prestige, and
every belief tied to them needs to be reevaluated. The entire point
of science/knowledge is to make the best decisions based on the
information you have and if new information comes along that either
better explains something or completely overthrows what you
previously thought was true, you go with it because that is how it
works.
“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the
convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the
distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of
experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the
standards of thought) no longer exist.” ―Hannah Arendt, The
Origins of Totalitarianism
There are two sides to every
argument/debate is true but not really useful, especially when it
comes to evaluating truth. In most cases, this is used to elevate
beliefs to facts and blur the line between fact and fiction. It is
one of the go-to moves used by propagandists.
What’s the point
of all of this? To be honest, I’m not entirely sure. Like too many
important things, I understand the problem, can explain it in great
detail, make interesting connections and analogies about it but when
push comes to shove, I have no idea how to solve it. Not because
there aren’t solutions but because the solutions rest on a more
educated society. Without this, every real solution seems to be
nothing more than hypothetical wishing. However, even without
tangible solutions, I feel not trying is unforgivable. Searching out,
finding, and advocating for truth are things that should always be
primary concerns and goals.
I’m not going to lie to you, this
isn’t easy. It takes a lot of work and mindfulness. And, the more
things you want to really understand, the more work it takes. I
understand why a lot of people, at some point, become content with
the “knowledge” they have and basically shut down the
learning and critical analysis functions of their brains. This
doesn’t make what they do right, just understandable. I also
understand why people who put knowledge at the forefront of their
priorities become disenchanted and despondent by the overwhelming
amount and veracity of bullshit that is passed off as “facts.”
Oh, boy do I relate to this. I’ve always related to this. As a kid, I
was always complaining to my mother about how unbelievably stupid a
whole lot of people seemed to be. Not just stupid, but arrogantly and
defiantly so. She would sympathize and empathize with me, pat me on
the head and say, “There are a lot more of them than there are
of you so you need to learn how to pick your battles and stop
fighting against every injustice, every stupidity. Otherwise, you’ll
always be angry and exhausted.” Another
way of putting it is from “The Wire,”- “There
you go, giving a fuck
when it ain’t your time to give a fuck.”.
Obviously,
I’ve never really learned this lesson. I want to. I’ve tried to. But,
I’ve never learned how to turn it off. To turn it off, I feel I have
to be apathetic to it all and I can’t do that. At least, I haven’t
figured out how to do it. I think part of the reason why I find this
so difficult is trying to figure out what counts as a “good
fight” and what doesn’t. Aren’t truths to be told and defended
all the time? Shouldn’t misinformation and lies always be corrected,
regardless
of where/who they come from? To paraphrase a famous quote-“The
only thing necessary for the triumph of stupid is for smart people to
do nothing.” Basically, I don’t know how to not give a fuck. I
still believe it is important to have standards for knowledge,
evidence, arguments, facts… The problem I am having is how to
continue to care about this in any meaningful way, when so many
people don’t give a damn about any of this
I
guess all of this is nothing more than putting my frustrations in
writing. I’m worn down. I feel like the masses of stupidity have
overwhelmed me like zombies in World War Z and no matter what I do,
my brain is going to be eaten by a horde of idiots with a side of
ketchup, mayo, and ranch, then washed down with a room-temperature
Coors Light. If this is what eventually happens, so be it but I won’t
be going gently into that that good night. They’ll have to pry my
copy of “Logic and Philosophy,” by Howard Kahane from my cold,
dead hand.
As the aftermath of the election of Donald Trump is being sorted out, a common theme keeps cropping up from all sides-”Democrats failed to understand white, working class, fly-over America.” Trump supports are saying this. Progressive pundits are saying this. Talking heads across all forms of the media are saying this. Even some Democratic leaders are saying this. It doesn’t matter how many people say it, it is complete bullshit. It is an intellectual/linguistic sleight of hand meant to throw attention away from the real problem. The real problem isn’t east coast elites don’t understand or care about rural America. The real problem is rural America doesn’t understand the causes of their own situations and fears and they have shown no interest in finding out. They don’t want to know why they feel the way they do or why they are struggling because the don’t want to admit it is in large part because of choices they’ve made and horrible things they’ve allowed themselves to believe.
I grew up in rural, Christian, white America. You’d be hard-pressed to find an area in the country that has a higher percentage of Christians or whites. I spent most of the first twenty-four years of my life deeply embedded in this culture. I religiously (*pun intended) their Christian services. I worked off and on, on their rural farms. I dated their calico skirted daughters. I camped, hunted, and fished with their sons. I listened to their political rants at the local diner and truck stop. I winced at their racist/bigoted jokes and epitaphs that were said more out of ignorance than animosity. I have also watched the town I grew up in go from a robust economy with well-kept homes and infrastructure turn into a struggling economy with shuttered businesses, dilapidated homes, and a broken down infrastructure over the past thirty years. The problem isn’t that I don’t understand these people. The problem is they don’t understand themselves, the reasons for their anger/frustrations, and don’t seem to care to know why.
In deep red, white America, the white Christian God is king, figuratively and literally. Religious fundamentalism is what has shaped most of their belief systems. Systems built on a fundamentalist framework are not conducive for introspection, questioning, learning, change. When you have a belief system that is built on fundamentalism, it isn’t open to outside criticism, especially by anyone not a member of your tribe and in a position of power. The problem isn’t “coastal elites don’t understand rural Americans.” The problem is rural America doesn’t understand itself and will NEVER listen to anyone outside their bubble. It doesn’t matter how “understanding” you are, how well you listen, what language you use…if you are viewed as an outsider, your views are automatically discounted. I’ve had hundreds of discussions with rural white Americans and whenever I present them any information that contradicts their entrenched beliefs, no matter how sound, how unquestionable, how obvious, they WILL NOT even entertain the possibility it might be true. Their refusal is a result of the nature of their fundamentalist belief system and the fact I’m the enemy because I’m an educated liberal. At some point during the discussion, “That’s your education talking,” will be said, derogatorily, as a general dismissal of everything I said. They truly believe this is a legitimate response because to them education is not to be trusted. Education is the enemy of fundamentalism because fundamentalism, by its very nature, is not built on facts. The fundamentalists I grew up around aren’t anti-education. They want their kids to know how to read and write. They are anti-quality, in-depth, broad, specialized education. Learning is only valued up to the certain point. Once it reaches the level where what you learn contradicts doctrine and fundamentalist arguments, it becomes dangerous. I watched a lot of my fellow students who were smart, stop their education the day they graduated high school. For most of the young ladies, getting married and having kids was more important than continuing their learning. For many of the young men, getting a college education was seen as unnecessary and a waste of time. For the few who did go to college, what they learned was still filtered through their fundamentalist belief system. If something they were taught didn’t support a preconception, it would be ignored and forgotten the second it was no longer need to pass an exam.
Knowing this about their belief system and their view of outside information that doesn’t support it, telling me that the problem is coastal elites not understanding them completely misses the point.
Another problem with rural, Christian, white Americans is they are racists. I’m not talking about white hood wearing, cross burning, lynching racists (though some are.) I’m talking about people who deep down in their heart of hearts truly believe they are superior because they are white. Their white God made them in his image and everyone else is a less-than-perfect version, flawed, cursed. The religion in which I was raised taught this. Even though they’ve backtracked some of their more racist declarations, many still believe the original claims. Non-whites are the color they are because of their sins, or at least the sins of their ancestors. Blacks don’t have dark skin because of where they lived and evolution. They have dark skin because they are cursed and cursed people don’t deserve the things God’s blessed whites do. God cursed them for a reason and it isn’t proper to question them. If God cursed them, then treating them as equals would be going against God’s Will. It is really easy to justify treating people differently, poorly, if they are cursed by God, will never be as good as you no matter what they do because of some predetermined status given to them by an almighty God. Once you have this view, it is easy to lower the outside group’s standing and acceptable level of treatment. Again, there are varying levels of racism at play in rural, Christian, white America. I know people who are ardent racists. I know a lot more whose racism is much more subtle but nonetheless racist. It wouldn’t take sodium pentothal to get most of these people to admit they believe they are fundamentally better and superior to minorities. They are white supremacists who dress up in white dress shirts, ties, and gingham dresses. They carry a Bible and tell you, “everyone’s a child of God” but forget to mention that some of God’s children are more favored than others and skin tone is the criterion by which we know who is and who isn’t at the top of God’s list of most favored children.
For us “coastal elites” who understand evolution, genetics, science…nothing we say to those in fly-over country is going to be listened to because not only are we fighting against an anti-education belief system, we are arguing against God. You aren’t winning a battle of beliefs with these people if you are on one side of the argument and God is on the other. No degree of understanding this is going to suddenly make them less racist, more open to reason and facts. Telling “urban elites” they need to understand rural Americans isn’t going to lead to a damn thing because it misses the causes of the problem.
Because rural, Christian, white Americans will not listen to educated arguments, supported by facts that go against their fundamentalist belief systems from “outsiders,” any change must come from within. Internal change in these systems does happen, but it happens infrequently and it always lags far behind reality. This is why they fear change so much. They aren’t used to it. Of course, it really doesn’t matter whether they like it or not, it, like the evolution and climate change even though they don’t believe it, it is going to happen whether they believe in it or not.
Another major problem with closed-off, fundamentalist belief systems is they are very susceptible to propaganda. All belief systems are to some extent, but fundamentalist systems even more so because there are no checks and balances. If bad information gets in, it doesn’t get out and because there are no internal mechanisms to guard against it, it usually ends up very damaging to the whole. A closed-off belief system is like you spinal fluid-it is great as long as nothing infectious gets into it. If bacteria gets into your spinal fluid, it causes unbelievable damage because there are no white blood cells in it whose job is to fend off invaders and protect the system. This is why things like meningitis is so horrible. Without the protective services of white blood cells in the spinal column, meningitis spreads like wildfire once it’s in and does significant damage in a very short period of time. Once inside the closed-off spinal system, bacteria is free to destroy whatever it wants and does. The very same is true with closed-off belief systems. Without built-in protective functions like critical analysis, self-reflection, openness to counter-evidence, willingness to re-evaluate any and all beliefs, etc., bad information in a closed-off system ends up doing massive damage in short period of time. What has happened to too many fundamentalist belief systems is damaging information has been allowed in from people who have been granted “expert status.” If someone is allowed into a closed-off system and their information is deemed acceptable, anything they say will readily be accepted and become gospel. Rural, Christian, white Americans have let in anti-intellectual, anti-science, bigoted, racists into their system as experts like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, any of the blonde Stepford Wives on FOX, every evangelical preacher on television because they tell them what they want to hear and because they sell themselves as being “one of them. The truth is none of these people give a rat’s ass about rural, Christian, white Americans except how can they exploit them for attention and money. None of them have anything in common with the people who have let them into their belief systems with the exception they are white and they “speak the same language” of white superiority, God’s Will must be obeyed, and how, even though they are the Chosen Ones, they are the ones being screwed by all the people and groups they believe they are superior to.
Gays being allowed to marry are a threat. Blacks protesting the killing of their unarmed friends and family are a threat. Hispanics doing the cheap labor on their farms are somehow viewed a threat. The black President is a threat. Two billion Muslims are a threat. The Chinese are a threat. Women wanting to be autonomous are a threat. The college educated are a threat. Godless scientists are a threat. Everyone who isn’t just like them has been sold to them as a threat and they’ve bought it hook, line, and grifting sinker. Since there are no self-regulating mechanisms in their belief systems, these threats only grow over time. Since facts and reality don’t matter, nothing you say to them will alter their beliefs. President Obama was born in Kenya, is a secret member of the Muslim Brotherhood who hates white Americans and is going to take away their guns. I feel ridiculous even writing this it is so absurd but it is gospel across large swaths of rural America. Are rural, Christian, white Americans scared? You’re damn right they are. Are their fears rational and justified? Fuck no! The problem isn’t understanding their fears. The problem is how to assuage fears based on lies in closed-off fundamentalist belief systems that don’t have the necessary tools for properly evaluating the fears.
I don’t have a good answer to this question. When a child has an irrational fear, you can deal with it because they trust you and are open to possibilities. When someone doesn’t trust you and isn’t open to anything not already accepted as true in their belief system, there really isn’t much, if anything you can do. This is why I think the whole, “Democrats have to understand and find common ground with rural America,” is misguided and a complete waste of time. When a three-thousand-year-old book that was written by uneducated, pre-scientific people, subject to translation innumerable times, edited with political and economic pressures from Popes and kings, is given higher intellectual authority than facts arrived at from a rigorous, self-critical, constantly re-evaluating system that can and does correct mistakes, no amount of understanding, no amount of respect, no amount of evidence is going to change their minds, assuage their fears.
Do you know what does change the beliefs of fundamentalists, sometimes? When something becomes personal. Many a fundamentalist have changed their minds about the LGBT community once their loved ones started coming out of the closet. Many have not. But, those that have did so because their personal experience came in direct conflict with what they believe. My own father is a good example of this. For years I had long, sometimes heated discussions with him about gay rights. Being the good religious fundamentalist he is, he could not even entertain the possibility he was wrong. The Church said it was wrong so therefore it was wrong. No questions ask. No analysis needed. This changed when one of his step children who he adores came out of the closet. He didn’t do a complete 180. He has a view that that tries to accept gay rights while at the same time viewing it as a mortal sin because his need to have his belief system be right outweighs everything else. This isn’t uncommon. Deeply held beliefs are usually only altered, replaced under catastrophic circumstances that are personal. This belief system alteration works both ways. I know die hard, open-minded progressives who became ardent fundamentalists due to a traumatic event in their lives. A really good example of this is the comedian Dennis Miller. I’ve seen Miller in concert four different times during the 1990s. His humor was complex, riddled with references, and leaned pretty left on almost all issues. Then 9/11 happened. For whatever reasons, the trauma of 9/11 caused a seismic shift in Miller’s belief system. Now he is a mainstay on conservative talk radio. His humor was replaced with anger and frustration. 9/11 changed his belief system because it was a catastrophic event that was personal to him.
The catastrophe of the Great Depression along with the progressive remedies by FDR helped create a generation of Democrats from previously die-hard Republicans. People who had, up until that point, deeply believed government couldn’t help the economy only the free market could changed their minds when the brutal reality of the Great Depression affected them directly, personally. I thought the financial crisis in 2008 would have a similar, though lesser, impact on many Republicans. It didn’t. The systems that were put in place after the Great Depression to deal with economic crises, the quick, smart response by Congress and the administration helped make what could have been a catastrophic event into merely a really bad one. People suffered, but they didn’t suffer enough to where they were open to questioning their deeply held beliefs. Because this questioning didn’t take place, the Great Recession didn’t lead to any meaningful political shift away from poorly regulated markets, supply side economics, or how to respond to a financial crisis. This is why, even though rural, Christian, white America was hit hard by the Great Recession, they not only didn’t blame the political party they’ve aligned themselves with for years, they rewarded them two years later by voting them into a record number of state legislatures and taking over the U.S. House. Of course, it didn’t help matters there were scapegoats available they could direct their fears, anger, and white supremacy towards. A significant number of rural America believes President Obama was in charge when the financial crisis started. An even higher number believe the mortgage crisis was the result of the government forcing banks to give loans to unqualified minorities. It doesn’t matter how untrue both of these are, they are gospel in rural America. Why reevaluate your beliefs and voting patterns when scapegoats are available?
How do you make climate change personal to someone who believes only God can alter the weather? How do you make racial equality personal to someone who believes whites are naturally superior to non-whites? How do you make gender equality personal to someone who believes women are supposed to be subservient to men by God’s command? How do you get someone to view minorities as not threatening personal to people who don’t live around and never interact with them? How do you make personal the fact massive tax cuts and cutting back government hurts their economic situation when they’ve voted for these for decades? I don’t think you can without some catastrophic events. And maybe not even then. The Civil War was pretty damn catastrophic yet a large swath of the South believed and still believes they were right, had the moral high ground. They were/are also mostly Christian fundamentalists who believe they are superior because of the color of their skin and the religion they profess to follow. There is a pattern here for anyone willing to connect the dots. “Rural, white America needs to be better understood,” is not one of the dots. “Rural, white America needs to be better understood,” is a dodge, meant to avoid the real problems because talking about the real problems is viewed as “too upsetting,” “too mean,” “too arrogant,” “too elite,” “too snobbish.” Pointing out Aunt Bee’s views of Mexicans, blacks, gays…is bigoted isn’t the thing one does in polite society. Too bad more people don’t think the same about the views Aunt Bee has. It’s the classic, “You’re a racist for calling me a racist,” ploy. Or, as it is more commonly known, “I know you are but what am I?”
I do think rational arguments are needed, even if they go mostly ignored and ridiculed. I believe in treating people with the respect they’ve earned but the key point here is “earned.” I’ll gladly sit down with Aunt Bee and have a nice, polite conversation about her beliefs about “the gays,” “the blacks,” “illegals,”…and do so without calling her a bigot or a racist. But, this doesn’t mean she isn’t a bigot and a racist and if I’m asked to describe her beliefs these are the only words that honestly fit. No one with cancer wants to be told they have cancer, but just because no one uses the word, “cancer,” it doesn’t mean they don’t have it. Just because the media, pundits on all sides, some Democratic leaders don’t want to call the actions of many rural, Christian, white Americans, “racist/bigoted” doesn’t make them not so. Avoiding the obvious only prolongs getting the necessary treatment. America has always had a race problem. It was built on racism and bigotry. This didn’t miraculously go away in 1964 with the passage of the Civil Rights Act. It didn’t go away with the election of Barack Obama. If anything, these events pulled back the curtain exposing the dark, racist underbelly of America that white America likes to pretend doesn’t exist because we are the reason it exists. From the white nationalists to the white, suburban soccer moms who voted for Donald Trump, to the far left progressives who didn’t vote at all, racism exists and has once again been legitimized and normalized by white America.
The honest truths that rural, Christian, white Americans don’t want to accept and until they do nothing is going to change, are:
-Their economic situation is largely the result of voting for supply-side economic policies that have been the largest redistribution of wealth from the bottom/middle to the top in U.S. history.
-Immigrants haven’t taken their jobs. If all immigrants, legal or otherwise, were removed from the U.S., our economy would come to a screeching halt and prices on food would soar.
-Immigrants are not responsible for companies moving their plants overseas. Almost exclusively white business owners are the ones responsible because they care more about their share holders who are also mostly white, than they do American workers.
-No one is coming for their guns. All that has been proposed during the entire Obama administration is having better background checks.
-Gay people getting married is not a threat to their freedom to believe in whatever white God you want to. No one is going to make their church marry gays, make gays your pastor, accept gays for membership.
-Women having access to birth control doesn’t affect their life either, especially women who they complain about being teenage, single mothers.
-Blacks are not “lazy moochers living off their hard earned tax dollars” anymore than many of your fellow rural neighbors. People in need are people in need. People who can’t find jobs because of their circumstances, a changing economy, outsourcing overseas, etc. belong to all races.
-They get a tremendous amount of help from the government they complain does nothing for them. From the roads and utility grids they use to the farm subsidies, crop insurance, commodities protections…they benefit greatly from government assistance. The Farm Bill is one of the largest financial expenditures by the U.S. government. Without government assistance, their lives would be considerably worse.
-They get the largest share of Food Stamps, Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.
-They complain about globalization but line up like everyone else to get the latest Apple product. They have no problem buying foreign-made guns, scopes, and hunting equipment. They don’t think twice about driving trucks whose engine was made in Canada, tires made in Japan, radio made in Korea, computer parts made in Malaysia…
-They use illicit drugs as much as any other group. But, when other people do it is a “moral failing” and they should be severely punished, legally. When they do it, it is a “health crisis” that needs sympathy and attention.
-When jobs dry up for whatever reasons, they refuse to relocate but lecture the poor in places like Flint for staying in towns that are failing.
-They are quick to judge minorities for being “welfare moochers” but don’t think twice about cashing their welfare check every month.
-They complain about coastal liberals, but the taxes from California and New York are what covers their farm subsidies, helps maintain their highways, and keeps their hospitals in their sparsely populated areas open for business.
-They complain about “the little man being run out of business” then turn around and shop at big box stores.
-They make sure outsiders are not welcome, deny businesses permits to build, then complain about businesses, plants opening up in less rural areas.
-Government has not done enough to help them in many cases but their local and state governments are almost completely Republican and so too are their Representatives and Senators. Instead of holding them accountable, they vote them in over and over and over again.
-All the economic policies and ideas that could help rural America belong to the Democratic Party: raising the minimum wage, strengthening unions, infrastructure spending, reusable energy growth, slowing down the damage done by climate change, healthcare reform…all of these and more would really help a lot of rural Americans.
What I understand is rural, Christian, white America is entrenched in fundamentalist belief systems, don’t trust people outside their tribe, have been force fed a diet of misinformation and lies for decades, are unwilling to understand their own situations, truly believe whites are superior to all races. No amount of understanding is going to change these things or what they believe. No amount of niceties is going to get them to be introspective. No economic policy put forth by someone outside their tribe is going to be listened to no matter how beneficial it would be for them. I understand rural, Christian, white America all too well. I understand their fears are based on myths and lies. I understand they feel left behind by a world they don’t understand and don’t really care to. I understand they are willing to vote against their own interest if they can be convinced it will make sure minorities are harmed more. I understand their Christian beliefs and morals are truly only extended to fellow white Christians. I understand them. I understand they are the problem with progress and will always be because their belief systems are constructed against it. The problem isn’t a lack of understanding by “coastal elites” of rural, Christian, white America. The problem is a lack of understanding why rural, Christian, white America believes, votes, behaves the ways it does by rural, Christian, white America.
i grew up in montana. This is so accurate. i could convince my mom to flip democrat bc every major issue is personal to her (she’s disabled, on food stamps, had her kids taken from her for no good reason, etc.) i can’t convince my grandparents. i can’t make enough of it personal enough. and personal is the only way to get through to them that mayyybeeeee they need to reevaluate.