Friday, November 27, 2015

The Ever Increasing Vileness Of American Life




I don't know if I really have any place to go with this other than to say it seems we Americans are getting more and more vile and deliberately hateful as well as becoming more isolated by labels. Just look around the internet. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, blogging, message forums.....all of that just seems so full of anger, resentment, aggression, fear, and downright hatefulness. 

It's as if sitting behind a keypad gives us the freedom to say things we would never normally say to someone in person. Well, it's not "as if"....it really is just that. Anonymous degradation. It seems to be at an all-time high and this is coming from a person that has sworn off Twitter and Facebook for several months now. I still see it everywhere. In fact, it's celebrated and most difficult to run away from. We now talk about what's on Twitter or Facebook. It's sort of bizarre, like writing a book about a book. We discuss what it being discussed. Are we at the peak of our boredom as a species? Probably not....yet. 

Political, societal, and cultural forums are the worst. Those that cling staunchly to an ideology without giving it thought seem to be ruling every conversation. They say the ugliest and meanest things about people they probably have a lot more in common with than not. And it's generally because of beliefs. Beliefs are a dangerous thing. They make people do and say all sorts of crazy and harmful stuff. 

I don't like where our country is headed and as always, most of the population believes that their ideology and political affiliation is the way to get things fixed. I'd beg to differ. It's those ideologies and political parties that have us where we are right now. The people in power have made all the rules and maintain all the control yet they have "regular Joe" followers that want to complain about how terrible things are and how certain people are hurting the system. Oddly enough, they won't turn the mirror on themselves. Few of us will. We want to blame everyone else. Even when we have all we want, we can't help but want to beat someone else up over what they have or criticize what they have. The absolute bottom feeder is someone that you know is probably doing OK in their life and they bitch about "welfare queens" and what kind of sneakers a poor kid is wearing or that the poor buy steak with their food stamps. What kind of warped mind seeks to belittle others in that way? Especially others that they don't even know and wouldn't dare stoop to try to understand. Internet memes, lies, and damn lies are taking over the public conversation and getting traction as being factual and enter the American psyche creating hysteria and anger over a situation that isn't likely even a reality.

The poor are taking a beating in our society right now. They are the cause of all our economic woes according to many people. I don't have the will to shred this concept as I sit writing this. Think for yourself. Do some digging and open your mind and perhaps you can come to realize who is running this country into the ground. Hint....it's not the middle class and it's not the poor. Anyhow, I've covered it before. I just don't see it getting any better. The nation is as polarized in regards to class as much as it's ever been in my lifetime and I suppose I could put race into the equation too. 

I don't have any answers. I guess I just wish it would go away, but I realize it's not likely to happen. That means I must be the one to change. I have to turn off those things that are hateful. I have to be the one to remove myself from a situation. I've learned a hard lesson; you are not going to change someone's mind that doesn't want to see something from a different point of view than their own. 

The people that are willfully ignorant just tear me up. I'm talking about smart people with the capacity to see the world in a realistic way and to step into other people's shoes to try to understand their experience, but refuse to do so. I guess worldview and identifying with a group means more than practical reality and perhaps improving life for oneself and others? I guess I have to pull back from this culture of hate, because expecting it to change is a fool's wish. I just dislike that my kids are growing up steeped up to their necks in it. The current culture is going to have more of an impact than I am in their developing world view. I fight it, but they are young and right out in the middle of it all day long between school and social media.

I wrote the post below some years back. I have evolved on a couple of things, but overall, the gist of what I said holds up, even if some pieces of the topic don't hold directly true for me at this point.



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