Posted by I have sucked up a lot of spilled ink on the topic of politics since 2016. Whether on the topic of Trump—be it his attempts to roll back environmental protections and civil liberties, or the investigation into foreign influences underlying his victory, to begin with—or the recent SCOTUS appointment and validation of some of the #METOO movement’s biggest fears, I can’t help but wonder if I, personally, have gotten way too comfortable living in a defensive posture. I don’t know about you, but I have definitely spent too much time since 2016 reacting to things; defining myself by what I’m not.
And I don’t know how effective, or healthy, that is.
When I think of all that spilled ink I’ve huffed, I see scattered variations of this same defensive posture echoed each time—certain things are wrong, certain people are bad, certain positions are bad. This intimates a false idea that because certain things are true, and because grave sins were committed by the other side, that moral and intellectual victory is assured. But this simply isn’t true. We should know now that facts are immaterial when intellectual arguments are waged emotionally; that moral rules and laws are enforced selectively, and for the benefit of those in power. We should know this. I should know this. I, and we, should be beyond being offended when hearing about lost elections due to propaganda victories or faulty institutional structure. I, and we, should be doing something different than just simply being offended, and marching around in some impotent protest that will invariably end up getting turned around and misconstrued into a weaponized inversion of its promise by the same propaganda organs that fed the beast to begin with. At the very least, I should just not be surprised.
But why am I?
Maybe its because when I think about all the stuff I’ve read since 2016, I realize that what I’ve been craving this whole time—around the way of ink, anyway—is a restatement of purpose. An article or essay that restates, for the benefit of ourselves, as well as for people who don’t understand—either due to ignorance, or dominance of media outlets/propaganda organs, manipulation of facts, distortions of reality—what progressive liberal beliefs are actually all about.
I feel a need to re-acquire a lost center. Not a political center, mind you, but a sense of center; of stability that comes from a renewed sense of purpose. That is missing. We know certain things are right and certain things are wrong. We may even disagree, at a nuanced level, about what those things might be, in practice. But what were they, in the most general sense?
And when is the last time you heard any of your thought leaders say what those things were?
(source: Chuck P | Some rights reserved)